Stow Maries Halt

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This Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserve consists of the former Stow Maries Halt on the disused Maldon to South Woodham Ferrers railway line, along with an adjoining four-acre meadow acquired later. The remains of the platform are still visible by the reserve entrance and four species of fern – wall-rue, maidenhair spleenwort, black spleenwort and hartstongue – grow in the mortar of the bridge here.

It grades from cutting to shallow embankment and consists largely of hawthorn and blackthorn scrub with occasional privet and a scattering of young oak and ash.

Scrub has been cleared from the lower part and a pond has been excavated in marshy ground in the north-west corner. In late spring there are many common spotted orchids and a number of adderstongue ferns, followed in summer by fleabane (in profusion), wild carrot and St John's worts.

The reserve has a good selection of butterflies, including purple and white-letter hairstreaks, and dragonflies. Glow-worms reliably put on a show in July every year, scattered throughout the reserve.