Arkley Lane and Pastures is a Local Nature Reserve

Local Nature Reserve

Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...

, Borough Grade II, in Arkley

Arkley

Arkley is a village in the London Borough of Barnet. It is located north north-west of Charing Cross, and at above sea level is one of the highest points in London....

 in the London Borough of Barnet

London Borough of Barnet

The London Borough of Barnet is a London borough in North London and forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 331,500 and covers . It borders Hertfordshire to the north and five other London boroughs: Harrow and Brent to the west, Camden and Haringey to the south-east and Enfield to the...

. Arkley Lane, off Barnet Road, is an old drovers' road. It is now a quiet country lane with a traditional bank and ditch. Hedges of beech and hornbeam have other species of tree including mature ash, field maple and magnificent old pedunculate oaks.

The hedge flora are dominated by cow parsley

Cow Parsley

Anthriscus sylvestris, known as Cow Parsley, Wild Chervil, Wild Beaked Parsley, Keck, or Queen Anne's lace, is a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant in the family Apiaceae, genus Anthriscus. It is also sometimes called Mother-die , a name that is also applied to the Common Hawthorn...

, and the ditches have wetland flowers including water figwort

Scrophularia

The genus Scrophularia of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts. Species of Scrophularia all share square stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped flowers forming clusters at the end of their stems...

 and wild angelica

Wild Angelica

Wild Angelica is a species of plant that grows about one metre tall. It has broad, double-finned leaves. The stem is coarse, tubular and violet at the bottom, with broad leaf shafts.At the top the stem has fine hairs....

. A small adjacent woodland has nesting birds, including sparrowhawks, willow warbler

Willow Warbler

The Willow Warbler is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and Asia, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia...

s and stock doves. Muntjac deer are often seen there.

The fields on either side of the lane are traditionally managed, some grazed by horses and others managed as hay meadows. Three fields which have escaped agricultural improvement support wild flowers typical of old grassland, such as sneezewort

Sneezewort

Achillea ptarmica is a species in the genus Achillea. It has loose clusters of white, button-like flowers that bloom from June to August...

 and pignut

Conopodium majus

Conopodium majus is a small perennial herb, whose underground part resembles a chestnut and is sometimes eaten as a wild or cultivated root vegetable....

.

There is only public access to the lane itself. The tarmacked road continues as a bridleway beyond the Barnet boundary to Saffron Green Meadows

Saffron Green Meadows

Saffron Green Meadows or Saffron Green Pasture is an area of public open space and farmland north of Arkley in Hertsmere, Hertfordshire, England...

 in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 and to the A1 road

A1 road (London)

The A1 road in London is an A road in North London. It runs from London Wall to Bignell's Corner, where it crosses the M25 and becomes the A1 motorway, alternating with the A1 as it continues to Edinburgh. The London section of the road passes through four London Boroughs: the City of London,...

.