SSSI Archives - Remote London https://www.remotelondon.com/tag/sssi/ Wild spaces & solitude on the edges of London Sun, 06 Sep 2020 14:26:40 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://www.remotelondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Greater-London-outline-favicon.png SSSI Archives - Remote London https://www.remotelondon.com/tag/sssi/ 32 32 179982959 Walking the London orbital motorways around Merstham in surrey https://www.remotelondon.com/merstham-motorway-walk-2/ Tue, 14 Jan 2020 15:32:29 +0000 http://www.remotelondon.com/?p=470 A chilly, wintry walk with my friend Emma, encircling Junction 7 of the M25 near Merstham in Surrey. We started with…

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A chilly, wintry walk with my friend Emma, encircling Junction 7 of the M25 near Merstham in Surrey. We started with gorgeous chalk grassland, grazed by pygmy goats, Jacob sheep & Herdwicks, before exploring marshes, churchyards, woodlands & finally the M25 embankment at rush-hour dusk.

We met at East Croydon and took the train down to Merstham. A footpath heads over and under the parallel railway lines here, before heading up the grassy slope of the M25 embankment. A footbridge leads over the motorway and then heads NE to join Rockshaw Road. We turned right, passing large houses, one with a moss-bound, armoured car in an overgrown driveway.

A dilapidated armoured car, with moss growing on the body and wheels
A dilapidated armoured car in an overgrown driveway.

Picking up the footpath, we crossed the M23 and headed uphill through cabbage fields and mud before picking up the Pilgrims Lane trackway, part of the North Downs Way.

Quarry Hangers

Once over Hilltop Lane and past a few large houses, a five-bar gate leads to a permissible way, overlooking a large, natural bowl in the hillside. This is part of Quarry Hangers, an area of rare chalk downland, now protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Quarry Hangers is grazed by a team of Herdwicks and Jacobs and pygmy goats. Carefully managed conservation grazing ensures that some spring, this hillside will be awash with rare wildflowers and colourful butterflies.

Counting rare breed sheep with the Downlands partnership, on Quarry Hangers SSSI
Counting rare breed sheep with the Downlands partnership, on Quarry Hangers SSSI
Sheep on the hillside at Quarry Hangers SSSI
Quarry Hangers SSSI

At the foot of Quarry Hangers, Spring Bottom Lane leads to another footpath which took us through wet fields, past ponds and young woodland to the M25. Passing under the motorway, we came to a landscape of newly planted trees and an aggregates quarry. Heading south, several footpaths seem to have disappeared under the works and an opposing field.

Crossing Water Lane Track, we passed Pendell School, admiring some puffed-out puffballs growing from old, mossy lots. From Pendell Road we headed west and took the footpath under the M23. We tracked south, past Glebe House before sheltering at Nutfield Parish Church as a blast of wet weather came in.

Puffball fungi
Puffball fungi

Nutfield Marsh

We followed the road towards Nutfield Marsh, passing gorgeous cottages. This area would be lovely to visit in spring or summer. The Inn on the Pond looked very tempting, but with the light fading, we saved it for another day.

The Tandridge Border Path passes Mercers Farm and the lake at Spynes Mere Nature Reserve, before heading up onto the motorway embankment and following the M25 westwards. This path felt nicely weird at dusk; with flashing views of the rush-hour traffic breaking through the silhouetted tree trunks.

The rushing traffic of the M25 seen through winter trees
The rushing traffic of the M25 seen through winter trees

As we passed Furzefield Wood the path got very muddy and wet. A sure sign we were closing on Merstham and hitting a more popular path, worn down by boots, paws and bicycle tyres. We picked up the path we started from, descending the embankment to Merstham Railway Station, and a return to London.

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]]> 470 Kempton Nature Reserve; a high security ex-reservoir in west London https://www.remotelondon.com/kempton-nature-reserve-a-high-security-ex-reservoir-in-west-london/ Wed, 08 Jan 2020 16:10:00 +0000 https://www.remotelondon.com/?p=696 Kempton Nature Reserve is a decommissioned and largely drained reservoir in west London. The site is now an internationally important nature…

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Kempton Nature Reserve is a decommissioned and largely drained reservoir in west London. The site is now an internationally important nature reserve, protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for the wildfowl which winter here.

Access is restricted, with only one open day each year, although there is a local membership scheme. Security is tight, with the reservoir ringed by a high fence. Two of the three bird hides are likewise protected by high security fencing; this is a very secure nature reserve.

High security bird feeders at Kempton. The cage allows smaller birds to feed without being picked off by larger birds of prey, such as sparrowhawk.
High security bird feeders at Kempton. The cage allows smaller birds to feed without being picked off by larger birds of prey, such as sparrowhawk.

Kempton Nature Reserve has grown from the former Kempton Park East Reservoir. The reservoir was closed in 1980 and drained in 1982. However, the reservoir has retained a residual amount of water, supplemented by rainfall. Since 1996 the reserve has been managed actively as a nature reserve by Thames Water.

Overlooking the drained and decommissioned Kempton Park East Reservoir
Overlooking the drained and decommissioned Kempton Park East Reservoir

On a grey January afternoon, there was a pleasing wildness to the former reservoir, brightened by colourful, big-billed shoveler ducks out on the water. As dusk fell, more than 100 chattering jackdaws flew in low, settling into their noisy woodland roost.

Shoveler ducks and other wildfowl on the former reservoir
Shoveler ducks and other wildfowl on the former reservoir

The nature reserve features a lake, reedbeds, islands and young woodland, growing within the former reservoir walls. If you live locally, check out the membership scheme, this is a great place to enjoy nature and a bit of peace and quiet. 

A wild, wet landscape within what was once Kempton Park East Reservoir
A wild, wet landscape within what was once Kempton Park East Reservoir
The reservoir embankment, showing water inlets at the top and a cascade staircase.

For more information on Kempton Nature Reserve and access, see Thames Water’s page on Kempton Nature Reserve

My thanks to Jane Clarke for company on this walk, undertaken in January 2020.  

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]]> 696 Exploring the Centenary Walk, Manor Park to Chingford https://www.remotelondon.com/centenary-walk-manor-park-to-chingford/ Wed, 06 Nov 2019 21:37:00 +0000 https://www.remotelondon.com/?p=869 The Centenary Walk stretches from Manor Park in east London to Epping in Essex. The full walk is about 15 miles…

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The Centenary Walk stretches from Manor Park in east London to Epping in Essex. The full walk is about 15 miles long and explores the length of Epping Forest. There is a halfway point around Chingford, allowing the walk to be done as two shorter walks.

A short walk from Manor Park station gets you to Wanstead Flats. These are part of Epping Forest, but the ancient woods are long gone from this area. The Abbots of Stratford were grazing sheep here in the 12th century, and it has been rough, open grassland ever since. Later tree planting has created small, cosmetic copses, and there are thickets of gorse, broom, and scrub.

Wanstead Flats also boasts countless football pitches, their side lines patrolled by dog walkers. The trees provide a playground for children, and shade for the inevitable drinkers and spliff-smokers, hooded but harmless.

Goal posts on Wanstead Flats
Goal posts on Wanstead Flats frame a copse of trees

Barrage balloons at Wanstead Flats

Less typical of an urban park are the occasional, incongruous metal posts with no obvious purpose. Some say these were used to tether barrage balloons to the ground during WW2. Such balloons deterred low altitude attacks by enemy aircraft, but as the Germans typically used high level bombing raids against London, they were largely ineffective.

However, barrage balloons were typically anchored to lorries, ships, or chunky concrete foundations. Others suggest the posts simply held a tensioned fence cable. 

Rose Stephens lives locally and shared the pic’s below. She tells me she’s pretty sure the posts have something to do with the barrage balloons which flew here, but their exact purpose remains a mystery.

Two roads cross the Flats, the A114 and Lake House Road. Between them lies Jubilee Pond and a section of heath which is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). This is wildlife-rich ‘acid grassland’, a previously grazed meadow which has escaped the sterilising effects of modern intensive farming. 

The Fred Wigg and John Walsh Towers

Ahead, the Fred Wigg and John Walsh Towers dominate the horizon and the football pitches and scrub below. During the 2012 Olympics, these monolithic blocks were topped with missile launchers, to defend against terrorist attack from the skies. Now their tenants await a new threat, redevelopment or demolition, although plans are currently on hold.

A pair of tall housing blocks in the distance, overlooking a wild space
The Fred Wigg and John Walsh Towers, as seen from Wanstead Flats

The Centenary Walk heads north, bordering an unkempt treeline and bushes, and then into Bush Wood. Away from the open fields, there are less people. The path passes under the busy A12 roundabout, then escapes into an open stretch of scrub and vegetation, leading towards Hollow Pond.

Dead trees silhouetted against the sky
A group of dead, blackened trees reach to the sky near Hollow Pond

Trees and fungi

Passing the small car park at Snaresbrook Road and then skirting a school, the natural surroundings seem to step up a notch. Open meadow mingles with patches of mature trees. Like much of Epping Forest, this is also an SSSI. With lots of dead wood on the ground, autumnal fungi were everywhere. I stopped here awhile, grabbing some lunch. A hungry crow kept me company, carefully sizing me up while awaiting crumbs. Aside from a couple of dog walkers, I had the place to myself.

Trees and open meadow
Marked on Google Maps as Fleazel’s Field, a good lunch stop
Fly agaric, a red toadstool with white spots
Fly agaric on the Centenary Walk
Fungi growing on dead wood
The dead wood in Epping Forest is great for fungi

Losing the Centenary Walk

I lost the Centenary Walk here, as it isn’t well signposted, and I was admittedly concentrating on the colourful fungi. My path took me to the busy A406 roundabout, where it loops over the dual-carriageway and under the feeder roads. Police tape was wrapped around a shattered, truncated streetlight. Bedraggled flowers and a white floral cross snagged drifts of car-thrown litter. All rather grim. A better path crosses the carriageway via a nearby footbridge. 

At least the underpass graffiti is friendly

Back on the correct path, I walked up to the boating lake in Highams Park. Here I saw a couple of big-nosed shoveler duck and at least two little grebe. The little grebe are fast and small, resembling hyperactive windup toys as they repeatedly dive for food.

The River Ching

With dusk falling around me, I crossed the A1009 and followed the River Ching’s braided channel through woodland. By the river, a tree hollow held a soggy collection of soft toys, a plastic doll, and a child’s book, perhaps a spiritual offering or memorial.

Soft toys heaped into the open hollow of a tree
A votive offering, memorial, or something else, off the beaten track.

At Hatch Plain, the Centenary Walk was sticky and muddy underfoot, the route churned by cyclists. At the A110 I considered abandoning my walk and following the road into Chingford, but I pushed on, into the murk of Whitehall Plain.

With luck I found a bridge across the Ching, then walked a spacious, wooded path towards Rangers Road. In the dark, nearby, an owl called.

Chingford and chips

The path led me to Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge, which dates back to 1543 and is now a museum. The neighbouring Tudor-style Premier Inn is impressively over-the-top, dating back to 1879, but rebuilt after fire.  

The path follows the road into Chingford and its end-of-the-line station. I finished off the walk with Chingford chips, then hopped onto an Overground train and headed home.

Bright orange fungus on dead wood
The Centenary Walk, fabulous for fungi

More information

Wanstead Flats

Epping Forest on Wikipedia

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]]> 869 Exploring Staines Moor, the River Colne & surrounding gravel pits https://www.remotelondon.com/exploring-staines-moor-river-colne-gravel-pits/ Sat, 31 Aug 2019 19:05:00 +0000 https://www.remotelondon.com/?p=747 Staines Moor is a stunning expanse of wildlife-friendly flood meadows in Surrey, enclosed by the M25, huge reservoirs & gravel pits.…

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Staines Moor is a stunning expanse of wildlife-friendly flood meadows in Surrey, enclosed by the M25, huge reservoirs & gravel pits.

Many of my walks end in darkness, and this one was no exception. There is an extra frisson to walking the urban edges in darkness, as your senses attune to the fading light and the sounds around you. I appreciate not everyone will enjoy that. With earlier starts such situations are easily avoided; you don’t have to walk with the bats.

I took the train out from Waterloo for this one, alighting at Staines. Crossing a bridge over the final stretch of the Rivers Wraysbury and Colne, just before they join the Thames, the B376 leads out of town. Moor Lane peels off to the right, and after a patch of open land, a path heads over the River Wraysbury and the railway line, before turning left, under the A30.

Staines Moor

The moor is a sudden, unexpected openness, rough terrain grazed by a few cattle. The River Colne meanders through the middle of the moor, a few footbridges providing crossing places. The water is sparkling and alive. On a summer’s day, it is hard to resist a barefoot paddle.

The River Colne winds across Staines Moor
The River Colne winds across Staines Moor

Staines Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), home to rare plants and with the neighbouring reservoirs, winter wildfowl. You will also find some of the oldest anthills in Britain, irregular low mounds across the moor. The ant hills are estimated to be more than 220 years old and are home to yellow ants.

The moor has been common land since 1065. It is special because it has avoided the fate of much of our countryside, which has been effectively wiped clean of wildlife by intensive agriculture.

The path leads north and leaves the moor to trace the side of the massive King George VI Reservoir, up to Stanwell Moor.

Looking through the fence towards the banks of the King George VI Reservoir
Looking through the fence towards the banks of the King George VI Reservoir

Stanwell Moor

Stanwell Moor is now a village, with Horton Road leading to Junction 14 of the M25, the London Orbital Motorway. The path passes under the slip roads and over the motorway, and Horton Road continues east, through a traffic-blasted industrial estate, lined with fag butts and discarded litter. Outgoing Heathrow aeroplanes roar overhead.

Looking down at the busy M25 from a footbridge
Up and over the M25

At The Golden Cross pub, a path leads unpromisingly from the car park and into a patch of woodland, which follows Stanwell Road. Inspecting a stolen, discarded cash drawer, I found it unsurprisingly short of coins, but now home to a disgruntled wood mouse. The wood was beautiful, but had an edgy feel to it, not helped by traces of ‘sex litter’ – the detritus of urgent, anonymous sex.

I managed to miss the Arthur Jacob Nature Reserve, which neighbours the wood. This small, wetland reserve sounds special; one I need to return to.

Horton and Berkyn Manor

Stanwell Road continues to Horton, passing Berkyn Manor Farm on the right. Within the grounds, Berkyn Manor is a crumbling manor house, abandoned since 1987 and much beloved of urban explorers. The poet John Milton lived here in the early 17th century and is honoured with a blue plaque on the farm entrance wall.

In Horton, just past a village green and the Crown and Kitchen pub, Park Lane heads south. At the end of this leafy lane, a rough track continues south, across a landscape of flooded gravel pits. This is a beautiful and little-trodden path, complete with a wild mirabelle plum tree. I visited during summer and the tree was loaded with delicious fruit, protected by nettles.

Gravel pits at Horton
Gravel pits at Horton

Reaching a railway track I tried cutting left, a beautiful diversion which led, eventually, to a tangle of impassable green. Retracing my steps, I found the foot crossing, and continued onto a field of horse pasture, complete with friendly ponies.

Pedestrian crossing over two railway tracks, with sunset
Crossing the lines at sunset

Joining Station Road, a left turn takes you to Wraysbury Station, and potentially a train home. Alternatively, a footpath follows the rail line, the narrow track fenced and pinched between Wraysbury Reservoir and the railway. This would get you back to Staines Moor, but I crossed the line and picked up another path, this one tracking the Colne Brook.

Gravel pits at dusk
Gravel pits at dusk

Dead ends and 14 lanes of traffic

With darkness falling fast, I made the mistake of following the Colne Brook to its union with the Thames. Ferry Lane and then a private road pass increasingly expensive, walled property, with the Brook babbling alongside. This is a nice little detour, as long as you are happy retracing your route. The track steps down into the Thames, and that is it. There is no river walk here, just a moored barge; the only way to continue forwards is to swim.

Now forced to pick up the busy Wraysbury Road, I trudged towards Staines, not enjoying the traffic. Where Wraysbury Road passes below the A30 and M25, a path cuts south, towards Runnymede Bridge. Anxious to escape the cars I followed the path, and up to the bridge. It is slightly surreal to find yourself gazing over the beautiful Thames, while behind you, 14 lanes of traffic roar blindly past.

Runnymeade Bridge, beautiful, as long as you look at the river and not the bridge.

Once over the bridge, I jumped a wooden fence and scrambled down the A30 embankment to the Thames Path. There is a path, if you walk a little farther, but I missed that.

The Thames Path leads safely back to Staines Bridge. Occasional flickers of light revealed silent, silhouetted anglers. The only scary moment was when my fading torch caught the bright, reflective eyes of a cat. Even a small predator can startle in the dark when you’re not expecting their company.

Back at the station, industrial action meant an hour’s wait for a train. Thankfully, a nearby pub offered cider and crisps before a train home.

Below Runnymede Bridge at night, not at all spooky

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]]> 747 Walking the wild side of Canvey Island https://www.remotelondon.com/walking-the-wild-side-of-canvey-island/ Mon, 27 May 2019 15:30:00 +0000 https://www.remotelondon.com/?p=817 Canvey Island offers a remote, wild walk, an easy 45 minutes away from London by rail. The top, western half of…

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Canvey Island offers a remote, wild walk, an easy 45 minutes away from London by rail. The top, western half of the island is a patchwork of low-lying fields and marsh, protected from the sea by a high river embankment. This is West Canvey Marsh, a nature reserve cared for by the RSPB.

A path follows the sea wall, tracing the outline of the island. You can walk all around if you wish, or walk out and back, keeping to the wild side.

From Benfleet station, take the road bridge over the creek. The low, green slope of the river embankment appears on the right, the path marked by a stilted, wooden signpost.

East Haven Creek, Canvey Island
East Haven Creek, Canvey Island

The grassy path overlooks saltmarsh and the creek. Wildflowers and scrub grow along the embankment. For a while, the unwanted noise of traffic competes with bird song, but then the path turns away from the road.

The sea wall follows the creek, ducking under the busy Canvey Way road bridge. Occasional paths lead down from the river wall and onto West Canvey Marshes.

Bowers Marshes and landfill

On the other side of the creek, another RSPB reserve, Bowers Marshes, supports rich wildlife. As so often with Thameside marshes, there is also landfill here, the huge Pitsea Landfill Site. Each year 800,000 tonnes of waste are heaped and landscaped across the former saltmarsh.

The marsh may have been lost, but a new RSPB nature reserve will be created here once the landfill has been capped and rendered safe.

East Haven Creek, Canvey Island
East Haven Creek, Canvey Island

The creek changes throughout the day, filling and draining with the tides. The flow changes with the tides and the skies, drifting from a tempting, sparkling blue to a sullen, murky brown.

Canvey Island and flooding

The path passes the East Haven Creek Barrier, part of a robust, local flood defence system. The area is very susceptible to flooding and homes need protecting. During 1953’s North Sea Flood, 58 people lost their lives on Canvey Island, drowning as the sea defences crumbled.

Holehaven Creek and the Coryton Refinery
Holehaven Creek and the Coryton Refinery

The embankment wall now follows Holehaven Creek towards the Thames. Looking across the creek, salt marsh gives way to Coryton Refinery, a sprawling complex of gas and oil cylinders, chimney stacks, and refinery equipment. The refinery is largely decommissioned, awaiting a new future. You can hire it for dystopian film shoots if your pockets are deep enough.

Canvey Wick

Back on Canvey Island, the path approaches the site of a would-be refinery. Construction began in the 1960s but was abandoned during the oil crisis of 1973, amid embargoes and rocketing oil prices.

A skeletal pier reaches out across the creek towards the deep water anchorages of the Thames. The pier is almost a mile long but was never used. Kayaking here, I once met a couple of stoners, happily adrift in cheap inflatables, seemingly unconcerned by the tides or breeze. They said it was better than watching TV, and I’d have to agree.

Canvey Wick Pier
Canvey Wick Pier, almost a mile long

The abandoned refinery is now a fabulous brownfield nature reserve called Canvey Wick, designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its environmental value. The wildlife is wonderful, rare, and also small, as this reserve is especially rich in invertebrates. Surveys have shown Canvey Wick to have more biodiversity per square foot than any other site in the UK.

Canvey Wick, nature reclaiming asphalt
Canvey Wick, nature reclaiming asphalt
Soldier beetles (Cantharis rustica) mating
Soldier beetles doing their thing at Canvey Wick Nature Reserve

You can wander around Canvey Wick and it is free to visit. The oil tanks were never built, but their huge, circular foundations can be found across the site, like abandoned rocket pads. The dark asphalt is slowly succumbing to nature and soaks up the sun’s heat, creating drowsy pools of warmth amid the scrub and wildflowers.

From the Canvey Wick nature reserve, busy main roads lead back to Benfleet, but it is preferable to retrace your steps, enjoying the salty views from a new angle.

Looking back at Holehaven Creek, the Coryton Refinery and the distant cranes of London Gateway Port.
Looking back at Holehaven Creek, the Coryton Refinery and the distant cranes of London Gateway Port.

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