Bedfordshire Nature Reserves | Wildlife Trust for Beds Cambs & Northants

A view across the water with trees, purple loosestrife and a white butterfly

Felmersham Gravel Pits in summer with purple loosestrife - Sophie Baker

Bedfordshire Nature Reserves

Nature Reserve Access Update

The majority of our nature reserves remain open with free access and we are delighted that support from our members enables us to offer this.

To ensure nature is still there for us in the future as well as right now please keep dogs on leads, follow our Reserve Access Guidelines and the Countryside Code and we respectfully ask that you don't visit a reserve if it is not possible to practise social distancing there without going off the path. Some reserves are in poor condition due to excess saturation with compromised infrastructures: these are being closely monitored and closures may in some cases prove necessary.

We reserve the right to close areas off quickly if we think there is an unmanageable risk to safety or wildlife. Please check individual reserve pages for updates. We are grateful for your understanding.

Become a member to support local nature reserves

Reserve Access Guidelines

Explore our Bedfordshire nature reserve

Red-tailed bumblebee on bird's foot trefoil

Arlesey Old Moat and Glebe Meadows

A moat with amphibians adjacent to an attractive stream and flower rich meadows and woodland

Cowslips

Barton Gravel Pit

A small gravel pit now a safe haven for chalk grassland

Begwary Brook - Andrew Green

Begwary Brook

Attractive marsh and open pools, next to the meandering river Great Ouse

view from above at Blow's Downs

Blow's Downs

Flower rich grassland on steep chalk hills.

Purple heath at Cooper's Hill Nature Reserve

Cooper's Hill

Bedfordshire's largest remaining area of heathland

Cople Pits - Pat Doody

Cople Pits

Water-filled former gravel diggings, now a series of secluded shady pools

Cut-throat Meadow in bloom

Cut-throat Meadow

Wildflower meadow with woodland strip and pond

Dropshort marsh

Dropshort Marsh

A remaining fragment of the traditional wet meadows that were once common around Toddington

Fancott Meadows credit. Wildlife Trust

Fancott Woods & Meadows

Traditional wildflower meadow and ancient woodland

Image of lake at Felmersham Gravel Pits

Felmersham Gravel Pits

A rich diversity of wetland and grassland developed after gravel extraction

Flitwick Moor

Flitwick Moor (& Folly Wood)

An important wetland with a mix of fen, meadow, wet woodland and fragile peaty soils

Lancot Meadow credit. Pat Doody

Lancot Meadow

A small chalky meadow with wildflowers and butterflies

Landpark Wood credit. Wildlife Trust

Landpark Wood

Small woodland with bluebells

A view from Old Warden Tunnel with oilseed rape and hawthorn blooming

Old Warden Tunnel

An oasis of wildflowers and bird song with a wonderful view towards Bedford

Lesser celandine

Pavenham Osier Beds (In memory of Horace Church)

An attractive reserve in a riverside setting

Pegsdon Hills

Pegsdon Hills and Hoo Bit

Steep hills and tranquil valleys in the Chilterns with magnificent views of the countryside

The Riddy

The Riddy

Riverside meadows with water vole

Bird's-foot trefoil

Sallowsprings

A traditional hay meadow rich in wild flowers

Sewell lane

Sewell Cutting

A tranquil, flower-rich reserve created by a long-gone railway

Sharnbrook Summit credit. Wildlife Trust

Sharnbrook Summit and Wymington Meadow

Two grassland reserves located near a rail tunnel

Totternhoe Knolls view credit. Henry Stanier

Totternhoe

The result of medieval quarrying with an array of chalk-loving wildflowers

Hare looking right in a green field

Brown hare (Lepus capensis) in arable field on farmland, Scotland, UK - Mark Hamblin/2020VISION

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Trumpington Meadows

Rebecca Green

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Nene Wetlands

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