West Kent Golf Course is located in Downe in the London Borough of Bromley. Three areas totalling 9.2 hectares within the golf course, owned by the golf club, are managed by the London Wildlife Trust (LWT) as a nature reserve. The site is close to Down House, the former home of Charles Darwin. It is part of Darwin's Landscape Laboratory, which was the UK's unsuccessful 2010 nomination as a World Heritage Site, [1] [2] and is (as of 2016) on the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. [3] The nature reserve is also part of the West Kent Golf Course and Down House Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. [4]
According to the LWT, the most important part of the reserve is chalk grassland in a dry valley, and it "was crucial to Charles Darwin’s study of local wildlife that appeared in The Origin of Species and his later botanical books especially his study of orchids." It has a number of scarce orchids, including the nationally rare man orchid. [1] Other wild flowers include wild thyme and yellow rattle, and over 28 species of butterfly have been recorded, such as the increasingly scarce small blue. [5]
A public footpath from Milking Lane in Orpington crosses the site. [5]
London Wildlife Trust (LWT), founded in 1981, is the local nature conservation charity for Greater London. It is one of 47 members of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, each of which is a local nature conservation charity for its area. The Trust aims to protect London's wildlife and wild spaces, and it manages over 40 nature reserves in Greater London. One of its campaigns is to turn London's gardens into mini-nature reserves, and it provides education services for schools. Local groups work on reserves and organise walks.
East Blean Woods is a 151.4-hectare (374-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Herne Bay in Kent. It is also a National Nature Reserve a Special Area of Conservation and a Nature Conservation Review site. An area of 122 hectares is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust.
Park Gate Down or Parkgate Down is a 7-hectare (17-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-east of Stelling Minnis in Kent. It is also a Special Area of Conservation and is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust,
Queendown Warren is a 22.2-hectare (55-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-east of Rainham in Kent. It is a Local Nature Reserve, a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2, and a Special Area of Conservation.. It is in the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust, and part of it is owned by Plantlife.
Westfield Wood is a 5-hectare (12-acre) nature reserve north of Maidstone in Kent, which is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust. It is part of the Wouldham to Detling Escarpment Site of Special Scientific Interest and Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I.. It is also in the North Downs Woodlands Special Area of Conservation and the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Burham Down is a 110-hectare (270-acre) nature reserve between Maidstone and Chatham in Kent. It is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust. It is part of the Wouldham to Detling Escarpment Site of Special Scientific Interest and Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the North Downs Woodlands Special Area of Conservation.
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
Downe Bank is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust in the North Downs, close to Downe in the London Borough of Bromley. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) together with the neighbouring High Elms Country Park. Located close to Charles Darwin's home, Down House, it was one of his favourite places and helped to inspire his work.
Wansunt Pit is a 1.9 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Dartford Heath between Crayford in the London Borough of Bexley and Dartford in Kent. It is also a Geological Conservation Review site. It is important geologically because it exposes the Dartford Heath Gravel, and the relationship of this exposure to the Swanscombe sequence and the Thames Terraces is a controversial issue in Thames Pleistocene studies. The site is part of Braeburn Park, a nature reserve managed by the London Wildlife Trust.
Gutteridge Wood and Meadows is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in Yeading in the London Borough of Hillingdon, which is owned by Hillingdon Council and managed by the London Wildlife Trust (LWT). It is also part of the Yeading Brook Meadows Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, which includes two neighbouring reserves managed by the LWT, Ten Acre Wood and Yeading Brook Meadows LNRs.
Ten Acre Wood is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in Yeading in the London Borough of Hillingdon, which is owned by Hillingdon Council and managed by the London Wildlife Trust (LWT). It is also part of the Yeading Brook Meadows Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC), which includes two neighbouring LNRs managed by the LWT, Gutteridge Wood and Meadows and Yeading Brook Meadows LNR.
Yeading Brook Meadows is a 17 hectare Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in Yeading in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is owned by Hillingdon Council and managed by the London Wildlife Trust (LWT). In the north it adjoins Ten Acre Wood across the Golden Bridge and Charville Lane; it then stretches south along the banks of the Yeading Brook to Yeading Lane. The reserve is also part of the Yeading Brook Meadows Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, which includes two neighbouring LNRs managed by the London Wildlife Trust, Ten Acre Wood and Gutteridge Wood and Meadows.
Bacombe and Coombe Hills is a 76.4 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Upper Bacombe in Buckinghamshire. Bacombe Hill was formerly owned by Buckinghamshire County Council, which transferred it to Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust in 2014. Coombe Hill is owned by the National Trust.
Birdbrook Road Nature Reserve is a small nature reserve in Kidbrooke in the London Borough of Greenwich, which is managed by the London Wildlife Trust (LWT). It is a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, and was considered for designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Park Road Pond is a pond in Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is managed as a nature reserve by the London Wildlife Trust (LWT), and is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I.
Uxbridge College Pond is a small pond in the grounds of Uxbridge College in Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is managed as a nature reserve by the London Wildlife Trust (LWT), and is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I.
Broadham Down is a 16-hectare (40-acre) nature reserve east of Chilham and west of Canterbury in Kent. It is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust.
Kemsing Down is a 16-hectare (40-acre) nature reserve north of Sevenoaks in Kent. It is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust. It is in the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Fackenden Down is a 14-hectare (35-acre) nature reserve north of Sevenoaks in Kent. It is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust. It is part of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Otford to Shoreham Downs Site of Special Scientific Interest
Wouldham to Detling Escarpment is a 311.2-hectare (769-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Wouldham to Detling, north of Maidstone in Kent. Part of it is a Geological Conservation Review site, and it is part of the North Downs Woodlands Special Area of Conservation and the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and it includes three Kent Wildlife Trust nature reserves and a Local Nature Reserve,