Warleigh Nature Reserve

Nestled along the River Avon, between Bath and Bradford-on-Avon, Protect Earth’s newest restoration project has started to come to life. After a long and difficult two years, with many roadblocks, or dams, along the way, Protect Earth has completed the purchase of the land, creating a new haven for nature: the 81-acre Warleigh Nature Reserve.

Formerly low-grade farmland that had lain disused for 10 years, the site sits between Warleigh Wood, an ancient woodland, and the River Avon. The new reserve connects woodland and water, as well as other nearby nature-rich projects such as Bathampton Meadows and Avoncliff Wood.

Within the site there is a multitude of habitats, creating a mosaic environment that promotes biodiversity in a way monocultures cannot. There is ancient woodland, wet meadow, wet woodland, hazel coppice, scrub, and calcareous grassland, a glorious patchwork of habitats that can support complex species behaviour and needs. Natural regeneration is already springing up across the reserve, but there is still a lot of work to do to ensure nature can flourish again.

The Vision

There is huge potential in this stretch of mosaic habitat between the woods and the river. It packs so much of what makes this part of the country special into just 81 acres. Over 30 years of restoration work, this land can become vibrant with life, a refuge and a corridor that connects the wider landscape.

The ancient woodland will be restored, with native trees spreading their boughs and sheltering woodland flowers, birds, and mammals. Hazel coppice will be brought back into rotation, creating dappled glades that attract rare butterflies and allow honeysuckle to blossom.

Ponds and scrapes will hold water and then dry out again, building resilience in both flood and drought. Willow and alder will spring up among fresh wetlands, providing habitat for species including the declining willow tit. Beavers will thrive as flooding no longer damages their dens, and the River Avon will run cleaner through wetland and wet woodland, reducing flood risk for homes downstream.

The grassland will be grazed sensitively, mimicking natural wild herbivore behaviour. This will allow precious calcareous grassland to bloom with flowers and support a huge range of invertebrates. Natural cycles can be restored, and life can hum everywhere.

People will be part of the site too. Locals will be able to walk the land along accessible paths, and volunteers will help tend it, perhaps followed by a fire and a cider. People will travel to learn disappearing heritage crafts like coppicing, biochar making, hedgelaying, and scything, proving that human activity can contribute to healthy ecosystems.

The Saga

Phil Sturgeon, Chair of Protect Earth, first visited the site with a view to buying it in October 2023. He saw 70 acres of pure potential, but it would take about £0.5 million to secure the land’s future.

After months of discussions, planning, and ideas, a crowdfunder was launched in September the following year with a target of £50,000. The plan was that DEFRA’s Trees for Climate fund would cover 50 to 100% of the purchase, while the crowdfunder and other donations would either support the purchase itself or help with the huge amount of restoration work still to come.

The target was reached and then extended to £90,000, which proved crucial when the DEFRA funding fell through. Budget cuts, delays, and our refusal to plant trees where they should not go meant that government support dropped to zero. Undaunted, the team drained the Land Fund, used cash reserves, found generous local donors, secured a loan from a local family trust, and received a major philanthropic donation to close the gap.

By the end of January 2025, the financial hurdle had been cleared and Protect Earth was ready to buy. Solicitors were progressing surveys and fraud checks when an unexpected issue emerged.

The land had been advertised as coming with all rights in hand, including fishing and hunting rights. In reality, somebody else still held the right to shoot game, fowl, and so on. Within those few words sat a direct threat to the very wildlife the reserve was intended to protect, including beavers already sighted on the land.

What followed was a long effort to track down the rights holder. A neighbour helped start a chain of introductions that eventually led to an email address, a phone call, and then a meeting on site. The meeting went well. He supported the reserve and agreed to a new arrangement that removed the right to hunt or harm wildlife.

Then everything stalled again. He disappeared for a time and stopped responding, leaving the purchase process frozen for months. Eventually he reappeared, still committed to the agreement, and the legal process began moving again.

More delays followed, from solicitors’ workloads to ordinary human absences, and the two-year anniversary of Phil’s first visit came and went. During that period, 11 acres of ancient woodland adjoining the site came up for sale, and Protect Earth moved quickly to buy it too, expanding the future reserve from 70 to 81 acres.

Finally, at the beginning of 2026, the sale completed and work began immediately.

The Land Now

In the years since the site stopped being farmed, vegetation has surged. But some key ecological processes have been missing, along with the biodiversity in the seed bank needed to restore a healthy ecosystem.

Himalayan balsam has spread across the site and is now a particular concern along the River Avon. It outcompetes native plants, pushing down biodiversity and having knock-on effects on invertebrates, small mammals, and birds. Clearing it will take a huge amount of work.

Vegetation has also encroached onto the access paths, which are currently choked with nettles and require sturdy footwear and long trousers. Those paths need clearing so the reserve is accessible to everyone.

Beavers and otters have already been spotted on site, which is exciting. But their habitat is far from ideal. The kits are not doing well, struggling with flood waters while living in river banks. Improving this habitat is one of our most urgent priorities.

The ancient woodland is also suffering. Unmanaged hazel and sycamore coppice cast such dense shade that little else can grow beneath. Some areas are conifer too, adding to the darkness and poor diversity. Yet there are glimpses of what is possible. An old beech fell and created a canopy gap where brambles now shelter oak, ash, holly, hazel, willow, and beech saplings.

The grassland was once overgrazed and was then left without the right disturbance to support its rare chalk grassland species. With low fertility, it should be full of flowers and invertebrate life, but it needs active management to recover.

There is also a huge amount of barbed wire fencing across the reserve, all of which must be removed for the sake of wildlife and access.

Throughout the purchase process, we built strong relationships with neighbours, and those relationships are already helping shape plans for conservation grazing, workshops, and broader community involvement. Land is about people too, and people will be a major part of this site.

What We’ve Done So Far

The team, neighbours, volunteers, and friends got to work straight away. After waiting so long and with such a lot to do, we did not want to waste any time.

We started clearing barbed wire fencing and other remnants of the site’s farming past, piling up a huge amount of material. Alder and willow have been planted in the boggy area by the river to improve wet woodland and beaver habitat. We have also started putting in leaky dams to encourage pooling, improve water quality, and help with floodwaters. Old hazel coppice has begun to be brought back into rotation, laying the groundwork for future courses on the land. And that is just in the first two months.

Join Us

There is a mountain of work still to be done at Warleigh, from fence clearing to path-making, from balsam bashing to conifer removal. That all takes time, and more money than many people realise. With our cash reserves exhausted by the land purchase, we are now working to raise enough to bring the site properly into restoration.

Please consider donating to our crowdfunder. Every donation helps, and all funds go directly onto the land. We need support not just for Warleigh, but also to keep looking after our other sites and continue working with the 60-plus landowners and farmers restoring nature on their own land.

You can also get involved as a volunteer. Warleigh Nature Reserve has its own website, where you can sign up to the newsletter, learn more about the community already forming around the site, and find ways to take part.