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.