Millers Pond

Tree Planting in Hampshire at Millers Pond

Millers Pond Local Nature Reserve is in the south-eastern suburbs of Southampton, Hampshire.

IMPORTANT VISITOR INFO – Take only photos. Leave only footsteps.

To keep the woodland as natural as possible we don’t label individual trees and we ask that visitors do not place their own plaques, labels, flowers, etc in the woodland. Each tree we plant should be seen as part of a natural woodland.

Before visiting this woodland, please read our Frequently Asked Questions page, which gives you helpful tips about your tree and visitor guidance.

Millers Pond Local Nature Reserve is in an area that has never been developed for housing, but there is an industrial history as the site was formerly a brickworks and gravel workings, with the pond itself originally serving as a mill pond.

There was a threat to develop the site in 1978 and a campaign was launched to preserve the area of pond, marshlands, grasslands, woodland, and post-industrial scrub as a nature reserve. The initial group formed was known as the Millers Pond Area Conservation Society and they set to work restoring the pond.

The Registered Charity, now known as the Sholing Valley Study Centre Association (SVSC), was formed in 1988. In the same year, the construction of the study centre by Station Road was completed. The mission of the SVSC is to Protect, Enhance and Educate.

The study centre and its surrounds remains a working area for the management of the reserve as well as an invaluable public resource and a base for educational and fund-raising events.

Millers Pond and its immediate surrounds of woodland, scrub and patches of open grassland are the subject of this management plan. This habitat complex of some 7.6ha lies in a valley to the east of the River Itchen in Southampton. The pond is some 1.9 km from the shores of Southampton Water at Weston Point, with which it is connected by a continuous valley habitat.

At Millers Pond there is a long-standing arrangement for use of the area and some site management by the SVSC. In 2012 Millers Pond was designated as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR).

The Shoreburs Greenway, including Millers Pond, is of local importance and is identified as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation according to criteria adopted by the Hampshire Biological Information Centre.

The woodland is dominated by oak and grey willow while blackthorn, hawthorn and hazel can also be found on site.

SVSC aims not to increase the area of woodland but manage it to its highest ecological potential and to reduce the currently high human impact on parts of it.

A wide variety of native, British trees species have been planted throughout the area, improving its biodiversity.

This will create new wildlife habitats and corridors as well as providing food and nectar sources for birds and other animals.

Photo Gallery

Tree Species at Millers Pond

Since 2022 / 2023 EFORESTS has worked with the land owners and local volunteers to plant 145 new native tree species.

The following tree species were planted on the site:

IMPORTANT VISITOR INFO – Take only photos. Leave only footsteps.

To keep the woodland as natural as possible we don’t label individual trees and we ask that visitors do not place their own plaques, labels, flowers, etc in the woodland. Each tree we plant should be seen as part of a natural woodland.

Before visiting this woodland, please read our Frequently Asked Questions page, which gives you helpful tips about your tree and visitor guidance.

EFORESTS have been tree planting in Hampshire and many other regions since 2006. You can dedicate a tree to be planted in Hampshire or elsewhere in the UK on our Tree Dedication page.