Wildlife Walk 7 - Thaxted to West Wood nature reserve

A walk of about four miles to see the Essex Wildlife Trust West Wood nature reserve. OS Explorer Sheet 195. Starting from Margaret Street car park, OS Reference TL612310.

1. On leaving the car park, turn left along Margaret Street and walk to meet Weaverhead Lane. Turn right and walk to the bottom of the road. Turn left here into Copt Hall Lane. After passing cottages on the left hand side, a field is reached.

2. At the gate turn into this field and cross to join a path on the left hand edge running alongside the hedged tree area. The path turns left through the hedge to meet two bridges. Take the right hand bridge to go out into a field. Bear left and following the edge of this field walk into the next field. Again keeping to the edge of the field bear left to walk alongside the edge of a small wood.

3. Continue along the path ignoring others that join it to pass the electrical sub-station on the left and then reach a pylon. Turn right crossing the field to a bridge over a ditch. Cross this and continue on this path running along the edge of a field by a hedge. At the end of the hedge continue across the next field bearing left to follow the path as it turns towards the road. Follow the path as it goes between two cottages to join the Sampford Road.

4. Taking great care on this busy road, turn right walking along the grass verge for about 100 metres when the entrance and sign to West Wood nature reserve can be seen on the other side of the road. Cross with care, and walk down the track to reach the entrance of the nature reserve by its information board and map.

5. West Wood nature reserve lies on either side of the bridleway here, and has an extensive network of paths to follow. This is a working coppice wood managed on a traditional coppice rotation where trees are felled at intervals from about 10 years or longer to produce a structure of well spaced large trees with smaller younger trees between them, and coppice stools manly of Hazel between those. This rich structure creates great diversity of habitat and benefits a wide range of birds, mammals and insects, as well as providing light when the coppice is felled for the flowering plants of the ground flora to benefit from the increased light levels and then to flower.In Spring the rides have an extensive population of Oxlips, a national rarity but a regional speciality at their best in Mid April. In June they are followed by Common Spotted Orchids and a range of wildflower species that like the chalky clay soils of the wood. The small ponds in the wood are home to Great Crested Newt in Summer, so if you are walking with a dog please keep it out of the ponds. In Autumn the trees provide rich colours, and in mild damp years a range of fungi can be seen.

6. When you are ready to return to Thaxted go to the entrance that you came in by and rejoin the bridleway back to the Sampford Road, and then cross the road and return to Thaxted using the same route that you followed on the way here, but this time you will have the church spire as a landmark to aim for.