Local nature reserves (LNRs) are designated by local authorities under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The local authority must have legal control over the site, by owning or leasing it or having an agreement with the owner. LNRs are sites which have a special local interest either biologically or geologically, and local authorities have a duty to care for them. They can apply local bye-laws to manage and protect LNRs.[3][4]
The site is ancient semi-natural woodland. It is mainly oak with other trees such as beech, horse chestnut and sweet chestnut. Mammals include muntjac deer and noctule bats.[13]
The main feature of the reserve is a number of small springs which are the source of chalk streams and ponds. The River Lea runs through the site, and there is grassland and a small wood.[14]
This large park in Watford has a variety of habitats, including streams, ponds, watercress beds, wet grassland and wet woodland. The Grand Union Canal and River Gade run through the site.[16]
The history of the park goes back to Roman times. It is grass and woodland which has ancient hedgerows, wildflower meadows, a pond and an orchard which is cropped by traditional cattle breeds.[17][18]
Some 300 fungi, 70 plant species and fifty birds have been recorded on the common, which has habitats including acid heathland, neutral grassland, chalk meadows and secondary woodland.[20]
The site is acid grassland, which is unusual in Hertfordshire, and the River Colne runs through it. The heath is managed to maintain the grassland and the diversity of plant species along the river.[22]
The site was formerly the park of Danesbury House, and it still has some large mature trees which are important to wildlife. Grassland areas, which are grazed by rare-breed cattle, have many varieties of flowering plants.[25]
The area was allotments during the Second World War. There are areas of woodland, with trees including oak, rowan and wild cherry, and a wildflower meadow and scrub with bramble, raspberry and willow herb. Animals include green woodpeckers, shrews and bees.[26]
The wood has been managed for coppicing for over 300 years. It now provides a habitat for birds, and fallen branches are important for invertebrates. Lower Halfpenny is a meadow which was once the route of an old drovers' track.[27]
The nature reserve has woodland which is mainly oak, ash and sycamore, and there are also areas of grassland and wetland. Mammals include muntjac deer and pipistrelle bats.[28]
The site, which was a rubbish dump until the 1950s, has habitats including woodland, wetland and pasture. Its springs are the source of the River Ivel, and they have a wide variety of wildlife.[36]
In the middle of the twentieth century the heath was used for gravel extraction, and it is now regenerating naturally. Oak and hornbeam woodland around the perimeter remains, and it is managed to enhance biodiversity.[38]
The site is secondary woodland and scrub on acid heathland, but the many species recorded include forty on national lists of threatened species. It is one of the key Hertfordshire sites for butterflies and moths.[39]
The park has one of the county's most extensive areas of ancient hornbeam woodland, with other trees including oak and silver birch. Glades, streams and springs add to the biodiversity.[40]
Woodland on this site has diverse wildlife including black squirrels, muntjac deer, and birds such as chiff chaffs and blackcaps. There are also meadows with wild flowers, and the Pix Brook, which is fed by mineral-rich springs.[41][42]
The site is mainly semi-natural woodland, and some areas date back to the end of the last Ice Age, the Younger Dryas, 11,500 years ago.[45] Plants include bluebells, anemones and violets and the rare wild service tree.[46]
The wood floods in wet weather, particularly the northern part, which has a pond. Tree species include oak, ash, elm and willow, and they provide a habitat for insects which provide food for birds.[47]
This site was formerly farm meadows. It has many insects and flowers include purple knapweed, yellow birdsfoot-trefoil and red clover. Old hedgerows still survive, and there is also a seasonal pond where frogs breed in the spring.[48]
There are two lakes and a diverse range of wildlife habitats.[50] The site has trees such as oaks and willows, birds including herons and moorhens, and small copper and gatekeeper butterflies.[51]
The common is woodland and scrub, together with two fields which are chalk grassland. There are over 100 species of wild flowers, and herbs such as marjoram and basil.[53]
The River Mimram runs along the edge of this site. It has grassland, which is managed by cattle grazing and cutting, and areas of willow scrub with some more mature trees.[54]
This is an old flooded gravel pit which has over sixty species of breeding birds, including shoveler and goldeneye ducks in nationally important numbers.[58]
This is unimproved pasture and has some of the richest chalk grassland in England. Plants include the rare pasque flower, and there are insects such as the chalkhill blue butterfly.[6]
Top Field is a wildflower meadow which is mown to provide a habitat for small mammals, birds and insects. Cozens Grove is an ancient wood which has coppiced hornbeam and a medieval sunken ditch.[59][60]
The site was formerly one of the many commercial watercress beds in the area.[61] It has a wide variety of wildlife, including water rails, kingfishers, little grebes and muntjac deer.[62]
The site is mainly grassland, with areas of scrub, wood plantation and semi-natural woodland. Breeding birds include skylarks and willow warblers, and there are reptiles such as slow worms and grass snakes.[64]
Chalk grassland is its most important ecological feature and one of the best examples in Hertfordshire; plants are very diverse because the harsh conditions do not allow vigorous species to become dominant.[65]
This L-shaped site has ash woodland, thorn scrub, mature hedgerows, and rough grassland. There are plants such as grass vetchling and bee orchid, birds including yellowhammer and whitethroat, and many butterflies.[66]
This is ancient woodland which is semi-natural, and the main trees are oak and hornbeam. Other features are a seasonal pond and historic field boundaries of bank and ditch.[67]
The site borders the River Colne, and it has a variety of habitats including dry grassland, wet woodland, marsh and ditches. A World War II pillbox has been turned into a bat roost.[68]
^The area is taken from the Natural England map of each site. (Click on the identify icon (i) in the "Feature Tools" and then click on the site.)[12]
^The location is taken from the Natural England details page for the site.
^The maps are on the Natural England database of Local Nature Reserves.
^Details are on the pages on each site in the Natural England database of Local Nature Reserves.[12]
^This site is wrongly named Chestnut Park on the details page and correctly Cheshunt Park on the map
^Access to Hilfield Park Reservoir is restricted to members of the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust.[10] It is the only LNR in Hertfordshire which is not open to the public.
^"Resident Population". Hertfordshire Local Information System. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
^"Area Measurements". Hertfordshire Local Information System. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
^"Protected or designated areas". Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Natural England. 9 April 2013. Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
^ abc"Therfield Heath citation"(PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived(PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
^"Oxleys Wood". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
^ abc"Sherrardspark Wood citation"(PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived(PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
^ ab"Hilfield Park Reservoir". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
^"Weston Hills". North Hertfordshire District Council. Archived from the original on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
^"Cassiobury Park". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
^"Cheshunt Park". Hertfordshire Countryside Management Service. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
^"Cheshunt Park leaflet"(PDF). Borough of Broxbourne. Archived(PDF) from the original on 18 February 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
^"Chorleywood Common". Chilterns Conservation Board. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
^"Chorleywood Common". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 13 March 2013. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
^"Colney Heath". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 13 March 2013. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
^"The Commons". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
^"Croxley Common Moor". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 13 March 2013. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
^"Danesbury". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
^"Hilfield Park Reservoir". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 29 September 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
^"Howe Dell". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 17 March 2013. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
^"Howe Grove Wood". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
^"Ivel Springs". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
^"The Lairage Land". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
^"Mardley Heath". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
^"Marshalls Heath". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 20 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
^ ab"Northaw Great Wood citation"(PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived(PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
^"Norton Common". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
^"Stanborough Reedmarsh". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
^"Stocker's Lake". Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. Archived from the original on 2015-03-21. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
^"Stockers Lake". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
^"Top Field and Cozens Grove". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 15 March 2013. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
^"History". Watercress Wildlife Association. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
^"Watercress Wildlife Site". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 16 March 2013. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
^"Waterford Heath". Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
^"Waterford Heath". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 16 March 2013. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
^"Newsletter"(PDF). Hertfordshire Wildlife Trusts Partnership. March 2013. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
^"Wheathampstead". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 16 March 2013. Archived from the original on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
^"The Wick". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
^"The Withey Beds". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2015.