A selection of wildlife sites to visit in the district. Try the clickable map or use the list beneath.
Wildlife Places
Click the pins to see more information
Harrison Sayer Reserve
Harrison Sayer Nature Reserve - see our page here
https://www.uttlesford-wildlife.org.uk/places-to-visit/harrison-sayer-nature-reserve/
Shadwell Wood SSSI
Shadwell Wood, Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserve - see our page
https://uttlesford-wildlife.org.uk/places-to-visit/shadwell-wood/
Little Hales Wood
Little Hales Wood - Forestry Commission - ancient wood replanted with conifers and now partially cleared for natural regeneration. See Wild Essex web page here -
Little Chesterford roadside verge
Little Chesterford roadside verge - wildflower grassland with a good range of summertime chalk loving species - created on the site of an old road bypassed when a new roundabout was built. Turn into the village and immediately left into the service road, and the grassland is beyond the wooden fence.
Link to Info Sheet - https://www.uttlesford-wildlife.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Little-Chesterford-roadside-verge.pdf
Noakes Grove
Noakes Grove Nature Reserve - a privately run nature reserve open to the public - see our web page -
https://uttlesford-wildlife.org.uk/things-to-do/volunteer/noakes-grove/
or the web page of the organisation which runs it -
Audley End House grounds
Audley End House - English Heritage - Entrance fee payable - the grounds of the house are run on nature friendly lines, wildflowers in the grassland, wildfowl on the lake.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/audley-end-house-and-gardens/
Rowney Wood
Rowney Wood: Debden - Forestry Commission - TL57603428 - Access Free on foot at all times, parking in the road chippings bay opposite Carver Barracks, Elder Street. - Ancient woodland replanted to conifers and now returned to native woodland by natural regeneration, but greatly hampered by deer.
West Wood SSSI
West Wood nature reserve - Essex Wildlife Trust
Managed coppice woodland - see our page here -
https://uttlesford-wildlife.org.uk/places-to-visit/west-wood/
Linnets Wood
Linnets Wood, Ugley - Woodland Trust
A newly created woodland in the 1990s - More information on the Wild Essex website here -
https://wildessex.net/sites/Linnets%20Wood.htm
The Woodland Trust has its management plan on this link -
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/media/47059/4510-linnets-wood.pdf
Aubrey Buxton nature reserve
Aubrey Buxton nature reserve - Essex Wildlife Trust - woodland, grassland and lakes -
More information on our page here -
https://uttlesford-wildlife.org.uk/places-to-visit/aubrey-buxton-nature-reserve/
Bendysh Woods
Bendysh Woods - Forestry Commission - ancient broadleaf woodland planted to conifers and now being converted back to broadleaved trees.
More information on the Wild Essex website here -
Turners Spring
Turners Spring - Essex Wildlife Trust - woodland and grasslands - accessible by public footpath from Burton End.
More information on our page here -
https://uttlesford-wildlife.org.uk/places-to-visit/turners-spring/
Rushy Mead
Rushy Mead nature reserve - Essex Wildlife Trust - woodland and marsh - access from the River Stort towpath. Large areas are too wet for access on foot, but they are good for wildlife. More information on our page here -
https://uttlesford-wildlife.org.uk/places-to-visit/rushy-mead/
Sawbridgeworth Marsh
Sawbridgeworth Marsh - Essex Wildlife Trust - Access through the marsh on a raised walkway - specialist wetland plants, birds and insects.
More information on our page here -
https://uttlesford-wildlife.org.uk/places-to-visit/sawbridgeworth-marsh/
Woodside Green
Woodside Green - National Trust - part of the Hatfield Forest complex - common grazing grassland.
More information on the Wild Essex website -
Wall Wood
Wall Wood - National Trust - part of the Hatfield Forest complex - Ancient woodland adjacent to Hatfield Forest – with the southernmost Oxlips in England and Oxlip-Primrose hybrids.
More information on the Wild Essex website -
Hatfield Forest
Hatfield Forest - National Trust - Ancient wood pasture, a National Nature Reserve and SSSI: An incredible survival of a medieval Forest: the most important in England, though now suffering from the grazing pressure of too many deer. Car parking charges. Pre-booking at peak times. More information here -
Sweetings Meadow
Sweetings Meadow - Essex Wildlife Trust - an old orchard with old varieties of fruit trees, the main wildlife interest is the wildflowers.
More information on our page here -
https://uttlesford-wildlife.org.uk/places-to-visit/sweetings-meadow/
Flitch Way - Dunmow cutting
Part of The Flitch Way which runs from Hatfield Forest through Takely, Great Dunmow, Felstead to Braintree – Essex County Council - Access Free on foot at all times and a National Cycle Network route – The old railway line from Braintree to Bishop’s Stortford: now a linear country park with a mix of habitats. Best wildflowers in the cutting just west of Great Dunmow, where cycling is not permitted, can be partly flooded.
Leaflet from Essex Highways;
Garnetts Wood
Garnetts Wood - Essex County Council - Ancient coppice woodland, Small-leaved Lime, ponds and streams.
More information on the Wild Essex website -
Birchanger Wood
Birchanger Wood - Ancient Bluebell and Anemone wood
Farnham Common
Farnham Common - not a piece of Common Land but privately owned, but public access on foot is permitted to see the wide range of wildflower species which grow here on land that has not been ploughed or treated with fertilisers - now very rare. Remote and quite hard to find.
Another guide to wildlife sites in Uttlesford can be found on the Wild Essex website at http://www.wildessex.net/main/Uttlesford.html
Essex Wildlife Trust sites can be found on their website on this link http://www.essexwt.org.uk/wildlife/reserves
Little Hales Wood
Ashdon – Forestry commission – TL57603428 – Access Free on foot at all times. Park in the field entry opposite ‘Barleycroft’ – Coniferised wood now being de-coniferised. Woodland flora, butterflies, deer.
| Name | Details |
|---|---|
| Aubrey Buxton Nature Reserve, Alsa Street, Stansted. |
Stansted – Essex Wildlife Trust – TL52172644 – Access Free on foot at all times – High woodland, grassland; lakes. Photo by Roger Jones on Geograph |
| Audley End House grounds. |
Saffron Walden -English Heritage – TL52333802 – Entry and car park charge to the grounds and house – The Lake can be viewed without entering the grounds from the road bridge – good for birds especially overwintering waterfowl, and bats on summer evenings. |
| Bendysh Woods |
Radwinter – Forestry Commission – TL61873975 – Access Free on foot at all times – Ancient oxlip woods, once designated as SSSI but damaged by coniferisation. Now under restoration to natural broad-leaved woodlands with wide rides and formerly rich flora but damaged by vehicle ruts |
| Birchanger Wood |
Birchanger / Bishop’s Stortford – Birchanger Woods Trust – TL50572246 Access Free on foot at all times – Ancient coppice anemone and bluebell wood |
| Farnham Green | Village green filled with wildflowers in June and July, puts all the other village greens to shame, especially those looking like a bowling green – TL468254 – No website . – Access Free on foot at all times – Amazing wildflower grassland |
| Flitch Way Dunmow Cutting |
Runs from Hatfield Forest through Takely, Great Dunmow, Felstead to Braintree – Essex County Council – TL51942126 to TL71462210 – Access Free on foot at all times and a National Cycle Network route – The old railway line from Braintree to Bishop’s Stortford: now a linear country park with a mix of habitats. Best wildflowers in the cutting just west of Great Dunmow, where cycling is not permitted, can be partly flooded. |
| Garnetts Wood |
High Easter – Essex County Council – TL63491845 – Access Free on foot at all times – Ancient coppice woodland, Small-leaved Lime, ponds and streams |
| Harrison Sayer |
Hadstock – Essex Wildlife Trust – TL55754412 – Access Free on foot at all times – Boulder clay grassland with rare wildflowers and remains of WWII airfield structures. Photos by Roger Jones on Geograph. |
| Hatfield Forest |
Hatfield Broad Oak – National Trust – TL547220 – Access Free on foot at all times, but with Car parking charges – SSSI: An incredible survival of a medieval Forest: the most important in England, though now suffering from the grazing pressure of too many deer. |
| Linnets Wood |
Ugley – Woodland Trust – TL51622723 – Access Free on foot at all times – Small plantation of recently created mixed broadleaf woodland |
Little Chesterford roadside verge |
Little Chesterford roadside verge – wildflower grassland with a good range of summertime chalk loving species – created on the site of an old road bypassed when a new roundabout was built. Turn into the village and immediately left into the service road, and the grassland is beyond the wooden fence. |
| Noakes Grove |
Sewards End – privately owned nature reserve with open access – TL572388 – Access Free on foot at all times. |
| Rowney Wood |
Debden – Forestry Commission – TL57603428 – Access Free on foot at all times, parking in the road chippings bay opposite Carver Barracks, Elder Street. – Ancient woodland replanted to conifers and now returned to native woodland by natural regeneration, but greatly hampered by deer. |
| Rushy Mead |
Great Hallingbury – Essex Wildlife Trust – TL49791965 – Access Free on foot at all times – Wetlands by the River Stort. Photo by Roger Jones on Geograph. |
| Sawbridgeworth Marsh |
Little Hallingbury – Essex Wildlife Trust – TL49391598 – Access Free on foot at all times – Natural springs feed this waterlogged marsh. Good for spring flowers including Early and Southern Marsh Orchids. |
| Shadwell Wood |
Ashdon – Essex Wildlife Trust – TL57364123 – Access Free on foot at all times. Park in the field entry opposite ‘Barleycroft’on the east side of the road and walk back across the road and along the track beside ‘Barleycroft’ – A worked coppice wood cut on a rotational pattern with Spring flowers including Oxlip in mid-April. Photo by Glyn Baker on Geograph. |
| Sweetings Meadow |
Lindsell – Essex wildlife Trust – TL63232859 – Access Free on foot at all times – Small orchard with traditional Apple varieties and meadow flowers including Common Spotted and Pyramidal Orchids. Photo by Tony Morton. |
| Turner’s Spring |
Stansted – Essex Wildlife Trust – TL52922417 – Access Free on foot at all times – Broadleaved Bluebell wood plus ancient meadow. Photo by Roger Jones on Geograph. |
| Wall Wood |
Great Hallingbury – National Trust – TL52761868 – Access Free on foot at all times – Ancient woodland adjacent to Hatfield Forest – with the southernmost Oxlips in England and Oxlip-Primrose hybrids. |
| West Wood |
Little Sampford – Essex Wildlife Trust – TL62403320 – Access Free on foot at all times – SSSI: ancient oxlip wood, great crested newts, orchids. Photo by Roger Jones on Geograph. |
| Woodside Green |
The Hallingburys – National Trust – TL51791843 – Access Free on foot at all times – Ancient pasture |
