Surrey Wildlife Trust
Surrey Wildlife Trust was founded in 1959 as Surrey Naturalists' Trust and it is one of forty-six wildlife trusts covering Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and Alderney. In 2002 it took over Surrey County Council's large countryside estate. As of 2018 the SWT manages more than of land for wildlife and employs more than 100 staff. It had an income of £5.4 million and expenditure of £5.3 million.
As of July 2019 the SWT manages seventy-seven nature reserves. Thirty-five are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, nine are Special Protection Areas, eight are Special Areas of Conservation, one is a National Nature Reserve, fourteen are Local Nature Reserves, four are Nature Conservation Review sites, two are Geological Conservation Reviews, seven include Scheduled Monuments and two are listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.
Surrey is a county in South East England. It has an area of and an estimated population of 1.19 million as of 2017. It is bordered by Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. Its top level of government is provided by Surrey County Council and the lower level by eleven boroughs and districts, Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, Guildford, Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Tandridge, Waverley and Woking.
Key
Public access
- FP = public access to footpaths through the site
- NO = No public access
- PL = public access at limited times
- PP = public access to part of the site
- YES = public access to the whole or most of the site
Classifications
- GCR = Geological Conservation Review
- LNR = Local Nature Reserve
- NCR = Nature Conservation Review
- NNR = National Nature Reserve
- RHPG = Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest
- SAC = Special Area of Conservation
- SM = Scheduled Monument
- SPA = Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds
- SSSI = Site of Special Scientific Interest
Sites
| Site | Photograph | Area | Location | Public access | Classifications | Description |
| Ash Ranges | Pirbright | PL | SPA, SSSI | This large area of dry heath provides a habitat for many rare plants, inverebrates and reptiles. There are flora such as bell heather, early-purple orchid and the carnivorous round-leaved sundew, and heath tiger and green tiger beetles, while birds include nightjars, woodlarks and Dartford warblers. | ||
| Ashtead Park | Ashtead | YES | LNR, RHPG | The nature reserve was formerly part of the park of Ashtead House. It is mainly woodland on heavy London Clay and it has two ponds. Fauna include the broad-bodied chaser and emperor dragonflies and common blue damselfly. | ||
| Barossa | Camberley | YES | SPA, SSSI | This site is mainly heathland with areas of pine and deciduous woodland. Birds include nightjars, woodlarks and Dartford warblers. There are snakes such as adders and grass snakes, and lizards include slow worms and common lizards. | ||
| Bay Pond | Godstone | NO | SSSI | This is an educational reserve run by the Trust, with facilities such as an outdoor classroom. It has four ponds and the main one is believed to have been made in 1611 to hold back water for a mill. Other habitats are wildflower meadows and a mature alder swamp. Butterflies include gatekeeper, ringlet, small skipper and orange tip. | ||
| Betchworth Quarry and Lime Kilns | Betchworth | YES | SAC, SSSI | This chalk downlands site is part of the North Downs and the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It has a rich variety of flowering plants, including orchids. The lime kilns house a variety of bat species, such as the whiskered, Natterer's, brown long-eared, Brandt's and Daubenton's. | ||
| Bisley and West End Commons and Reidon Hill | Woking | YES | LNR, SAC, SPA, SSSI | This site has heath, grassland and woodland. There are mammals such as roe deer, and invertebrates include adders, grass snakes, slow-worms and common lizards. | ||
| Blindley Heath | Godstone | YES | LNR, SSSI | This damp grassland site on Weald Clay has a rich flora. There are also a number of ponds and the Ray Brook runs through the heath. The grassland is dominated by tussock grass and there are scattered oaks, hawthorns, willows and blackthorns. | ||
| Brentmoor Heath and Folly Bog | Woking | YES | LNR, SAC, SPA, SSSI, | The nature reserve has heathland, woodland, acid grassland and ponds. There are grass snakes and adders and birds such as woodlarks, Dartford warblers, peregrine falcons and hobbies. | ||
| Broadstreet, Backside and Rydes Commons | Guildford | YES | These commons provide access to nature for people in the local area. The site has poor acidic grassland, oak and semi-mature birch woodland and ponds. | |||
| Brockham Limeworks | Brockham | YES | SAC, SM, SSSI | This former chalk quarry ceased operation in 1936. It had two batteries of lime kilns, which have become roosting sites for bats. Some of the floor of the quarry has become species-rich chalk grassland, with plants such as broad-leaved helleborine and pyramidal, common spotted, fragrant and bee orchids. | ||
| Brookwood Lye | Brookwood | NO | This is mainly wet grassland which has a rich variety of flora. Other habitats include alder carr and broadleaved woodland. There are many birds and invertebrates such as dragonflies. | |||
| Burner's Heath and Swallows Pond | Pirbright | YES | This site is mainly woodland. It is a conifer plantation with areas of broadleaf trees, heath and acid grassland. | |||
| Chinthurst Hill | Guildford | YES | LNR, SM | The hill has woodland and dry acid grassland. There are woodland flowering plants such as wood anemone, yellow archangel, wood forget-me-not, red campion, common figwort, butcher’s broom and lady’s smock. | ||
| Chitty's Common | Guildford | YES | This urban common has wet and dry woodland, grassland, ponds and ditches. There are large amounts of dead wood which provide a habitat for invertebrates such as stag beetles. The grassland has many butterflies such as commas, red admirals and peacocks. | |||
| Chobham Common | Chobham | YES | NCR, NNR, SAC, SM, SPA, SSSI | The common has a variety of habitats, such as wet and dry heathland, and its fauna and flora include many rare and scarce species, such as marsh clubmoss and marsh gentian. There are more than eighty birds species, including nationally important breeding populations of nightjars, woodlarks and Dartford warblers. The site is also very important for invertebrates, with sixty-four rare or scarce species, including the ant Formica rufibarbis, the robber fly Eutolmus rufibarbis and the silver-studded blue butterfly. | ||
| Colekitchen Down | Gomshall | NO | This sloping area of species-rich unimproved chalk grassland is surrounded by woodland and scrub. There is a variety of butterflies including chalkhill blue, small heath, adonis blue, gatekeeper, brimstone and marbled white. | |||
| Crooksbury Hill | Farnham | YES | SM | There are extensive views from the top of the hill over south-west Surrey and east Hampshire. The site has sandy soil with heath and woodland. It was formerly part of Crooksbury Common, and the trees were planted after the area was enclosed in 1848. Soldier's Ring on the north side of the hill is a Scheduled Monument: it is a hillfort dating to the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age. | ||
| Cucknell's Wood | Shamley Green | YES | Birds in this 400 year old semi-natural wood include great spotted woodpecker, lesser spotted woodpecker, willow tit, treecreeper, nuthatch, goldcrest, green woodpecker and tawny owl. There are mammals such as dormice. | |||
| Dawcombe | Reigate | NO | SAC, SSSI | This site is mainly chalk grassland with large areas of hawthorn scrub and woodland. The grassland provides a habitat for many species of orchids, including pyramidal, fly, common spotted, man, greater butterfly, fragrant and bee. | ||
| Deepdene Terrace | Dorking | YES | This woodland reserve has an avenue of beech trees and rhododendrons. There are also oaks, sweet chestnuts, yews, common limes and silver birches. The site also has grassland. | |||
| Dollypers Hill | Coulsdon | YES | This urban site has ancient woodland, chalk grassland and scrub. Grassland flowering plants include grass vetchling, eyebright, kidney vetch, bird's-foot trefoil, wood anemone, quaking grass and bluebell. | |||
| Elstead Group of Commons | Elstead | YES | SPA, SSSI | This site has heath, woodland and dry acid grassland, with scrub controlled by a herd of Belted Galloway cattle. It is important for saproxylic invertebrates, such as stag beetles. There are several ponds with a population of around a thousand toads. | ||
| Fames Rough | Chipstead | YES | SSSI | This site is notable for its wild flowers. Part of it is grassland which is periodically ploughed in order to provide a habitat for three very rare arable weeds, ground pine, cut-leaved germander and mat-grass fescue. | ||
| Farncombe Wood | Godalming | YES | This steeply sloping wood was donated to the trust in 2003. It is mainly hazel coppice with oak standards. Ground flora include bluebells, wood anemone, yellow archangel and pignut. | |||
| Fir Tree Copse | Dunsfold | YES | SSSI | This is oak and ash woodland, with hazel coppice. Pipistrelle bats have been recorded, together with birds such as the tawny owl and willow warbler. There are many species of fungi on rotting logs, and invertebrates include the nationally scarce common fan-foot moth. | ||
| East Horsley | YES | Almost 180 plant species and more than 50 of birds have been recorded in this woodland site, including woodpeckers, nuthatches, treecreeper and tawny owls. There are amphibians such as common toads and great crested newts. | ||||
| Fraser Down | Dorking | NO | SAC, SSSI | This is mainly chalk downland with some yew and beech woodland. The grassland has the rare silver-spotted skipper butterfly and wild flowers such as cowslip and wild marjoram. | ||
| Glory Wood and Devil's Den | Dorking | YES | SM | The highest points of this wooded site have views over the North and South Downs. The main trees are oak and sweet chestnut and mammals include bats, roe deer, badgers and foxes. | ||
| Gracious Pond | Chobham | NO | SSSI | This site has heath, wet woodland and ponds. Fauna include common toad and raft spiders, which can run on water. There are heathland plants such as round-leaved sundew and trees include beeches. | ||
| Graeme Hendrey Wood | Bletchingley | YES | This former sand and gravel quarry is now a wood, with ash, oak, sycamore, sweet chestnut, hazel and silver birch. Ground flora include enchanter’s nightshade, bird's-nest orchid and dog’s mercury. | |||
| Hackhurst Downs | Guildford | YES | LNR, SSSI | Much of this steeply sloping site is chalk grassland which is grazed by goats, and there are also areas of mature woodland and scrub. Flowering plants include wild marjoram, hedge bedstraw, vervain, harebell and mouse-ear hawkweed. | ||
| Hedgecourt | Felbridge | YES | SSSI | This lakeside site has wet alder woodland, willow carr, damp oak woods and reedswamp. Twelve species of dragonfly have been recorded and breeding birds include water rails, mute swans, sedge warblers and tufted ducks. | ||
| Hill Park | Tatsfield | YES | LNR | This site on the slope of the North Downs has flora-rich chalk grassland with fly, bee and pyramidal orchids. There is also woodland with ash, beech, yew and an avenue of horse chestnut. | ||
| Howell Hill | Epsom | YES | There are chalk spoil heaps on this calcareous grassland site. Around 260 species of flowering plants have been recorded, including mouse-eared hawkweed, kidney vetch, common spotted orchid, common knapweed, fragrant orchid and white helleborine orchid. | |||
| Kitchen Copse | Bletchingley | NO | This ancient semi-natural wood has diverse species of trees and ground flora. Flowering plants include dog's mercury, lesser celandine, yellow archangel, bluebell, enchanter's nightshade, primrose and common dog-violet. | |||
| Ledgers Wood | Chelsham | YES | This semi-natural wood is mainly oak, with other trees such as silver birch, ash, holly, hawthorn and sweet chestnut. Flowering plants include bluebell, lesser celandine and primrose. | |||
| Littlefield Common | Worplesdon | YES | The common has wet and dry woodland, heath, grassland and ponds, which have a variety of amphibians such as newts, toads and frogs. Flora include common yellow sedge and heath spotted-orchid. | |||
| Manor Farm | Byfleet | FP | This was part of a deer park in the seventeenth century and in the Second World War the wet meadows next to the River Wey were ploughed as part of the Dig for Victory campaign. The site was then a market garden until 2006. The Trust acquired it in 2009 and is restoring it to its natural state. | |||
| Middlebriars Wood | Shackleford | YES | This is a small mixed wood in a residential area of Hurtmore. The trust is working to improve its ecological value. | |||
| Milford Green and Coxhill Green | Chobham | YES | These greens have wet and dry woodland with several ponds. Milford Green is mainly oak with other trees such as silver birch, horse chestnut, sweet chestnut, beech and elm. Coxhill Green is broad-leaved woodland with an area of Scots pine. | |||
| Milton Heath and The Nower | Dorking | YES | This site has woodland, heath and grassland. Birds include green woodpeckers, great spotted woodpeckers, tawny owls, nuthatches and treecreepers. | |||
| Newdigate Brickworks | Newdigate | YES | The clay pits of this former brickworks are now lakes and ponds which provide habitats for great crested newts and dragonflies such as the broad-bodied chaser and emperor. Other habitats are woodland, scrub, grassland and marsh and 188 plant species have been recorded. | |||
| Newlands Corner | Guildford | YES | This site is on a chalk ridge of the North Downs at a height of, which gives view across the Weald to the South Downs. The habitats are chalk grassland and mixed woodland. Mammals include roe deer and hazel dormice. | |||
| Norbury Park | Dorking | YES | RHPG, SAC, SSSI | The park was purchased by Surrey County Council to protect the land from being developed for housing and it is still managed for nature conservation. It has three farms, woodland, calcareous grassland and a stretch of the River Mole. Yew trees in Druid’s Grove are thought by SWT to be almost 3,000 years old. | ||
| Nower Wood | Leatherhead | NO | This is an educational reserve which hosts classrooms and children's events. It is mainly ancient oak woodland with areas of hazel coppice, chalk grassland, heath and artificial ponds which are used for pond dipping. There is a variety of birds such as woodcock and wood warbler. | |||
| Nutfield Marshes | Nutfield | PP | These former sand quarries along the Redhill Brook are now wetland nature reserves called The Moors, Spynes Mere, and Holmethorpe Lagoons. They provide habitats for many birds, with 144 species recorded in Holmethorpe Lagoon. Spynes Mere has three lakes. | |||
| Papercourt Marshes | Send | NO | SSSI | This wetland site has standing water scrapes, reed beds, marshes, wet woodland and grassy rides. More than a hundred species of bird have been recorded and the site also has a rich variety of aquatic plants and invertebrates. | ||
| Poors Allotment | Camberley | YES | SPA, SSSI | This site got its name because it was set aside under an early 19th century Enclosure Act to allow poor people to gather turf and bracken as fuel. It has heath, acid grassland and woods. Its importance lies in its fauna, such as woodlarks, nightjars, Dartford warblers, adders and several species of butterfly. | ||
| Priest Hill | Epsom | PP | More than 1,500 tons of tarmac and rubble were cleared from these former playing fields to create a grassland nature reserve. Three ponds have been created and cut grass and other plant matter from another reserve has been spread over some areas to introduce the seeds of wild flowers such as kidney vetch. | |||
| Pucks Oak Barn and McAlmont Reserves | Guildford | YES | This site is composed of four small woodland reserves, Farncombe Wood, Glebe Wood, Hayden's Copse and Pucks Oak Barn and Orchard. Ground flora include bluebells, wood anemone, ground elder and yellow archangel. | |||
| Puttenham Common | Puttenham | YES | SM, SSSI | This is a fragment of a formerly extensive heath, with other habitats including wet and dry woodland and ponds. The site is of archaeological interest, with the main feature being Hillbury hillfort, which probably dates to the Iron Age. | ||
| Quarry Hangers | Caterham | YES | SSSI | This chalk grassland site has very diverse flora and in some areas there are forty different species in a square metre, such as birdsfoot trefoil, salad burnet, wild strawberry, bee orchid, marjoram and wild thyme. | ||
| Rodborough Common | Milford | YES | LNR | Sheep and cattle were grazed on the common in the 19th century, and it was used for military exercises in the Second World War. It has heath, woodland and acid grassland. Flora include greater stitchwort, enchanter's nightshade and germander speedwell, and there are reptiles such as grass snakes, slowworms and common lizards. | ||
| Runfold Wood | Farnham | YES | This former beech plantation was badly damaged by the major storms of 1987 and 1990. It is now regenerating naturally as a mixed woodland. It has rare invertebrates, lichens and fungi together with birds such as blackcaps and nuthatches. | |||
| Seale Chalk Pit and Meadow | Farnham | NO | GCR, SSSI | Part of this former quarry is a geological SSSI which exposes rocks of the Hog’s Back and exhibits the separation of the folding Mesozoic rocks of the Weald from the Tertiary sediments of the London Basin. The site has a variety of butterflies and more than 130 species of chalk grassland plants have been recorded. | ||
| Shabden Park | Chipstead | FP | SSSI | This is a working farm which has wildlfower meadows on chalk grassland together with areas of woodland. It has a nationally scarce species of mining bee and other fauna include Roesel's bush-cricket and a variety of birds and butterflies. | ||
| Sheepleas | East Horsley | YES | GCR, LNR, SSSI | This sloping site on the North Downs has woodland, scrub and botanically rich grassland. The diverse invertebrate fauna includes two nationally rare flies, Norellia spinipes and Microdon devius. A cutting in Mountain Wood exposes a unique gravel Pleistocene deposit which throws light on the Quaternary history of the Weald and the evolution of the London Basin. | ||
| Sheepwalk Lake | Shepperton | YES | This former gravel pit was allowed to flood, unlike many others in the area which were used for landfill sites. It is used by more than 100 species of resident and migratory birds, including, kingfishers, herons, tufted ducks, moorhens, coots, cormorants and great crested grebes. | |||
| Shere Woodlands | East Clandon | YES | LNR, SSSI | This site on a slope of the North Downs is mainly woodland and scrub, with a small area of unimproved chalk grassland. The woodland is dominated by beech and yew. There is a wide variety of bryophytes, including the rare moss Herzogiella seligeri. | ||
| St Martha's Hill and Colyer's Hanger | Chilworth | YES | NCR, SM, SSSI | There is a church on the top of St Martha's Hill, which has views of eight counties on a clear day. The site is woodland and calcareous grassland, which has a rare mixture of chalk grassland flora. | ||
| Staffhurst Wood | Oxted | YES | LNR, NCR, SSSI | This common on Weald Clay has been wooded since the Anglo-Saxon period and past management has left many ancient trees intact. The canopy is mainly pedunculate oak and the older trees support a rich lichen flora. The moth fauna is outstanding, with six uncommon species. | ||
| Stringer's Common | Guildford | YES | This is one of eight commons in the parish of Worplesdon near Guildford. It was formerly used for grazing, but it is now mainly mixed woodland with some heath and grassland. | |||
| Thorpe Hay Meadow | Egham | YES | SSSI | This hay meadow in the flood plain on alluvial gravels of the River Thames has plants which thrive in lime-rich soil. It is surrounded by mature hedgerows and a drainage ditch has five species of willow, including purple willow and almond willow. | ||
| Thundry Meadows | Elstead | YES | SSSI | This site on the north bank of the River Wey grassland has alder carr, wet and dry woodland, ditches and springs. The meadows are maintained by Belted Galloway cattle, providing suitable conditions for harvest mice. An unusual habitat is quaking mire, a mat of vegetation floating on liquid peat. | ||
| Tilburstow Hill | Godstone | YES | This is a semi-natural broadleaved wood on the Greensand Ridge, with sweet chestnut, sessile and pedunculate oak, beech, silver birch and hazel. Ground flora include dog's mercury and garlic mustard. | |||
| Underdown | Farnham | YES | This reserve was donated to the Trust by Mrs Underdown in memory of her husband in 1987. It is a steeply sloping area of gorse and heather together with mixed woodland. There is a variety of invertebrates, including solitary wasps. | |||
| Vann Lake and Candy's Copse | Ockley | YES | SSSI | The lake is believed to date to the middle of the 18th century, when a stream was dammed to power a mill which was never built. It is surrounded by ancient wet and dry woodland on Weald clay. Over 900 species of fungi have been recorded, including six new to Britain, and one, Myarium crystallinum, never previously recorded. The stream has a nationally rare cranefly, Molophilus lackschewitzianus. | ||
| Wallis Wood | Dorking | YES | A stream runs through this woodland reserve, which has an area of meadow pasture on its bank. Woodland flora include bluebells, broad-leaved helleborine orchids, violet helleborine orchids, common spotted orchids, primroses and wood anemone. There is a rare spider, Hyptiotes paradoxus, which lives in yew trees and is only found in one other site in the county. | |||
| White Downs | Gomshall | YES | NCR, SSSI | This chalk grassland and mixed woodland site has many unusual fauna and flora. It has views across the countryside to Greensand Ridge. | ||
| Whitmoor and Rickford Commons | Guildford | YES | LNR, SPA, SSSI | This site on the heath of the London Basin has a variety of heathland habitats, as well as areas of woodland, meadow and still and running water. The heath has a nationally scarce spider, Oxyopes heterophthalmus and beetle Hyperaspis pseudopustulata and there are nationally important populations of several bird species. | ||
| Wisley and Ockham Commons and Chatley Heath | Wisley | YES | LNR, SPA, SSSI | This site is mainly heathland but it also has areas of open water, bog, woodland and scrub. It has a rich flora and it is of national importance for true flies and for dragonflies and damselflies. Rare species include the white-faced darter dragonfly and the Thyridanthrax fenestratus bee fly. | ||
| Wotton and Abinger Commons | Holmbury St Mary | YES | SSSI | Abinger Common, which was formerly a grazing heath, is a wood with sessile oak dominant and a shrub layer of holly and bilberry. Wotton Common has many paths and bridleways through calcareous grassland, heath and woodland. |