Northward Hill is an excellent woodland for birds. As well as nightingales and turtle doves, the wood has the largest heronry in the UK, with over 150 pairs of grey herons nesting in the treetops. On the grazing marshes below the woods, wading birds such as lapwings and redshanks breed. In the winter, wading birds and wildfowl including wigeons and teals can be seen, along with buzzards, hen harriers and merlins.