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| Humberhead Levels |
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| Habitat: Standing open water and canals (of local significance) |
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Includes natural water bodies (e.g. lakes and meres) and man-made water bodies (e.g. canals, reservoirs and gravel pits) and their adjacent wetland habitats.
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As a low-lying, poorly drained region, the Humberhead Levels once had abundant pools, ponds and watercourses. Over the centuries the water levels have been lowered, and the rivers contained within banks; some have been given new, straightened courses.
The ditches are home for aquatic and ‘emergent' creatures. They are often sufficiently shallow to enable fen plants to grow, and these spread outwards and upwards onto the banks, and sometimes into the uncultivated zone left free for machinery to maintain the ditch. The plants are conspicuous during spring and summer along a minority of the drains.
Rare water snails and beetles thrive both in and out of the water. Dragonflies dart across the surface, whilst their fierce-looking larvae hunt for tadpoles and other prey beneath. The marsh carpet moth can occasionally be seen at dusk or first light. It does not usually occurthis far north; its caterpillars feed on the ripening seeds of the meadow-rue.
Ponds are particularly important for amphibians, especially the great crested newt. The adult newt spends most of its time hunting for insects on the land but needs water to lay its eggs. These are laid on the leaves of pondweed such as alternate water-milfoil and various-leaved pondweed. The rarer horned pondweed and whorled water-milfoil are also found within the ponds of the Natural Area.
The few lakes to be found in the Humberhead Levels, which include flooded gravel pits, are important for birds, especially wildfowl and waders. The little ringed plover is a summer visitor and can be seen looking for food around the lake edge. The shelduck may be present throughout the year, this large duck breeds in burrows. Oystercatcher also breed around our lakes, these striking birds have long orange bills and bright pink legs. Their bills change shape during the year to enable the birds to feed on different things.
Some lakes in the Natural Area are known by the term mesotrophic, which means the water is low in nutrients. These lakes are very important for wildlife as one type of plant, such as algae, cannot dominate. Such lakes are becoming increasingly rare nationally and in the Natural Area because of additional nutrients, often from fertilizers or sewage effluent, getting into the water.
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