[3] A map of 1847 shows the site as Byegrove Mead, which may have been managed as water meadows.
A plan to build a stadium for Wimbledon Football Club on the site was strongly opposed by local residents, and in 1989 it was designated as a nature reserve by Merton Council.
Wetland plants and animals include small sweet-grass, eared willow and broad-bodied chaser dragonflies.
Bullfinches, whitethroats and reed buntings breed in woodland areas.
[4] There are also bodies of water which have a variety of frogs, toads and newts.