Turnford and Cheshunt Pits

The Turnford and Cheshunt Pits is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the English counties of Hertfordshire and Essex.

Most of the site is owned by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and managed as the River Lee Country Park. The site is bounded to the west by Cheshunt and Turnford and Fishers Green to the east.

The SSSI includes ten former gravel pits, part of the Small River Lea, a further waterbody, Hall Marsh Scrape, which was constructed specifically for use by waterfowl. Also included in the site are areas of marsh, grassland, ruderal herbs, scrub and woodland.

The pits which include North Metropolitan Pit known as Northmetpit which was excavated in the 1940s to Hooks Marsh Lake which was dug in the 1970s and cover a span of over 40 years.

The site are of national importance for the wintering gadwall and the wintering shoveler and of regional importance for wintering coot and locally important for wintering snipe and the bittern. Breeding bird species of local importance include the great crested grebe, tufted duck, coot, little ringed plover, sedge warbler and the reed warbler