Mill Hill Old Railway Nature Reserve is a 2.3-hectare (5.7-acre) Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet. [1] [2]
The reserve follows the route of the Highgate to Edgware line, closed in 1964, [3] of the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway, between Deans Lane and Bunns Lane.
Most of it, between Deans Lane and a short footpath from The Meads, is a closed site owned by the London Borough of Barnet and formerly managed by the London Wildlife Trust. It is open from 10am to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. The remaining stretch to Bunns Lane borders Lyndhurst Park. This is not managed and is very overgrown.
The reserve is wooded, with some areas of rough pasture and herbs, and is an important habitat for slowworms. The grassland has a variety of wild flowers including burnet saxifrage and the rare great burnet. [1]
The mosaic of gardens backing onto the reserve provides a good habitat for suburban birds, including sparrowhawk, green and great spotted woodpeckers, long-tailed tit, chiffchaff and blackcap.
Butterflies, moths and other invertebrates such as orange-tip, small copper and hoverflies are common.
Dollis Brook is a waterway which runs through Barnet in north London. It is a tributary of the River Brent, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames.
The London Borough of Barnet, located on the northern periphery of London and having much of the area within its boundaries in the Metropolitan Green Belt, has many parks and open spaces. In addition there are large areas taken over by cemeteries and golf courses, and part of Hampstead Heath.
Edgwarebury Park is a 22-hectare park in Edgware in the London Borough of Barnet. It was once part of the manor of Earlsbury, which was first mentioned in 1216. In the later Middle Ages it was owned by All Souls College, Oxford, and there is still evidence of the older landscape of fields and woodland. Hendon Rural District and Middlesex County Council bought the land in two parts in 1929 and 1932, and the park opened in the latter year. It is now owned and managed by Barnet Council.
The Silk Stream is a brook just over 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) long in the London Borough of Barnet. It is one of the major components of the Blue Ribbon Network.
Totteridge Fields is a 97-hectare Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) in Totteridge in the London Borough of Barnet. The SINC includes the privately owned Highwood Hill, and at the western end is a seven-hectare Local Nature Reserve owned by Barnet Council and managed by the London Wildlife Trust.
Rowley Green Common is a six hectare Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Importance Metropolitan for Nature Conservation in Arkley, north London. It is owned by the London Borough of Barnet. It is also registered common land.
Arrandene Open Space and Featherstone Hill is a 25 hectare Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet.
Scratchwood is an extensive, mainly wooded, country park in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet. The 57-hectare site is a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation and together with the neighbouring Moat Mount Open Space. It is a Local Nature Reserve.
Coppetts Wood and Scrublands is a 14.5-hectare (36-acre) Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I, between Muswell Hill and Friern Barnet in the London Borough of Barnet. It is part of the Coppetts Wood and Glebelands Local Nature Reserve.
Glebelands is a Grade I Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation in Colney Hatch in the London Borough of Barnet. It is also part of the Coppett's Wood and Glebelands Local Nature Reserve.
Rowley Lodge Field is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in Arkley in the London Borough of Barnet.
Copthall Railway Walk and Copthall Old Common is a 9-hectare (22-acre) Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet.
Totteridge Green is a five hectare Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in Totteridge in the London Borough of Barnet. It is also registered common land.
Edgware Way Grassland or Edgware Way Rough is a 6.7-hectare (17-acre) Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation in Edgware in the London Borough of Barnet. It is traversed by Edgwarebury Brook and contains traces of a planned railway viaduct and embankment. This was part of a planned extension of the Northern line from Edgware to Bushey, which was cancelled when the introduction of the Green Belt after the Second World War led to the cancellation of the developments which the railway was to serve. Part of the site is the Environment Agency's Edgwarebury Park Flood Storage Area.
Stoneyfields Park is a three-hectare public park in The Hale in the London Borough of Barnet.
Deans Brook is a two-kilometre-long stream which runs between Mill Hill and Edgware in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a tributary of the Silk Stream, which is a tributary of the River Brent, which is a tributary of the River Thames.
Drivers Hill is a ten hectare Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet. It is owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses, who built their national headquarters, Watch Tower House, on the site in 1955. The house is a major printing works where 120 million Jehovah's Witnesses periodicals were printed in 2002.
Mutton Brook is a stream which runs between East Finchley and Hendon in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a tributary of the River Brent, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames.
Clay Lane is a one kilometre long public footpath and bridle way in Edgware in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation.