List of local nature reserves in Buckinghamshire Facts for Kids

Buckinghamshire is a lovely county in south-east England. Its main town is Aylesbury. It's surrounded by other counties like Northamptonshire to the north and Oxfordshire to the west. As of 2020, Buckinghamshire is managed by two main councils: Buckinghamshire Council and Milton Keynes City Council. The county covers about 1874 square kilometers and is home to around 739,600 people.

Local Nature Reserves (LNRs) are special places in the UK that local councils protect. They are chosen because they have important plants, animals, or interesting geology. Councils own or lease these sites and make sure they are looked after. They can even create special rules to protect these areas.

What are Local Nature Reserves?
- Why are they important?
Buckinghamshire's Special Nature Spots
Key Terms to Know
Exploring Buckinghamshire's Nature Reserves
See also

What are Local Nature Reserves?

Local Nature Reserves are like natural treasures right in your local area. They are officially recognized by local councils under a law from 1949. This means they are important for nature and are kept safe for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

Why are they important?

These reserves are special because they protect unique local wildlife, plants, or interesting rocks and landforms. They help keep our environment healthy and are great places for animals to live. Councils have a duty to take care of them. They can also set up local rules to manage and protect these reserves.

Buckinghamshire's Special Nature Spots

As of 2016, Buckinghamshire has sixteen Local Nature Reserves. Most of these are in the area managed by Buckinghamshire Council. One is in Milton Keynes.

Some of these reserves are extra special! Two of them are also Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), which means they are nationally important for their wildlife or geology. Four others are part of the beautiful Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The biggest reserve is Black Park LNR, which is huge at 65.8 hectares. It's part of an even larger park called Black Park Country Park. The smallest site is Coombs Quarry, which is only 0.5 hectares. It's special because it has very old rocks from the Jurassic period and even some Romano-British history! Most of these places are open for you to visit, except for Buckingham Sand Pit.

Key Terms to Know

Here are some helpful abbreviations you might see when learning about nature reserves:

BBOWT = Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust: A group that helps protect wildlife in these counties.
CAONB = Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: A beautiful area with special landscapes and wildlife.
CVRP = Colne Valley regional park: A large park area with lots of green spaces and water.
NT = National Trust: A charity that protects historic places and natural beauty spots.
SSSI = Site of Special Scientific Interest: A place that is very important for its plants, animals, or geology.

Exploring Buckinghamshire's Nature Reserves

Here's a list of the Local Nature Reserves in Buckinghamshire, with some cool facts about each one:

Site	Photograph	Area (hectares)	Location	What makes it special
Bacombe Hill	Bacombe Hill	24.6	Upper Bacombe	This hill has chalk grassland with many different plant species. You can find rare butterflies like the chalkhill blue here. It's also known for its beautiful orchids.
Black Park	Black Park lake	65.8	Wexham	This large park has rare heathland and woodlands. It's home to many animals, including 18 types of butterflies and birds like hobbies and nightjars. You might even spot snakes and lizards!
Blue Lagoon	Blue Lagoon	33.1	Milton Keynes	This site has a deep, clean lake with lots of wildlife. The land around the lake has grown into grasslands, bushes, and woodlands, which are typical of chalk areas.
Brush Hill	Brush Hill	14.7	Princes Risborough	Here you'll find chalk grassland, woodlands, and scrub. Look for beautiful flowers like wood anemone and birds like nuthatches. Sheep graze here in winter to help manage the grassland.
Buckingham Sand Pit	Buckingham Sand Pit	1.8	Buckingham	This site is important for geology! It shows layers of clay, sand, and pebbles from the Anglian Ice Age, about 450,000 years ago, when Buckingham was covered in ice. It's not open to the public.
Captain's Wood	Captain's Wood	13.9	Chesham	This is an ancient beech woodland, meaning it's been a forest for a very long time. In spring, the ground is covered in a beautiful carpet of bluebells.
Chairborough Road	Chairborough Road	3.9	High Wycombe	This reserve has different habitats like chalk grassland and woodland, which means many different plants and animals live here. You might see birds like bullfinches, or even muntjac deer and badgers.
Coombs Quarry	Coombs Quarry	0.5	Buckingham	Even though it's small, this site is very interesting! It has special rocks from the Jurassic period and was even used by Romans for making lime.
Gomm's Wood	Gomm's Wood	18.1	High Wycombe	This site has chalk grassland and ancient woodland. The woods are home to birds like bullfinches and chaffinches. The grassland has many types of orchids and lots of insects like bees and butterflies.
Holtspur Bank	Holtspur Bank	6.6	Beaconsfield	Half of this site is chalk grassland and half is ancient woodland. It has many different species, including lots of orchids. It's one of the few places in South Buckinghamshire where dormice have been found!
Northmoor Hill Wood	Northmoor Hill Wood	8.7	Denham	This wood has wet clay areas with alder trees and special plants like sedges. It's also geologically interesting, with rocks from the Tertiary and Cretaceous periods.
Prestwood (Picnic Site)	Prestwood Local Nature Reserve	2.1	Prestwood	This reserve has a steep chalk grassland slope with many different and some rare plant species. You can spot birds like bullfinches and various butterflies, including dingy and grizzled skippers.
Sands Bank	Sands Bank	11.1	High Wycombe	This site has a mix of woodland, scrub, and grassland. Some of the beech trees are 400 years old! You might see roe deer and hazel dormice here, along with many types of fungi.
Snakemoor	Snakemoor	1.8	Haddenham	Snakemoor became a nature reserve in 1987. It has a hay meadow, woods, and a pond. Over 100 types of flowers and plants grow here, including beautiful snowdrops and a native daffodil called lent lily.
Warren Nature Reserve	Warren Nature Reserve	2.3	Wooburn	The River Wye runs along one side of this reserve, making it a great home for birds like mallards, herons, and kingfishers. The woods have many trees like ash and oak, and animals like badgers and bats.
Whiteleaf Hill	Whiteleaf Hill	11.0	Princes Risborough	The southern part of this hill has ancient beech woodland. Even though many trees were lost in storms, new ones are growing back. You can see birds like whitethroats and butterflies such as the speckled wood and the peacock.