[1][2] It is part of the South West London Waterbodies Ramsar site[3] and a Special Protection Area[4] Staines Moor consists of alluvial flood meadows, the King George VI Reservoir, the Staines Reservoirs and a stretch of the River Colne.

The moor consists of rich alluvial soil on a bed of clay, a soil which is much more thick and naturally fertile compared with most of the patchy humus in the topsoil in the large historic parishes to the east such as Ashford, Stanwell, Harmondsworth, Bedfont and Feltham, which have thin, less moist humus on gravel-rich clay, formed by the ancient terraces of the Thames in the same way as the inland parts of the riverside parishes.

The reservoir carries nationally important wintering populations of tufted ducks, pochard, goosander and common goldeneye.

While these two periods of privatisation occurred, the moor itself has never been subject to an Act of Enclosure and is the only common remaining mostly green space in the borough.

[6] A rifle range was established in the 19th century and was moved to the Yeoveney land west of Moor Lane c. 1891, but it was disused by 1933.