Sawbridgeworth Marsh is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near

Sawbridgeworth Sawbridgeworth is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, close to the border with Essex. It is east of Hertford and north of Epping. It is the northernmost part of the Greater London Built-up Area. History Prior to the Norman ...

in Hertfordshire, apart from a small area in the north which is in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

. It is managed by the

Essex Wildlife Trust The Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts which cover the United Kingdom. The EWT was founded in 1959, and it describes itself as Essex's leading conservation charity, which aims to protect wildlife for the future and the people ...

. The planning authorities are

East Hertfordshire District Council East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

and

Uttlesford District Council Uttlesford is a local government district in Essex, England. Its council is based in the market town of Saffron Walden. At the 2011 Census, the population of the district was 79,443. Other notable settlements include Great Dunmow, Elmdon, Stebb ...

. The site is a river valley marsh close to the

River Stort The River Stort is a river in Essex and Hertfordshire, England. It is 24 miles (38 km) long and flows from just south of the village of Langley to the River Lea at Hoddesdon. The river's name is a back-formation; the town of Bishop's Sto ...

, which has a varied wetland flora. Grazing and cutting of the marsh in rotation maintain biological diversity. The site also has an important wetland fauna and many moth species. Uncommon plants include marsh willowherb, marsh valerian and

marsh arrow-grass ''Triglochin palustris'' or marsh arrowgrass is a species of flowering plant in the arrowgrass family Juncaginaceae. It is found in damp grassland usually on calcareous soils, fens and meadows. The species epithet ''palustris'' is Latin for "of ...

, and drainage ditches and two ponds have a rich aquatic life. The site is always open and there is access from Hallingbury Road.

Notes

References

{{coord, 51.8209, 0.1634 , type:landmark_region:GB-BNE, display=title Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hertfordshire Essex Wildlife Trust East Hertfordshire District