Unigate Wood Local Nature Reserve

Unigate Wood Local Nature Reserve is a medium-sized area of woodland, grassland and scrub habitat in Streatham that has a high wildlife and recreational value. Unigate Wood Local Nature Reserve is ‘secondary deciduous woodland’, which is a very valuable wildlife habitat in Lambeth, and contains many examples of mature and semi-mature trees originally native to Britain like ash, oak and hawthorn. It also contains species not originally native to Britain, some of which might be descendants of trees planted in the grounds of the original spa gardens, such as grey and black poplar, horse chestnut, pear, plum and cherry laurel.

It is rich in birdlife like woodpeckers, blackbirds, song thrush, greenfinch, robin, and wren, and there are also areas of grassland and scrub which support butterflies and other invertebrates, and important for nesting and feeding birds. Grey squirrels and foxes frequent the wooded areas and grasslands, and the site is used by bats and stag beetles, both of which are legally protected.