Braeburn Park is a nature reserve in

Crayford Crayford is a town and electoral ward in South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the historic county of Kent until 1965. The settlement deve ...

in the

London Borough of Bexley The London Borough of Bexley () is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, forming part of Outer London. It has a population of 248,287. The main settlements are Sidcup, Erith, Bexleyheath, Crayford, Welling and Old Bexley. The ...

. It is managed by the London Wildlife Trust, and includes Wansunt Pit, a geological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

. The area was once used for market gardening; there were orchards, and the Old Crayford Gun Club had been based here. Later, like much of the nearby

Dartford Heath Dartford Heath Common is an area of open heathland situated to the south-west of Dartford, Kent, England, covering around of open space. Dartford Heath is classified as lowland heath and is one of only two substantial heathland blocks remaining i ...

, the site was extensively quarried (notably for

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

), until it was finally infilled and abandoned in the 1980s; after which time it gradually reverted to nature. Habitats now include ruderal scrub, grassland and woodland. There is a wide variety of invertebrates, including rare ones such as skipping flower beetles and picture-winged flies. There is also a pond, and many common bird species. Reptiles catalogued here include the grass snake,

common lizard The viviparous lizard, or common lizard, (''Zootoca vivipara'', formerly ''Lacerta vivipara''), is a Eurasian lizard. It lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile, and is named for the fact that it is viviparous, meaning it ...

and

slow-worm The slow worm (''Anguis fragilis'') is a reptile native to western Eurasia. It is also called a deaf adder, a slowworm, a blindworm, or regionally, a long-cripple and hazelworm. These legless lizards are also sometimes called common slowworms. Th ...

. There is access to the reserve from Lower Station Road and Galloway Drive, Crayford. A large housing development called Braeburn Park was built here by Taylor Wimpey in 2000. A promised adjacent 17 hectare nature conservation area was finally added in 2014 thanks to resources and management provided by

The Land Trust The Land Trust is a British charity, based in Warrington, Cheshire, which owns or manages open spaces restored from derelict land for public benefit. Its vision is "to improve the quality of people’s lives by creating sustainable, high quality ...

and London Wildlife Trust.

References

{{Coord, 51.4453, 0.1722, type:landmark, display=title London Wildlife Trust Nature reserves in the London Borough of Bexley