Arkley Lane and Pastures is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in

Arkley Arkley is an area of north London, England, within the London Borough of Barnet. It is located north-northwest of Charing Cross. It consists of a long village strung out between Barnet and Stirling Corner, roughly centred on the "Gate" pub, ...

in the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...

. Arkley Lane, off Barnet Road, is an old drovers' road. Located on the Barnet Plateau, it is now a quiet country lane with a traditional bank and ditch. The thick hedges are composed of

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

and

hornbeam Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Origin of names The common English name ''hornbeam' ...

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

field maple ''Acer campestre'', known as the field maple, is a flowering plant species in the family Sapindaceae. It is native to much of continental Europe, Britain, southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mountains. It has ...

and magnificent old pedunculate oaks. The hedge flora are dominated by

cow parsley ''Anthriscus sylvestris'', known as cow parsley, wild chervil, wild beaked parsley, Queen Anne's lace or keck, is a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant in the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae), genus ''Anthriscus''. It is also somet ...

, and the ditches have wetland flowers including

water figwort Water figwort is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Scrophularia auriculata'', found in western Europe and north Africa *''Scrophularia umbrosa ''Scrophularia umbrosa'', the green figwort, is a perennial herbaceous plant fou ...

and

wild angelica ''Angelica sylvestris'' or wild angelica is a species of flowering plant, native to Europe and central Asia. An annual or short-lived perennial growing to a maximum of , it has erect purplish stems and rounded umbels of minuscule white or pale p ...

. A small adjacent woodland, which is probably ancient, has nesting birds, including sparrowhawks,

willow warbler The willow warbler (''Phylloscopus trochilus'') is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly ...

s and

stock dove The stock dove (''Columba oenas'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae, the doves and pigeons. It is widely distributed in the western Palearctic. Taxonomy The stock dove was first formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Li ...

Muntjac deer Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...

are often seen there. The fields on either side of the lane are traditionally managed, some grazed by horses and others managed as hay meadows. Three fields which have escaped agricultural improvement support wild flowers typical of old grassland, such as

sneezewort ''Achillea ptarmica'' is a European species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the genus ''Achillea'' of the daisy family Asteraceae. Common names include the sneezewort, sneezeweed, bastard pellitory, European pellitory, fair-maid-of-Fr ...

and

pignut Hognut or pignut can mean any of a number of unrelated plants: * ''Bunium bulbocastanum'' (black cumin) or ''Conopodium majus'' (kippernut) of the Apiaceae * rushpeas, particularly ''Hoffmannseggia glauca'' (Indian rushpea) and ''Hoffmannseggia den ...

. There is only public access to the lane itself. The tarmacked road continues as a bridleway beyond the Barnet boundary to

Saffron Green Meadows Path in Saffron Green Meadows Saffron Green Meadows or Saffron Green Pasture is an area of public open space and farmland north of Arkley in Hertsmere, Hertfordshire, England. It is owned and managed by Hertfordshire County Council, and is part ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

and to the

A1 road A list of roads designated A1, sorted by alphabetical order of country. * A01 highway (Afghanistan), a long ring road or beltway connecting Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar * A1 motorway (Albania), connecting Durrës and Kukës * A001 highwa ...

See also

References

Further reading