Greenlee Lough National Nature Reserve

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Overview

Greenlee Lough NNR occupies one of the loughs, or shallow lakes, found near the World Heritage Site of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. It is the largest natural freshwater lake in Northumberland, supporting aquatic plant species that require low levels of nutrients, with a mixture of surrounding habitats such as mires, reedbeds and wet carr woodland. There is a good variety of water plants, including 11 species of pondweed and stonewort. Around the margins are areas of reedbed with other plants including bog bean and marsh cinquefoil. The starry white flowers of bog bean are found in shallow ponds, fens, bogs and marshes, and it blooms from March until June. The deep red stars of marsh cinquefoil is a good source of food for nectar-loving insects such as bees and hoverflies. The lough is also used extensively by wildfowl and waders that feed in the shallow waters and wetlands.

Location

Once Brewed

About the area

If it’s history you’re after, there’s heaps of it in Northumberland. On Hadrian’s Wall you can imagine scarlet-cloaked Roman legionaries keeping watch for painted Pictish warriors while cursing the English weather and dreaming of home.