West Kent Golf Course nature reserve

West Kent Golf Course nature reserve lies in Downe, a village on the edge of the London Borough of Bromley. Three small meadows totalling 9.2 hectares sit inside the golf course and are cared for by the London Wildlife Trust. The reserve is close to Down House, where Charles Darwin lived and worked for forty years. It forms part of Darwin’s Landscape Laboratory, once proposed as a World Heritage Site. The area is also recognised as a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. The chalk grassland in a dry valley is the most important part of the reserve. Darwin studied the wild plants here for The Origin of Species and later books on orchids. Rare orchids grow here, including the nationally scarce man orchid. Wild thyme and yellow rattle flower among the turf, and twenty-eight kinds of butterfly have been recorded. Among them is the small blue, a species that has become increasingly uncommon. A public footpath from Milking Lane in Orpington crosses the reserve. Walkers follow the route across the chalk grassland and through the orchid-rich meadows. The path offers views of the golf course and the surrounding countryside. Visitors can see the wildflowers and butterflies without leaving the marked way. The reserve shows how a golf course can protect important wildlife habitats.