Pegsdon Hills

Pegsdon Hills (officially Pegsdon Hills and Hoo Bit) is a 79-hectare Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire nature reserve in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, south of Barton Road (B655) between Pegsdon and Shillington. The steep chalk hills offer some of the best views in the county, and the reserve is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). In spring, moschatel ('town-hallclock') flowers in the woodland while dingy and grizzled skipper butterflies flutter in the grassland; summer brings the scent of wild thyme, marjoram and wild basil and the song of skylarks, while after dark glow-worms glow and bats fly overhead. Hoo Bit, once a larch plantation, is now a flower-rich grazed meadow ringed by beech woodland where white helleborine orchids flower in numbers. Wildlife to look out for includes buzzards, lapwings, redwings, yellowhammers, green hairstreak and brown argus butterflies, cowslips, common spotted-orchids and harebell. There are tracks and paths across the grassland (which can be steep and uneven in places), the reserve is open at all times, entry is free, and dogs are welcome on a lead. The reserve lies near the ancient Icknield Way, with deep earthworks on the Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire county boundary and strip lynchets marking an ancient settlement. Best visited April to October.