Welcome to Uttlesford Wildlife.
This website is provided to give information about the wildlife that can be found in the rural countryside of Uttlesford District, around and between Saffron Walden, Great Dunmow and Stansted in north-west Essex. To find nature reserves and other sites of interest go to Places to Visit.
Although, in common with the rest of the country, this area has suffered from the impacts of development and intensive farming, there are still many places where rare species and attractive habitats can be found. The picture in our logo is Crested Cow-wheat, and Uttlesford is now one of the last parts of the UK where this species can be found. You can read more about this species on the Saffron Walden Museum website.
Ancient woodland with Oxlips, and chalk grassland roadside verges are specialties of the area. There are also marsh sites in our river valleys, and traditional orchards, all offering opportunities to see many wildflowers including orchids.
Help a Hedgehog today
Our gardens are an important habitat for Hedgehogs, which have suffered a massive population drop over the last few decades. Watch this cute video to see how to make your garden Hedgehog friendly. And if you are driving at night and see a Hedgehog on the road in front of you, stop the car and help it get to the side of the road !
More Information from –
Picture Gallery
A set of photos taken in this area to show the changing seasons.
Shadwell Wood in the Snow
EARTH OVERSHOOT DAY
Earth Overshoot Day is explained in a YouTube Video in this link https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GpozKNyWQWs. and on this webpage https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/newsroom/country-overshoot-days/
Britain’s Overshoot Day in 2026 falls on Friday May 22nd, and after that date all resources consumed are at the expense of unsustainable depletion and damage to the Earth. If everyone on the planet lived like us in Britain we would need 2.6 Earths to support us sustainably. If anyone tells you that a proposed development is sustainable then they are misleading you.
Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. Globally the human race is using 1.7 Earths of resources each year.
This graphic from the Overshoot Day website shows the trend from the 1970s onward, and apart from 2019 things are not improving.
Overshoot Days