Milton Keynes and its surrounding countryside are rich in open spaces, woodlands, lakes, orchards and nature reserves where you can get close to nature.
This page provides links to the most interesting and important sites in the area.
Each site description covers the habitat and the wildlife you are likely to see, and also includes some background history and details of how to get there. Ordnance Survey map grid references in the text link you to a Google Map of the precise location.
Please be aware that MKNHS does not manage any of these Wildlife Sites, and that you should double-check information about access and facilities with the relevant organisation.
Most of the sites listed here are managed by The Parks Trust, but some by other organisations. For example, Little Linford Wood is managed by BBOWT, Edgewick Farm and Sandhouse Lane by the Greensand Trust, while others still have their own management – for example Emberton Country Park.
Blue Lagoon
These former clay pits and surrounding land have been sensitively managed and turned into a Nature Reserve which is particularly rich in wildlife.
Edgewick Farm
The three fields of this former dairy farm provide habitats for many varieties of plant, while its ponds attract amphibians and waterfowl.
Floodplain Forest Nature Reserve
Originally grazing land, its 48 hectares were quarried for gravel from 2007 to 2014, but always with a view to returning them to a state similar to that which greeted to the first farmers thousands of years ago.
Furzton Lake
Furzton Lake was created to act as a basin for flood waters during rainy spells and was constructed when the Furzton estate was being developed in the 1980s, and incorporated a disused, water-filled clay pit
Hazeley Wood
Hazeley Wood is a young woodland showing a wide variety of plants, mammals, birds and Insects. It covers an area of 10.6 hectares (28 acres) with free public access.
Howe Park Wood
Howe Park Wood is an area (25 hectares) of semi-natural ancient woodland with a rich variety of wildlife situated in the south west of Milton Keynes near Westcroft and Tattenhoe.
Kingsmead Wood
Kingsmead Wood (Kingsmead Spinney) is 5.5 acres of semi-natural ancient woodland between Tattenhoe Park and the Kingsmead housing estate on the south west edge of Milton Keynes
Linford Lakes Nature Reserve
Linford Lakes Nature Reserve is 37 hectares of open water, wet woodland and meadow north of Stantonbury in the Ouse valley.
Linford Wood
Linford Wood is a 39 acre Local Wildlife Site site to the north of Milton Keynes city centre, near Stantonbury and Heelands.
Little Linford Wood
Little Linford Wood has a good mixture of mature trees, young trees and shrubs giving a variety of habitats for wildlife.
Mount Farm Lake
This site provides a valuable open space in the middle of an industrial and shopping area near Bletchley. There is a pleasant circular walk around the lake and an adjoining meadow which has a slight hill for those wishing to walk to the far side.
Old Limestone Quarry, Calverton
This former small quarry of Blisworth Limestone, (Jurassic period), now has meadow pasture covering the irregular hills and hollows left in the ground during the excavations.
Pilch Fields
The site is a series of three fields, much of it designated as a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) especially for its wide variety of plants.
Rushmere Country Park
Rushmere Country Park is 210 acres of conifer plantation, deciduous woodland, lowland heath and meadow straddling the Bucks/Beds border north of Leighton Buzzard.
Sandhouse Lane Nature Reserve
Sandhouse Lane Nature Reserve (SP 9365 2975) is about 4 hectares (10 acres) of scrubby woodland, rough grass and “lichen heath” that have grown up in an old sand quarry that was worked from 1948 up until the 1960’s.
Stonepit Field
Stonepit Field has an interesting geology with underlying Cornbrash limestone which was laid down when this area was submerged under a warm tropical sea.
Stony Stratford Nature Reserve
Stony Stratford Nature Reserve is a wetland site between Stony Stratford, the Great Ouse and the A5, and is part of the much larger Ouse Valley Park. The reserve is important for breeding and over-wintering birds, and for dragonflies.
Tattenhoe
The Valley Park contains a variety of habitats including fields, meadows, hedgerows, ponds, and the small woodland, Water Spinney
Walton Lake
The site is situated roughly half-way along the Ouzel Valley linear park. It consists of the lake with a stretch of the river Ouzel, flood-plain grassland and an important reed bed which is a relatively rare habitat in Milton Keynes.
Willen Lake
Willen Lake has two lakes, the South which promises families a fun-filled day out with activities to do both on and off the lake and the North which is quieter and is home to the Peace Pagoda, one of Milton Keynes’ best-known landmarks.