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Overhead And The Wild Ower Meadows Around You Hum With The Steady Buzz Of Insects

Splashes of purple, yellow and white from the flowers and from the various butterflies that visit them. My favourite, the marbled white, is an unmistakable white and black butterfly that resembles a chess board. One butterfly that used to be found on the reserve is the marsh fritillary, a beautiful chequered mix of orange, yellow and brown and is now unfortunately one of the rarest butterflies in the country. Populations of these butterflies can fluctuate greatly due to weather conditions and food availability and we haven’t seen one on site since 2021.

Unfortunately, meadows like the ones at Folly Farm are now rare, as across the country we have lost 97% of our wildflower meadows since the 1930s. One nature reserve is not enough to support some of these butterflies and this highlights the importance of wildlife corridors connecting reserves, gardens and wildlife sites together. This summer, if you want to explore a nature reserve that can provide lovely walks, spectacular views and wildlife, then I highly recommend Folly Farm. Perhaps you will like it so much you’ll want to get married here! Visit our website to for more information and to plan your visit.

Badger

These charismatic nocturnal mammals are a big hit with all the children that stay overnight at Folly Farm. Sit quietly enough and you too might be fortunate enough to spot one of these creatures foraging around the reserve. Badgers’ digging, foraging and sett building is fantastic for good soil health and they are natural seed dispersers, making them perfect meadow companions.

Chew Valley Lake

Perhaps more well-known for its scenic lakeside walks or award-winning fish and chips, Chew Valley Lake is also home to one of our nature reserves, Herriots Pool, a perfect place to go and enjoy some relaxing birdwatching. Bird fans of all ages visit the lake, from tiny toddlers spotting their first teal to enthusiastic elders who come to watch the egrets. Ducks, geese and swans enjoy bobbing on the lake while the summer sky above them is filled with flocks of swifts, swallows, sand martins and house martins catching small insects to feed their young.

Chew Valley Lake is actually an artificial, man-made lake created in the 1950s to act as a reservoir, gathering water from off the Mendip Hills to provide drinking water for the city of Bristol. Before then, the area was farmland and home to the village of Moreton which had to be abandoned for the creation of the lake. It is said that on dry summers when the water level of the lake falls, some of the roads and trees of the sunken village begin to re-emerge from beneath the surface. The lake itself, owned by Bristol Water, is now listed as a SSSI due to it being such an important site for wildlife. It’s a particularly good site for birds and the lake attracts birdwatchers from all over the country.

Our reserve is at the southernmost end of the lake and from the road side you can look out in both directions and see Herriots Pool to the south and the rest of the lake to the north. Herriots Pool is fed from the River Chew so, unlike the rest of the lake, it maintains a consistent water level throughout the year which is great for the wildlife that live there. There are over 11 islands in the pool alongside many channels, lagoons and bays that all provide safe areas for birds to roost, nest and feed. Over 260 species of bird have been recorded on the reserve including familiar faces such as Canada geese, mallards, mute swans, large flocks of black-headed gulls and herring gulls alongside plenty of other birds such as shoveler, pochard, gadwall, little grebes, great crested grebes and reed warblers.

Rarer birds are also spotted in and around the lake. Each year during their spring and autumn migration, ospreys are often spotted at the lake, snatching fish from the water and, although they have always evaded my binoculars, bearded tits can be sighted from the reed beads. In the summer, you might also be able to see a hobby, a small bird of prey that is agile enough to catch and eat dragonflies while flying! My favourite time of day to visit is in the mornings when the roads are quieter and the sounds of the various water fowl fill the air with their quacks and honks.

The lake remains a great place to visit throughout the year. In the winter, over 50,000 gulls roost out on the lake each evening including herring, black-headed, common and Mediterranean gulls. More ducks, geese and swans also come to the UK for our milder winters so the lake can fill up with a greater number of birds and of a greater variety in the winter! If you want to make it a day out, you can apply for birdwatching permits from Bristol Water that allow you access to various bird hides situated all around the lake for some unique views of the lake and its inhabitants. n

For Avon Wildlife Trust’s full list of nature reserves, visit avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves

Great white egret

Just a couple of decades ago, a sighting would have had birdwatchers coming from far and wide but these large white birds have started to become more common as they expand their range with rising temperatures. They are roughly similar in size to a grey heron but with longer neck and legs and have a long yellow beak and, unlike the little egret, black feet.