Little Waltham Meadows is a circular cache walk of less than two
miles. Each cache is named after a bird we saw at the site whilst
placing the cache. We recommend the walk is done in a clockwise
direction starting from the parking area.
Part of the walk passes through a chain of old flood and dry
meadows on the east bank of the River Chelmer south of Little
Waltham which were acquired by Essex Wildlife Trust in 1996 with
the help of a local appeal and a grant from the Heritage Lottery
Fund. The whole walk is on clearly marked footpaths. Some of the
paths may be muddy in winter.
A range of grassland plants can be found in the meadows,
including meadow saxifrage, bee orchid and yellow oat-grass. The
interconnecting network of old hedgerows contain many ancient
pollard or coppice stools of elm, common and midland hawthorn,
hazel, willow, alder and oak.
Tawny owl, sparrow hawk and kestrel all use the hedgerows and
wood or hunt over the meadows.
The four caches are:
Little Waltham Meadows 1: Robin
Little Waltham Meadows 2: Blackbird
Little Waltham Meadows 3: Wren
Little Waltham Meadows 4: Wood Pigeon