In the winter the Sherborne brook becomes home for wigeon and teal. Wigeon are often visiting from Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia and teal from the Baltic and Siberia.
A brief history of the water meadows
Water meadows were once a vital part of the farming landscape. In the seventeenth century, farmers would base all their year-round activity on the rise and fall of the river.
When the water ran into the meadows and surrounding flood plains, it would bring with it nutrient rich silt, which was great for local wildlife.
With the development of artificial fertilisers and new imported food supplies after the Second World War however, water meadows and wetlands became redundant and the homes of water-loving plants, mammal, insects and birds came under threat.