Slapton Ley National Nature Reserve

Our View

The Slapton Ley NNR includes the largest natural freshwater lake in southwest England. Separated from the English Channel by a narrow shingle bar, the lake is surrounded by reed beds, marshes and woodland habitats. Summer wildflowers on the shingle ridge include yellow horned-poppy and viper’s bugloss. The lake shore of Slapton Ley is also the only place in Britain where you can see white-flowered strapwort, found here at the northernmost extent of its range. Cetti’s warblers are resident all year round, and there is usually a breeding population of about 40 singing males. There are as many as four pairs of cirl buntings in the thick hedgerows and grasshopper-rich grassland around the edges of the reserve. Slapton Ley is also an important staging post for wintering and passage birds including large flocks of swallows. If you are lucky you might catch a glimpse of mammals such as badgers, otters, dormice and bats. Over 250 species of lichen and 2,000 species of fungi – 29 of which have been described as new to science – have been recorded at Slapton Ley.