Welcome to Stort Valley Wild - a directory, guide and gallery devoted  to the  wildlife and wild places of the Stort Valley on the borders of Essex and Hertfordshire.   Discover a secret world of great beauty and add your photographs, information and comments to this new community website.

Visit our Gallery and Forum by clicking here . You can view members' photographs and comments, ask questions and share with others the wildlife that you have seen in the wonderful wild Stort Valley!  

NEW!  Have you seen the photographic gallery of the Friends of Hatfield Forest?  Click here!  You can add your own pictures too.

NEW!  We are now going to cover Epping Forest - simply because it is so beautiful and so near.   Click here for the forum and gallery or  here to see the web's most comprehensive Epping Forest Gallery and add your own pictures.

From its source near Langley, the Stort has created a wonderful valley of water meadows and rich farmland.  Flowing through Clavering, Manuden and Stansted, it becomes a canal at Bishop's Stortford and then goes on through Sawbridgeworth and Harlow before  meeting the Lea between Stanstead Abbots and Roydon.  Ancient  woods like  Birchanger, Hatfield and Epping Forests are havens of peace while the sheltered valley provides a safe corridor for migrating birds. The valley of  the  River Stort is a wonderful place for  wildlife despite its proximity to Stansted Airport and the M11.  Even in the large towns of Harlow and Bishop's Stortford, orchids and other wild flowers can be found growing in odd corners and in our woods  and fields.  Ancient trees  survive in many secret locations while the road verges, rail embankments and canals  provide special habitats  for wildlife.  We also have wonderful reserves  such as Sawbridgeworth Marsh and Hunsdon Mead.