Roundshaw Downs is a 52.7-hectare (130-acre)Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature ConservationRoundshaw in the London Boroughs ofSutton andCroydon.[1][2] An area of 19.6 hectares in Sutton is also alocal nature reserve.[3][4] In the nineteenth century the area was farmland, and in the first half of the twentieth it wasCroydon Airport.[5]
Most of the site is a mixture of chalk and neutral grassland.[1] Areas of unimproved chalk grassland have species typical of this habitat such ascommon quaking grass,wild carrot andbird's-foot-trefoil. A grassland flower species isgreater yellow rattle, which is nationally protected, and Sutton and Croydon are its national strongholds. The wasp spiderArgiope bruennichi builds web in the grasslands. Birds include kestrels andskylarks. the latter aRed List species due to its sharp decline in Britain.[5]
The site also has areas of woodland, which havegreat spotted woodpeckers,blackcap andchiffchaff. There arecommon whitethroats in scrub areas.[3]
There is access from Plough Lane.[3]
