Beam Valley Country Park

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This recently created country park runs alongside the River Beam, from the railway in the north down to New Road in the south, opposite the Ford plant. The area has been partly worked for gravel, leaving a patchwork of wet and dry grassland, tall herbs and scrub. At its southern end a new wetland has been created alongside the Wantz Stream, which also serves as a flood storage area when needed.

Along the river kingfishers are seen regularly, and reed warblers and reed buntings breed. Dense wetland vegetation grows beside it in places, especially along the Wantz Stream in the south. Snipe and water rail sometimes find refuge here in winter. A series of ponds have been created and these support great crested newts and other amphibians.