Billesdon Woodland Pool

Selected Wild Place / Other Wild Places / Public Rights of Way / VC55 boundary

Getting There

Billesdon is 9 miles east of Leicester, lying just off the A47 to Peterborough. The only entrance to the site is on Gaulby Road, post code LE7 9BH. There is limited off-street parking adjacent to the entrance and street parking throughout the village. Central bus 747 from Leicester to Uppingham runs through the village, stopping in the Market Place.

Bus information for Billesdon can be found on bustimes.org.

Status

Nature reserve

Managed By
Owned by Leicestershire County Council and let to Billesdon Parish Council who manage the site.
Wild places

Site species count:

Description

In 2002, following a management plan devised between Billesdon Wildlife Group and Leicestershire County Council, the Billesdon Woodland Pool was developed on the historic site of Prisoner of War Camp No.94. Used to house Italian, and later German, prisoners during WW2, the camp’s football pitch was excavated in 2004 to create the pond. The 8 acre site, all accessible by footpaths, now consists of a mixed habitat of wetland, wooded areas, grassland and scrub, hedges and ditches.

Wildlife Highlights
The pond attracts aquatic insects, dragonflies and damselflies plus frogs and toads, and a survey has established the presence of Great Crested Newts. Little Grebe and Moorhen regularly breed. 
 
The woodland’s resident bird population includes tits, Blackbirds, Robins and Great Spotted Woodpecker, and swells in the spring with the arrival of migrants including warblers, Swifts and Swallows. Buzzard regularly fly over the Pool, as do Red Kite.
 
The grassland supports a wide variety of insects including butterflies, moths, hoverflies, beetles, bugs and bees. After flowering, it is allowed to seed before being mown mid September by a local farmer.

 

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