Kings and Bakers Woods and Heaths is a

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 ...

(SSSI) between

Heath and Reach Heath and Reach is an English village and civil parish near the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire. It is north of Leighton Buzzard and south of Woburn and adjoins the county boundary with Buckinghamshire. Nearby places are Leighton-Linslade, ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

and

Great Brickhill Great Brickhill is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the border with the City of Milton Keynes, located south-east of Central Milton Keynes, and in the same direction from Fenny Str ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. The site is mainly in Bedfordshire but includes Rammamere Heath in Buckinghamshire. It was notified in 1984 under Section 28 of the

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species (especia ...

, and the local planning authorities are

Central Bedfordshire Council Central Bedfordshire Council is the local authority for the Central Bedfordshire unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created from the merger of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire District Councils ...

and Aylesbury Vale Council. Part of it is a National Nature Reserve, and part of it is a nature reserve managed by the

Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN) is a registered charity which manages 126 nature reserves covering . It has over 35,000 members, and 95% of people in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshi ...

. it is also a

Nature Conservation Review ''A Nature Conservation Review'' is a two-volume work by Derek Ratcliffe, published by Cambridge University Press in 1977. It set out to identify the most important places for nature conservation in Great Britain. It is often known by the initial ...

site. The site has the largest remaining area of woodland in Bedfordshire, together with lowland heath, acidic grassland and some small ponds. There are a number of rare plant species, including great woodrush,

wood vetch ''Vicia sylvatica'' ( syn. ''Ervilia sylvatica''), C. A. Stace, ''New Flora of the British Isles'', 4th edition 2019, p 171: ''Ervilia sylvatica''. . known as wood vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae. It was descr ...

and

saw-wort ''Serratula tinctoria'', commonly known as dyer's plumeless saw-wort or saw-wort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a native of Europe with a thistle-like flower head. It grows in moist soil, full sun to part shade, ...

. There are also abundant birds and insects, including white admiral butterflies and

tree pipit The tree pipit (''Anthus trivialis'') is a small passerine bird which breeds across most of Europe and the Palearctic as far East as the East Siberian Mountains. It is a long-distance migrant moving in winter to Africa and southern Asia. The sc ...

s. There is parking in

Stockgrove Country Park Stockgrove Country Park is located in England on the Bedfordshire/Buckinghamshire border in the parish of Heath and Reach. Stockgrove Park's 80 acres is part of the larger 400 acre woods called Rushmere Country Park, managed by the Greensand Trust ...

, which is partly in the SSSI.

References

{{coord, 51.96, -0.655, type:landmark_region:GB-BNE, display=title Nature Conservation Review sites National nature reserves in England Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Bedfordshire Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Buckinghamshire Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire reserves

See also

References