The Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts which cover the United Kingdom. The EWT was founded in 1959, and it describes itself as Essex's leading conservation charity, which aims to protect wildlife for the future and the people of the county. As of January 2017, it has over 34,000 members and runs 87 nature reserves, 2 nature parks and 11 visitor centres.
Ingrebourne Marshes are a 74.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Hornchurch in the London Borough of Havering. Ingrebourne Valley Local Nature Reserve includes a small part of the SSSI west of the River Ingrebourne. The site is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust
Roding Valley Meadows is an 18.9 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Buckhurst Hill in Essex. It is part of a 65.2 hectare Local Nature Reserve with the same name, which is owned by Epping Forest District Council and Grange Farm Trust, and managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.
Danbury Common is a 70.2 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Danbury in Essex, England. Most of it is common land owned by the National Trust, and two areas, the Backwarden and Hitchcock's Meadows, are part of Essex Wildlife Trust's Danbury Ridge Nature Reserves.
Hunsdon Mead is a 34 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) west of Harlow and east of Roydon in Essex. The site is partly in Essex and partly in Hertfordshire, and it is jointly owned and managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust and the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. The SSSI also includes part of the neighbouring Roydon Mead. The planning authorities are East Hertfordshire District Council and Epping Forest District Council. Hunsdon Mead is registered common land.
Sawbridgeworth Marsh is a 6.3 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire, apart from a small area in the north which is in Essex. It is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. The planning authorities are East Hertfordshire District Council and Uttlesford District Council.
The Crouch and Roach Estuaries are a 1729 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at the mouth of the Crouch and Roach rivers in Essex. The Crouch part of the SSSI stretches from near Battlesbridge to Foulness Island, and the Roach from Rochford to the junction with the Crouch. Part of the site is in the Mid-Essex Coast Special Protection Area under the EC Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, and a Ramsar wetland site of international importance. It is also part of the Essex Estuaries Special Area of Conservation. An area of 65 hectares is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust as the Lion Creek and Lower Raypits nature reserve and 8 hectares at Woodham Fen, both of which are managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. A small area is also a geological SSSI, The Cliff, Burnham-on-Crouch.
Great Wood and Dodd's Grove is a 36.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. It is also a Local Nature Reserve called Belfairs. Essex Wildlife Trust runs the Belfairs Woodland Centre and manages the site together with Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.
Hamford Water is a 2,185.8-hectare (5,401-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Walton-on-the-Naze and Harwich in Essex. The site is a tidal inlet which has marsh grasslands, creeks, mud and sand flats, salt marshes, islands and beaches. It is described by Natural England as "of international importance for breeding little terns and wintering dark-bellied brent geese, wildfowl and waders, and of national importance for many other bird species." Rare plants include hog's fennel and slender hare's-ear. The main invertebrates are worms and thin-shelled molluscs. The largest island, Horsey Island, can be reached on foot at low tide across The Wade from Kirby-le-Soken.
Belcher's and Broadfield Woods is a 14.4 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Halstead and Braintree in Essex. It is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust as the Brookes Nature Reserve.
Hales and Shadwell Woods is a 15.4 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-east of Saffron Walden in Essex. Shadwell Wood has an area of 7.1 hectares and it is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. Hales Wood is a National Nature Reserve, and it is listed in the Nature Conservation Review.
West Wood is a 23.6 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Little Sampford, north of Thaxted in northwestern Essex. It is owned and managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.
Copperas Wood is a 13.8 hectare nature reserve between Ramsey and Wrabness in Essex. It is owned and managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust, and is part of the Stour and Copperas Woods, Ramsey Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Stour and Copperas Woods, Ramsey is a 77.1 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Wrabness and Ramsey in Essex. It is two separate areas, Stour Wood, which is owned by the Woodland Trust and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and Copperas Wood, which is owned and managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Stour Estuary is a 2,523 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Manningtree to Harwich in Essex and Suffolk. It is also an internationally important wetland Ramsar site, a Special Protection Area and a Nature Conservation Review site. It is part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and there are Geological Conservation Review sites in Wrabness, Stutton, and Harwich Part of the site is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and a small area is Wrabness Nature Reserve, a Local Nature Reserve managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.
Thrift Wood is a 19.4 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-east of Bicknacre in Essex. It is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.
Tiptree Heath Nature Reserve is a 25 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-west of Tiptree in Essex, England. It is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust together with the Friends of Tiptree Heath.
Abbotts Hall Farm is a 282 hectare nature reserve in Great Wigborough in Essex. It is the head office of the Essex Wildlife Trust, which manages the site. It is also part of the Blackwater Estuary National Nature Reserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest, Ramsar site, Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation, It is an important archaeological site, and includes a Scheduled Monument, Great Wigborough henge.
