Lakes and wetlands are biodiversity hotspots attracting a wide range of wading and migrating birds, amphibians, riparian mammals and insects with aquatic larval stages. As a result of agricultural drainage and urban development, natural lowland wetlands and shallow lakes have been drastically reduced. The redevelopment of former extraction sites offers an exciting opportunity to offset this loss. The proposal aims to establish the current saprophyte and invertebrate biodiversity and water chemistry of a series of quarry lakes and ponds at Barton. Some of these have been restored as shallow lake and wetland habitat for over 20 years and so offer a maturing series of sites. This would then form the ecological basis for further work to monitor, manage and develop the lake complex, to enhance their aquatic biodiversity and realise their potential as public or potentially private assets.