1 June 2025

Charlcombe Community Nature Reserve officially launched at the Festival of Nature Community Day in June 2024, with a series of guided walks. So, the reserve is now a year old – though of course the site itself is far older. But the Friends of the reserve are celebrating all that’s been achieved during that first year – and looking forward to helping create even more homes for nature in the years to come.

Nature recovery

A main area of focus for the Friends of Charlcombe Community Reserve has been to support nature recovery in these 16 green acres – in partnership with the landowner, Bath & North East Somerset Council.

Early priorities have included actively managing the two fields between Charlcombe Way and Whitewell brook, known historically as Great Park and Mudcombe, to create conditions so that biodiversity could thrive.

Local volunteers and members of The Conservation Volunteers have spent more than 300 hours across many sessions, helping to clear swathes of scrub, particularly in Mudcombe (the lower field above the brook), as well as digging out roots, clearing mare’s tail and removing barbed wire.

Volunteer sessions happen on the third Saturday of each month - details are listed on this website and the Facebook page.

Areas of Great Park (the upper field accessed via the kissing gate) have been cut by Bath and North East Somerset Council (BANES) to allow grass to grow at different heights, enabling a greater diversity of plants and animals to thrive.

We’re exploring the possibility of introducing conservation grazers, perhaps Exmoor ponies, to maintain a varied sward of grass in the fields, maximising opportunities for nature to rebound. Other future projects might include creating ponds for amphibians.

All of this is being undertaken in conjunction with the development of a Land Management Plan detailing intended outcomes and future actions, to maximise the benefits for nature and people.

Recording and celebrating nature

Ultimately, a major aim is to promote biodiversity net gain, to counter the alarming nature and climate crises we’re facing in the UK.

To understand what’s living in the reserve, and to measure how nature is recovering here, reports have been commissioned from a professional ecologist to reveal a detailed picture of the state of nature in the fields. The results are due in summer 2025.

In the meantime, we’re encouraging visitors to engage in citizen science, recording what they see on the iNaturalist app. As of the beginning of June, more than 700 observations have been recorded of 250 species of plants, fungi, birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and other animals.

We’ve also run a dedicated bioblitz, City Nature Challenge and Big Garden Birdwatch events, among other sessions encouraging and enabling the local community to enjoy and admire the diverse nature of the reserve. Reptile mats have been laid down, and surveys are ongoing to see what species live on the reserve.

Connecting with nature

The two fields are wonderful places for members of the community to immerse themselves in nature, encouraging wellbeing and health.

To enable as many people as possible to access and enjoy the reserve, the upper stile has been replaced with a kissing gate, and the path down to the field widened and cleared. New wooden steps have been installed in the lower field for improved access. Much of this work was kindly undertaken by the amazing Cotswold Voluntary Wardens.

As well as guided history, birdwatching, butterfly and noticing nature walks, we’re planning evening outings with bat detectors, and other events to help people discover the wild wonders of the reserve. During the Festival of Nature on 15 June 2025, Bath Natural History Society will be leading a guided walk showcasing the nature on the reserve.

And we’ll be running a walk during the Bathscape Walking Festival in September.

Spreading the word

We love Charlcombe Community Nature Reserve, and want to share our passion for this glorious haven. The Facebook group now has 280 members sharing photos and observations.

There is also an Instagram page.

This website is a new addition in spring 2025, enabling us to share updates, events and new sightings. Bimonthly articles in the Local Look magazine encourage readers to visit and join in at the reserve. We’ve spoken to local schools, and members of the Bath Woodcraft Folk visited to find out more. And dozens of people came to admire the colourful stand at the Larkhall Festival in May, with many hearing about the reserve for the first time.

Thanks

The first year of the reserve has been a rewarding and active time – and we hope that the years to come will be even more rich in nature and community. Please do continue to share your comments and suggestions, and visit as much as possible. Thank you for your support and involvement.

We must also thank Bath and North East Somerset Council for providing lots of amazing support and cutting grass; Bathscape, Charlcombe Parish Council and the TCV Chestnut Fund for important funding; The Conservation Volunteers for their expertise, efforts, advice and funding for the purchase of tools; the Cotswold Voluntary Wardens for providing many hours of work installing infrastructure; Bath Natural History Society for sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm during survey sessions and Festival of Nature events; Avon Wildlife Trust for funding the purchase of field guides; and the many volunteers who have joined sessions clearing brambles, thistles and scrub to make space for nature.

Can you help?

We are actively looking for nature lovers, gardeners, ecologists, project managers, event organisers, communications officers and monitors to help us put our plans into action and shape the future of the Charlcombe Community Nature Reserve. If you have time to spare and would like to get involved we would love to hear from you. You can get in touch via charlcombenature@gmail.com or contact Mike Collins on 07855 328914 (phone or WhatsApp)

For fourteen years from 1984 to 1998, Ron Watts, then Manager of Claremont Post Office, recorded the wildlife he’d spotted while out walking in Charlcombe. 

His incredible journals include lists of all the wildlife he saw on his rambles — some of which is no longer found locally such as the cuckoo — alongside beautiful hand-drawn maps of bird nesting sites and photos of the valley. 

His records matter: they capture a moment in time for the natural world and amateur naturalists like Ron were the original citizen scientists. Initially carefully handwritten, he then typed up his lists and added them into four neatly organised journals (his family later gave them to the Bath Natural History Society). His records also include occasional behavioural observations such as when he watches two little owls flying around and around in a loop.

It's 40 years since Ron typed up his observations. If you’re out walking in the nature reserve today, we’d love to find out what you hear or see during your walk.

We’ll be posting more from Ron’s wonderful journals throughout the year, but here are some of the species we spotted recently in the reserve: