Wildlife and habitats

Habitats
The Park can be divided into three distinct areas: woodland, parkland and foreshore.

There are two wet woodland valleys on either side of the open parkland. There is a long term plan to plant up the Northern end of the Park to bridge the two woodland valleys and create a continuous woodland belt.

Open fields and meadow run down to the foreshore on Southampton Water in a succession of terraces. Hedgerow, orchard, reedbed and gorse bank also feature on the site.

Wildlife
The mixture of habitat described above supports a variety of wildlife. For example, biological recording (1980 - 2000) has accounted for the following:

115 species of birds (51 credited with breeding status), 25 species of mammal, 4 species of reptile, 3 species of amphibian, 10 species of cricket/grasshoppers, 9 species of dragon and damselflies, 30 species of butterfly (23 recorded annually), over 300 species of moth (including 53 micro-moths), 134 species of fungi.

The Park also has various species of trees and shrubs, many of which are non-native (introduced during Queen Victoria's reign from all over the British Empire.