Updates: Places
ENGLAND
Dorset
RSPB Radipole Lakes and Lodmoor reserves
RSPB plans to remove some viewing platforms and cease maintaining some paths.
Somerset
WWT Steart Marshes
£237,000 grant from National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop educational material, audio trail, art workshops, additional viewing platforms for new ponds and scrapes.
Boardwalk over saltmarsh now open.
Slinky bus service to the reserve can now be booked at:
www.somerset.gov.uk/roads-travel-and-parking/slinky-services/
Bedfordshire
New avifauna
The Birds of Bedfordshire, A Ploszajski (Bedfordshire Natural History Society, 2025). xx pp, £50 + p&p
Hertfordshire
RSPB Rye Meads
The RSPB is currently reviewing its operations at Rye Meads.
It has now announced that there will be no changes in its operation of the reserve at least until the end of October 2026.
See the full statement here:
https://www.rspb.org.uk/england/england-news/changes-at-our-reserves/important-update-on-rye-meads-nature-reserve
Norfolk
WWT Welney
Current opening hours are:
Every day (except 25 Dec) 9:30am-5pm (last entry 4pm),
Cafe closes 4:30pm
Nov-Feb stays open till 7pm on Sat (last entry 6pm),
Cafe closes 6:30 pm
Trial minibus service between Ely and reserve that ran in autumn of ‘25 has now ended. Future plans currently uncertain.
The Norfolk Wildlife Trust has taken over the management of
Broadland Country Park
N of Norwich: NR10 4DF; TG 182 175.
NWT has been appointed by Broadland District Council to manage 140-acre Broadland Country Park. 114-acre Drayton Drewray, immediately to S has been purchased and will form part of an expanded reserve.
Likely to be of interest for Nightjar and Woodlark.
Wood Norton
Wensum Valley: NR20; TG 014 273
336-acre, largely arable Manor Farm. Habitat restoration will include re-meandering of Norton Beck and the planting of native trees.
NWT has only just taken ownership/management of the above two reserves and they are not included in the 2026 edition of The Yearbook. Depending upon how they develop, entries for them may be included in future editions.
Cley Marshes
The shingle beach hide lost in storm of 2013 has now been replaced by a mobile one. Mounted on a trailer, it can be moved if severe weather is forecast
Shropshire
Stiperstones NNR, The
In 2026 the Stiperstones Shuttle Bus will run at weekends from mid-May to the end of September.
Check the tiemtable at www.theshropshirehills.org.uk
The Bog Visitor Centre will re-open on 1 April.
Amendments to the following reserve entry were received after the 2026 Yearbook went to press.
The entry now reads as follows
5 FENN’S, WHIXALL AND BETTISFIELD MOSSES NNR
Natural England/Natural Resources Wales
Habitats: 2,000 acres of raised peatland. Llangollen Canal runs through middle
Birds: All year: Kingfisher, Skylark, Stonechat, Linnet, Reed Bunting. Spring/summer: Breeding Teal, Mallard, Nightjar, Hobby, Curlew, Snipe. Winter: Short-eared Owl, Redpoll.
Other: Water Vole, Brown Hare, Polecat, Adder, 700 spp. moths, 27 spp butterflies, inc Large Heath, nationally important for dragonflies (30 spp), inc White-faced Darter, 21 spp bog moss.
Directions: 4 miles SW of Whitchurch, to S of A495 between Fenn’s Bank, Whixall and Bettisfield. Roadside parking at entrances, main car park is at Morris’s Bridge SY13 2RT, and smaller car parks at Roundthorn Bridge SY13 2QE, Bettisfield World’s End SY13 2QE and a large car park at Manor House NNR Base SY13 2PD. Disabled access by prior arrangement along disused railway line.
Public transport: None.
Visiting: Information panels and leaflets are available at main entrances. 4 interlinking Mosses Trails explore the NNR and canal from Morris’s and Roundthorn bridges and there is a trail on Bettisfield Moss.
Contact: Natural England, Manor House NNR Base:
01948 880362; info.whixall@naturalengland.org.uk
Continue into Whitchurch and head for Cheshire on either the A41 (by-pass) or A49.
Cheshire & The Wirral
Wirral RSPB Local Group
New meetings venue: St Luke’s Methodist Church, 19 Market Street, Hoylake, Wirral CH47 2BF
Lancashire
Fairhaven Lake Visitor Centre
The RSPB-run visitor centre closed in June 2025.
It has been taken over and refurbished by Fylde Council and will reopen on 29 March 2026. 10am-4pm, 7 days a week.
Although not a reserve in itself, the Visitor Centre offers a shop, light refreshments and a base from which to explore the Ribble Estuary.
Cumbria
St Bees Head
Due to a landslip, clifftop footpath running N from town of St Bees, including the stretch above the main seabird colonies, has been closed for safety reasons for a probable period of six months from the end of January 2026.
Possible to approach from N by taking single track (and rutted) farm road from Sandwith (NX 964 146) to Tarnhall Flat (NX 948 146). Parking in farmyard, honesty box payment. No vehicular access beyond farm but road runs to St Bees Lighthouse and then path to clifftop to N of colonies. At clifftop, pathway is closed. Footpath from road to Tarnhall Flat (no parking at point where footpath leaves road) runs to Fleswick, where better views of colonies may be possible, but, again, clifftop path closed
Campfield Marsh
Footpath connecting two sections of reserve closed for construction work until 1 April 2026.
SCOTLAND
Dumfries and Galloway
WWT Caerlaverock opening hours
Caerlaverock WWT reserve is closed for the winter of 2025/26 whilst work is undertaken on site and new staff are recruited. The date of its reopening has not yet been announced and is dependent on the recruitment process. When it reopens there will be no shop or cafe.
Moray
Spey Bay viaduct closure
The disused Garmouth railway viaduct that walkers and cyclists could use to cross the Spey 1 mile S of the coast collpased in the winter of 25/26. Permission to remove the damaged structure has been applied for but no plans for its long-term future have so far been announced. The nearest crossing is now the A96 road bridge between Fochabers and Mosstodloch
Argyll
New avifauna and atlas for Islay and Jura
The Birds of Islay and Jura, Peter Roberts (Crex Press, 2026), 416 pp + p&p.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Antrim
Rathlin Island
Now officially free from ferrets. Rat eradication programme targeting official rat-free declaration in 2027.
Isle of Muck
2 Puffins reported visiting nest burrow in spring ‘25 following rat eradication programme. Breeding not confirmed.