Totteridge Green is a five hectare Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in

Totteridge Totteridge is a residential area and former village in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land (including some farmland) situated 8 miles (13 km) north north-west of Charing Cross. It ...

in the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban 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 London borough ...

. It is also registered common land. The nature reserve is the land on both sides of the road, Totteridge Green. A typical English

village green A village green is a common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for gathering cattle t ...

, it comprises open grassland, small pockets of scrubby woodland and a pond. Much of the grassland is dominated by

perennial rye-grass ''Lolium perenne'', common name perennial ryegrass, English ryegrass, winter ryegrass, or ray grass, is a grass from the family Poaceae. It is native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but is widely cultivated and naturalised around the world. ...

, with a good diversity of common wild flowers, and there are also areas of dry acid grassland. Several damp hollows, probably former ponds, contain tussocky grassland with uncommon wild flowers such as

great burnet ''Sanguisorba officinalis'', commonly known as great burnet, is a plant in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae. It is native throughout the cooler regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, northern Asia, and northern North America. It ...

, bog stitchwort and

common marsh-bedstraw ''Galium palustre'', the common marsh bedstraw or simply marsh-bedstraw, is a herbaceous annual plant of the family Rubiaceae. This plant is widely distributed, native to virtually every country in Europe, plus Morocco, the Azores, Turkey, Turkm ...

. A map of the 1840s shows fourteen ponds, but only Laurel Farm Pond survives. This is frequented by large numbers of geese and mallards. Trees include

pedunculate oak ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widel ...

, beech and

horse chestnut The genus ''Aesculus'' ( or ), with species called buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species n ...

. The site includes a short footpath through woods to Coppice Walk, and there is also access from Totteridge Village and Laurel Way. A footpath which starts next to Laurel Farm Pond goes through Folly Brook Valley to

Woodside Park Woodside Park is a suburban residential area in London. It is located in the London Borough of Barnet, in the North Finchley postal district of N12. Description The area to the east of the tube station consists predominantly of large Vict ...

Totteridge Croft Field (or Dell's Down Acre)

Totteridge Croft Field is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I, between Totteridge Green and Darland's Lake at Grid Ref . It is a field bounded by tall unmanaged hedges on unimproved clay grassland. It appears to have been a hay meadow in the past which is now reverting to rough grassland and scrub. Much of the field is covered with

tufted hair-grass ''Deschampsia cespitosa'', commonly known as tufted hairgrass or tussock grass, is a perennial tufted plant in the grass family Poaceae. Distribution of this species is widespread including the eastern and western coasts of North America, parts ...

, and it has scattered oak and crab apple trees and a good variety of wild flowers. There are some uncommon species, such as sneezewort and pignut. The field provides a good habitat for birds and cover for mammals such as rabbits and muntjac. It is private land with no public access.

Gallery

File:Totteridge Green.JPG, Totteridge Green File:Totteridge Green Oak.JPG, Oak tree on Totteridge Green File:Totteridge Green, Laurel Farm Pond.JPG, Laurel Farm Pond File:Totteridge Green, footpath to Coppice Walk 2.JPG, Footpath to Coppice Walk

Totteridge Croft Field (or Dell's Down Acre)

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading