As well as being an important recreational area for local residents and attraction for local and visiting naturalists, Paxton Pits is also an outdoor laboratory for students. Local primary and secondary schools visit the Nature Reserve each year as part of geography and biology studies.

In 2007, we are hosting three graduates undertaking fieldwork for their MSc.

Divya Panicker (left) and Hannah Woodhouse (centre) are studying aquatic invertebrates to see how their abundance relates to fish densities and fishing activities. Irena Tomankova (right)
is looking at dunnocks, scrub and browsing by deer and rabbits. You may well see them in the Visitors' Centre or around the reserve during the summer - and they'll be happy to tell you how they're getting on.

In 2005, the reserve hosted five graduates undertaking fieldwork for their MSc. A summary of their findings can be accessed here:

The benefits of beetle banks to Carabidae beetles – Gemma French
Availability of invertebrate prey to Nightingales - Mary Beth Charles
Aquatic Invertebrates in the Paxton Pits SSSI – Nina Lyman
Density and Habitat Preferences of Small Mammals – Ruth Hanniffy

In addition, Paxton Pits was a BTO Constant Effort Site in 2001-02, when hundreds of birds were ringed.

Every year there is a considerable amount of biological survey work undertaken, much of which is summarised in The Birds and Wildlife of Paxton Pits, on sale in the Visitors' Centre (back copies can be downloaded from the archive)