Local Wildlife Site

Accessible Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation

Cudham Valley South

Borough: Bromley

Grade: Metropolitan

Access: Access on Public Footpaths only

Area: 336.47 ha

Description

A large area of superb countryside, the southern part of which is London’s only Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site contains numerous woodlands of varying sizes (such as Cudham Frith, The Grove, Blackbush Shaw and Joeland’s Wood), mostly overlying chalk. Many of the fields within the mosaic are not in themselves particularly diverse, but support declining farmland birds such as skylark. Blackbush Shaw is managed as a nature reserve by the Woodland Trust. It also includes Cudham Parish Church and churchyard. A number of public footpaths cross the remainder of the site.

Wildlife

Cudham Frith, the largest of the site's woods, is one of London's most botanically diverse woodlands. Its plant life includes fly orchid, broad-leaved helleborine and twayblade. Joeland's Wood is an acid beech wood with breeding marsh tits.The chalk grassland to the west of Cudham Frith has substantial populations of the nationally scarce chalk eyebright and the London rarity autumn gentian. The hedgerow system is one of the best in London with a high diversity of both woody and herbaceous (non-woody) species. These include many plants associated with ancient woodland, ith London rarities such as the parasitic plant toothwort. Cudham Parish Church and churchyard incorporates several unusual habitats. The church belfry is a potential bat roost and an extensive flint wall supports populations of two ferns that are rare within London: wall rue and maidenhair spleenwort. Throughout the valley, the chalk grassland supports a range of invertebrates including many butterflies such as ringlet, marbled white, common blue, and Essex-, small- and large skippers.

Facilities

Information (signs at Blackbush Shaw); horse riding.

View Interactive map

Autumn gentian © Mike Waite

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