Places to see birds

Rye Meads (SSSI SPA RAMSAR)

Situated off Rye Road, Stanstead Abbots, Herts. This site is jointly managed by the RSPB and the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust.

The site is situated by the River Lea and includes areas of reedbed, open water lagoons, flood meadows and wet woodland. Teal, Snipe, Shoveler, Gadwall, Tufted duck, Little and Great Crested Grebes and Green Sandpipers are found here during the year. Most winters a Jack Snipe is found on the reserve. Bitterns have visited in the winter.

There is a visitor centre, with toilets, and tea and coffee is available. CCTV monitors in the visitor centre show Common Tern on their nesting rafts in the summer. There are picnic tables and wheelchair access is possible to most of the reserve and to the majority of the hides.

Further details can be found on the RSPB website www.rspb.org.uk