Map shows exactly where you can find all of Bristol's nature reserves

The nature reserves are an important habitat for all sorts of wildlife

Dotted around Bristol are a dozen local nature reserves which are home to a variety of wildlife and walks. Bristol City Council has designated these areas as nature reserves to prevent developers building there and protect important natural habitats. Around 15 per cent of the land owned by the council is managed “for the benefit of nature”.

The nature reserves are free to access and walk around. They are supported by several hard-working ‘Friends of’ volunteer groups, which help manage the land and wildlife there. Formerly a mix of farms and landfills, the nature reserves now provide a countryside-like oasis. Some of the reserves were only established recently and protected from development.

Badock’s Wood is home to woodland, streams and meadows in Southmead. The River Trym flows through the valley. The woodland is at least 400 years old, and is named after Sir Stanley Badock, a local industrialist and landowner who bought the wood and surrounding parkland as part of the Holmwood estate in 1905.

He gave part of the woods to the council in 1937. A Bronze Age burial mound can be found within a field in the nature reserve. The Southmead Round Barrow is thought to be 3,300 years old. The burial mound was excavated in 1873, when fragments of human bones were found.

Callington Road nature reserve is located in Brislington, with a green area for walking, wildflowers and a dew pond. Its upper slopes are home to breeding roe deer. The reserve was established in 2009, and was part of a large area of surplus allotments, which was sold for the development of the adjacent hospital in 2003.

The developer of the hospital provided the funding to the council to establish the Callington Road reserve, as a condition of getting planning permission. This included constructing new entrances, footpaths, fences and the dew pond, as well as managing habitats and planting trees and shrubs. An adjacent field was bought by the council from a landowner to add to the reserve.

Eastwood Farm is also located in Brislington, near the Beese’s pub along the River Avon. The riverside nature reserve was run as a traditional farm until 1971, before the council purchased the land. The site was then used as a landfill for household rubbish from 1971 until 1978. Then the farm was landscaped and trees were planted, becoming a haven for wildlife such as herons.

Lamplighter’s Marsh lies at the mouth of the Severn Estuary in Shirehampton, on a flood plain of the River Avon just above water level. Formerly a grazing area, the marsh stretches for one kilometre alongside the A4 Portway, and is home to a variety of wildlife unusual to this area.

At the start of the First World War, a depot at the site trained horses for the military. Then in the Second World War, barrage balloons were tethered at the marsh, to protect the docks from bombing. Remnants of these can be seen today with concrete anchor blocks. After the war, the site was partly used as a landfill, which then closed down in 1976.

Nearby is the Lawrence Weston Moor, with wet and dry wildflower meadows where a variety of birds can be found. The moor is located at the side of St Bede’s high school, and is one of the few remaining parts of marshes which used to stretch all from Blaise Castle to Avonmouth as part of the North Somerset Levels.

Manor Woods Valley runs along the River Malago in Bishopsworth, with wildflower meadows and woods. Manor Woods was formerly part of Headley farm, and the track leading to the farm still exists today. Since 1998, the woods have been protected from development as part of the Bishopsworth and Malago Conservation Area.

The Narroways Millenium Green is located in St Werburghs, and is home to the Mound which provides great views across the city. The nature reserve is a grassy and wooded ridge split by railway cuttings, home to a community orchard. The council bought the open space in 1997, after a fundraising campaign to protect it from the threat of development.

Old Sneed Park is located in Stoke Bishop, and was first enclosed as a deer park in 1274 to provide venison. The wider area was the sprawling grounds of a stately home, before gradually getting built over. Most of the land which makes up the reserve was the original deer park, so the ancient grasslands have never been ploughed nor fertilised, and are ecologically valuable.

Royate Hill is partly on top of a railway viaduct with wildflower meadows and woodland, in Eastville next to the Greenbank Cemetery. The site was compulsory purchased in 1996 and designated as a local nature reserve by Avon County Council, after a five-year high profile campaign by Avon Wildlife Trust and local residents to save it from development.

Stockwood Open Space is located on a former farm, on the south-eastern outskirts of the city, with meadows, hedgerows, ponds and woodland. Avon Wildlife Trust took over management in 1981 and the open space is now jointly managed by the council and the trust.

The Northern Slopes are between Knowle, Knowle West and Bedminster and offer spectacular views across the city. They are split into three connected areas: the Bommie, Glyn Vale and the Novers. The Slopes were part of former farmland that have gradually become enclosed by housing.

Troopers Hill is in St George, and provides great views of Bristol. A tall chimney on top of the hill was used in the 1700s for copper smelting. In the 1800s, coal and fireclay were mined from the hill. A chimney at the foot of the hill was part of an engine house used by the coal mine. Steep slopes and quarry waste put off builders from developing the site, bought by the council in 1956.