Bull's Wood Nature Reserve

About the reserve

Parking at Palmers Farm, the wood – the last ancient fragment of the many woods referred to in the Hundred Rolls of 1279 – is a short walk down a farm track boarded by hedgerows filled with sloes, blackberries and clouds of gold finch. The wood is famed countrywide for its rare spring-time oxlips, which are limited to just 100 sites in East Anglia, carpeting swathes of the woodland floor in buttery yellow. Anyone visiting between March and June will also be treated to abundant displays of early-purple orchid, spurge-laurel, wood anemone and herb-paris. Yet, the spectacular show of flowers is certainly not the only reason to visit Bull’s Wood.

The circular walk that winds past traditionally managed coppices of hazel and ash, takes you through lush rides opened up for butterflies such as the gatekeeper, speckled wood and orange tip. Birds such as marsh tits, long-tailed tits and tree-creeper can also be regularly seen. The walk itself is relatively short and can be completed in about 15 minutes. But with the only other foot prints you are likely to see belonging to the wood’s roe deer, there is plenty of opportunity just to stand and stare.