Aubrey Buxton Nature Reserve

Aubrey Buxton Autumn
Cowslips

Photo - Guy Edwardes / 2020VISION

Aubrey Buxton summer
Visit a beautifully wild nature reserve with its woodlands, ponds and species rich grasslands, filled with amazing wildlife

Location

Snakes Lane
Bishop's Stortford
Essex
CM22 6HW

OS Map Reference

TL521264
A static map of Aubrey Buxton Nature Reserve

Know before you go

Size
9 hectares
P

Parking information

Small car park with room for 4 cars.

Walking trails

Circular walks past the ponds and through the woods 

Access

Some hard surfaces but paths can be slippery when wet, with gentle slippery slopes

Dogs

Dogs permitted

Dogs permitted under effective control

When to visit

Opening times

Accessible at all times

Best time to visit

Spring and summer

About the reserve

Once a wildlife and pleasure park to Norman House, this beautiful reserve was donated to Essex Wildlife Trust by the late Lord and Lady Buxton in 1976. It is now a thriving wildlife haven for the many rare and uncommon species found here, including the strange-looking Adder’s Tongue Fern and Lesser Lady’s Mantle.

The reserve is a patchwork of high woodland where Tree Creepers can be seen flying through the trees, ponds and grasslands that thrive in the sandy and gravel soil. In the summer, a vast array of butterfly species flit through the grasses and among the Common Spotted Orchids, Wild Strawberry and Cowslip.  

Look closely in the ponds and you may spot a rare Great Crested Newt coming up for air, whilst Dragonflies and Damselflies zoom across the surface with their bright displays.

Environmental designation

Local Wildlife Site (LWS)
Black Poplar

Did you know?

Black Poplars were planted at the reserve to replace storm-damaged trees.  These are some of the rarest native timber tree species in Britain, and now the most scarce native tree in Essex!