Cambridgeshire's National Nature Reserves
Updated 9 May 2024
Applies to England
Barnack Hills and Holes
Arising from the rubble of a mediaeval quarry, Barnack Hills and Holes is one of Britain’s most important wildlife sites. The site represents half of the surviving limestone grassland in Cambridgeshire, and is designated as a Special Area for Conservation to protect the orchid rich grassland.
Main habitats: lowland grassland, scrub
Area: 22 hectares
Features of interest
Further information about the NNR, its wildlife and special features is on the Barnack Hills and Holes visitor leaflet.
For more information on seasonal highlights at the reserve see Natural England’s page on Barnack Hills and Holes in the National Archive.
Directions
The reserve is situated at the south-west corner of Barnack village, 2 miles from the A1, west of Peterborough.
The reserve is situated less than 5 minutes walk from Barnack. A public footpath (Barnack No. 2 footpath) crosses the southern boundary of the Reserve, linking the villages of Barnack and Southorpe.
Buses from Peterborough and Stamford serve the village hourly.
The nearest train station is Stamford (4 miles).
The reserve is not signposted from public roads but is easy to find as it lies immediately to the south and west of Barnack village, 2 miles from the A1 west of Peterborough.
The main car park is on Wittering Road (on the north side of the reserve), with additional lay-by parking on Walcot Road (east side). Voluntary car parking charges can be paid in advance or on the day using the RingGo app.
Travellers from the north should leave the A1 at the Barnack turn, half a mile after the Carpenter’s Lodge (Stamford) junction.
From the south, leave the A1 at Wansford, take the A47 towards Peterborough and then after 1 mile turn left to follow the minor road through Southorpe to Barnack.
School and community groups
Guided walks are offered to community groups, and activity visits can also be arranged for schools – these are most suitable for Key Stage 3 and 4.
The reserve also provides opportunities for A level and undergraduate studies looking at vegetation transects across the hilly terrain.
Volunteers
The reserve is always looking for volunteers – for example patrolling, site management, plant recording, or help with events.
On Mondays and Wednesdays volunteers help with habitat restoration or maintenance work such as fencing, scrub clearance, or coppicing.
Contact
Email enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk
Telephone: 0300 060 3900
Bedford Purlieus
Main habitats: woodland
Area: 208 hectares
Management: Forestry Commission.
Further information about the NNR, its wildlife and how to visit is on the Bedford Purlieus website.
Contact
Email: northants@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 01780 444920
Castor Hanglands
Castor Hanglands is an oasis of green in an intensively farmed landscape. Walk amongst its ancient woodlands with their medieval boundary banks, the flowery heaths and commons still showing their 700 year old cultivation ridges, and you are stepping back in time to a world now almost gone.
Main habitats: woodland, limestone grassland, scrub
Area: 90 hectares
Features of interest
Among the rare plants found here are crested cow-wheat, lesser water-plantain, man orchid and narrow-leaved water dropwort. Woodland butterflies present include silver-washed fritillary, purple hairstreak and white admiral. The rare black hairstreak butterfly is best seen around the blackthorn scrub in June.
Dense thickets of scrub provide a habitat for summer migrant birds: nightingale, garden warbler, grasshopper warbler and turtle dove. In the woodland, all 3 British woodpeckers occur along with woodcock and the elusive hawfinch. Grass snakes are often seen by the ponds and harvest mouse occurs in the rough grassland on the heath.
Further information about the NNR, its wildlife by season, land management techniques, special features, and history and culture is on Natural England’s Castor Hanglands pages on the National Archives.
Directions
Castor Hanglands is situated 2 miles north of the village of Ailsworth village, 4 miles west of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.
A Public Bridleway runs north-south through the length of the reserve, and another crosses east-west, connecting with the parking area at Southey Wood. Horse riding and cycling are permitted only on the bridleways
Buses from Peterborough and Stamford stop hourly in Ailsworth (30-minute walk).
The nearest train station is Peterborough (4 miles).
School and community groups
Guided walks are offered to community groups, and activity visits can also be arranged for schools – these are most suitable for Key Stage 3 and 4. The reserve provides good opportunities for A level and undergraduate studies looking at vegetation transects across different habitats.
Volunteers
The reserve is always looking for volunteers – for example patrolling, site management, plant recording, or help with events.
On Mondays and Wednesdays volunteers help with habitat restoration or maintenance work such as fencing, scrub clearance, or coppicing.
Contact
Email enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk
Telephone: 0300 060 3900
Chippenham Fen
The site is a classic fen and even in summer it is often muddy and surface water. The flora is one of the main interests of the site with a diverse range of plants species. The invertebrates are another key part of the site particularly the two-winged flies (Diptera). In warmer weather there are a lot of biting flies - midges, mosquitoes and horseflies.
Calcareous fen conditions with frequent ditches, pools and wet depressions make this a really diverse wetland. The peat soils on site vary from centimetres to 2 metres thick.
Main habitats: peatland
Area: 117 hectares
A permit is required to visit the site. Fill out the Chippenham Fen access permit (149KB) and send it to the address on the form.
Features of interest
Cambridge milk-parsley (Selenum carvifolia) grows well on the site. This plant is only found in 3 other sites in the UK and is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
Over 500 moth species have been recorded, including silver barred and reed leopard. Many nationally scarce, rare invertebrates particularly Diptera. In 2010 Rosser’s sac spider (Clubiona rosserae) was rediscovered at the site for the first time in 19 years. More than 400 species of wild flowers have been recorded including marsh helleborine, black bog rush, bogbean, bog pimpernel and saw-wort, southern marsh and fragrant orchids.
Breeding birds include woodcock, snipe, and 9 species of warbler.
For more details about when to visit and seasonal wildlife, see the Chippenham Fen pages on the National Archives
Directions
The reserve is 6 miles north of Newmarket between the village of Chippenham and the town of Fordham.
The nearest train stations are in Newmarket and Kennett (five kilometres to the east).
Fordham is accessed via the A142, and Chippenham via the B1085 from the A11 (A14). The nearest car parking is in Fordham and Chippenham.
Volunteers
There is a regular volunteer group on a Thursday. There are opportunities to assist with practical work such as cutting and raking fen vegetation, repairing fences and undertaking wildlife and water level survey. There is a monthly visit by a moth recording group who welcome new faces.
Contact
Email brecklandnnr@naturalengland.org.uk
Telephone: 01638 721329
Holme Fen
Holme Fen is a rare and isolated remnant of fen habitat lying at the lowest most westerly point of the East Anglian fen basin.
Main habitats: birch woodland, remnant ancient bog, heathland, acid grassland
Management: Natural England, in partnership with the Environment Agency, The Wildlife Trust, Huntingdonshire District Council and Middle Level Commission
The Great Fen Project started with the purchase of 82 hectares of land (Darlows Farm), to the North of Woodwalton Fen in 2002. Since then the project has acquired approximately 60% of the total project area and almost 1500 hectares is under conservation management.
Features of interest
Further information about the NNR, its wildlife and special features is on the Holme Fen page of the Great Fen website.
Safety
There are several deep ditches across the site where the water level is often very low. Do not attempt to enter these ditches under any circumstances.
Directions
The reserve is immediately north of the B660 midway between the villages of Holme and Ramsey St Mary’s (2 km to the east and west respectively). The town of Yaxley is 7 kilometres to the north west and Peterborough is 12 kilometres to the north.
There is a mainline train station in Peterborough.
There are regular bus services from Peterborough to Ramsey St Mary’s.
School and community groups
The Wildlife Trust countryside classroom at Ramsey Heights offers a number of educational programmes for school and further education groups to engage with nature. The classroom is on Chapel Road, Ramsey Heights, close to the Woodwalton Fen NNR and educational groups also visit the reserve at Woodwalton Fen and Holme Fen NNR.
Contact
For information about volunteering, or potential research opportunities or visits, email enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk or telephone: 0300 060 3900.
If you are interested in visiting the area with a group, contact the Great Fen team:
Email: info@greatfen.org Telephone: 01487 710420
Monks Wood
Monks Wood is one of Britain’s best known lowland woods, home to many species of wild plant and a rich insect fauna. The ancient woodlands of oak, ash and field maple trees have an understorey of hazel, blackthorn, dogwood and sallow. The rare wild service tree is frequent.
Main habitats: broadleaf woodland, neutral grassland
Area: 157 hectares
Dogs must be kept on a lead.
Features of interest
Over 1,000 different kinds of beetles have been found here, making the wood one of the top sites in Britain for these insects. The ground flora includes many species typical of ancient woodland including bluebell, wood anemone, and yellow archangel.
Among over 400 species of plants are a number of local and national rarities including greater butterfly orchid, violet helleborine, crested cow-wheat, small teasel and water purslane. The first British record of the rare black hairstreak was made in Monks Wood in 1828, and this butterfly can still be found today.
A good range of woodland birds are found including woodcock, tawny owl, and lesser spotted woodpecker. Red Kite and buzzard breed regularly. Mammals such as badger, hare and fox are seen often and Muntjac deer are numerous.
Further information about the reserve’s seasonal highlights and history is on Natural England’s archived pages on this NNR.
Directions
The reserve is situated a mile from the nearest settlement, the village of Woodwalton.
Buses from Huntingdon and Sawtry stop at Alconbury Hill, about 1 mile from the reserve.
The nearest train station is Huntingdon (6 miles).
The reserve is signposted from local roads but not from the A1(M) or the A14 which pass close by. The wood is immediately to the north of the B1090 which can be reached from J15 of the A1 between Sawtry and Alconbury. There is a small car parking bay on the B1090, and another 2 on the minor road from Sawtry to Woodwalton on the East side of the reserve.
School and community groups
Guided walks are offered to community groups. The reserve offers good opportunities for A level and undergraduate studies looking at woodland ecology.
Volunteers
The reserve is always looking for volunteers – for example patrolling, site management, plant recording, or help with events. On Mondays and Wednesdays volunteers help with habitat restoration or maintenance work such as fencing, scrub clearance, or coppicing.
Contact
Email enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk
Telephone: 0300 060 3900
Upwood Meadows
Upwood Meadows consists of 3 fields lying on badly drained clay on the edge of the Huntingdonshire fens. The largest field, Bentley Meadow, has never been fertilised or sprayed and is richest in plant life.
Main habitat: lowland grassland
Management: Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire
Features of interest
Further information about the reserve, its wildlife and how to visit is on the Upwood Meadows website.
Contact information
The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire:
Email: cambridgeshire@wildlifebcn.org
Telephone: 01954 713500
Wicken Fen
Wicken Fen supports a wide range of characteristic fenland communities and is notable for its many different animals and plants. The site is also important in a European context for its mixed fen characterised by purple moor-grass.
Main habitat: fen
Management: National Trust.
Features of interest
Large areas of the site are cut and gathered each year, but increasingly other areas are grazed by both cattle and Konic ponies. The reserve forms the core area of the National Trust’s Wicken Vision which is a landscape project aimed at creating over 400 hectares of fenland from arable land around the NNR.
Further information about the NNR, its wildlife and how to visit is on the National Trust website.
Contact
Email: wickenfen@nationaltrust.org.uk Telephone: 01353 720274
Chris Soans
National Trust
Wicken Fen
Lode Lane
Wicken
Ely
CB7 5XP
Woodwalton Fen
Woodwalton Fen is a rare and isolated remnant of fenland habitat lying at the lowest most westerly point of the East Anglian fens. It’s one of very few remnants of fen habitat to survive the large scale drainage for agriculture between the 17th and 19th century which saw the loss of almost all the wetland habitat in the wider area.
Main habitats: mixed fen, marsh, reedbed, standing open water, scrub and woodland
Features of interest
Woodwalton Fen is a haven for fenland wildlife and houses many vulnerable and rare species. A recent study by the University of East Anglia highlighted the Fens of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire as a biodiversity hotspot being home to 25% of the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species and 82 species which are fen specialists.
The reserve is bustling with wildlife throughout the year. The nature trail information describes the 3 way-marked trails you can follow to experience the different features of the reserve.
Further information about the NNR, its marked trails and other activities is on the Woodwalton Fen page on the Great Fen website.
Directions
Woodwalton Fen is in Cambridgeshire, 2 kilometres west of Ramsey Heights village between Peterborough and Huntingdon. The nearest town is Ramsey, 5 kilometres to the east. Woodwalton Fen is open to visitors all year round but its additional function as a flood water storage facility may reduce access at times due to flooding, particularly during the winter months. Deep ditch water runs alongside the grassy paths at all times of year.
The reserve also has an ‘assistance dog only’ policy due the sensitive nature of the site.
There are mainline train stations at Peterborough and Huntingdon.
Woodwalton Fen can be reached by car on minor roads from the B1040, B1090 or A141. Parking is alongside the Great Raveley Drain close to the entrance of the reserve. Turn right before the entrance bridge and park along the edge of the bank. Parking is not suitable for coaches.
There are bus services from Peterborough to Ramsey Heights. Visit the Traveline website for details. Buses also run from Huntingdon to Ramsey.
Contact
For information about volunteering or visiting the reserve, email enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk or telephone: 0300 060 3900.
To contact the Great Fen team call 01487 710420 or e-mail info@greatfen.org