What to See

Nuthatch

Devil's-bit Scabious

Spindle

Woody Nightshade

 
At Langford Heathfield nature reserve you can see the Shetland ponies that are used to keep the scrub and coarse grasses under control. These ponies thrive on the rough grass land diet and their 24-hour-a-day munching helps the spring and summer flowers burst through.

Keep your eyes peeled and ears tuned for the sights and sounds of many birds including tree pipits, which nest in the grassland edges. Lesser spotted woodpecker, wood warbler, redstart and pied flycatcher have bred in the woodland and nightingale just might be heard calling for mates in the early summer. Nuthatches should be found easily if you stand quietly under groups of large oak trees. Try the farthest south point of the reserve, known as The Dips, where children have a bike track. The nuthatches don't seem to mind.

Butterflies, including the small pearl-bordered fritillary and green hairstreak, along with many moths, thrive on the reserve. A good spot for the small pearl-bordereds at Langford is the clearing after the stretches of boardwalk as you go north from the main car park. Try from mid-May.

Threatened dormice have a safe refuge in the woodland, where badger setts can also be seen.

At dusk you may catch a glimpse of the bats including common pipistrelle, serotine and the rare lesser horseshoe.

Adders and common lizards can also be seen in the grassland and heath.

About

Much of Langford Heathfield nature reserve is common land where local people still have the ancient rights of pasturage (grazing), turbary (turf cutting) and estovers (woodcutting for fencing and firewood.)

Because the reserve is common land, and very damp, it has not been used for agriculture meaning many important wildlife species have survived here.

Langford is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) with heathland scrub, secondary and ancient oak and ash woodland. It is because of the reserve’s varied habitat, which includes wet and dry unimproved neutral grassland, heath, ancient woodland, ponds, bracken and scrub that such a variety of wildlife can be found at Langford Heathfiled.

Most of the reserve was purchased by the Trust in 1982 with Coram’s Wood and Lucas’s Copse added in 1985.

226 acres (91.6 ha.)

Location & Access

Map

Download a map of Langford Heathfield (PDF Size: 53kb)

Please beware of electric fencing at the reserve which is used to contain the ponies.

Parking

Park in lay-bys on the Wiveliscombe Road, or Poleshill Lane, near information boards.

Opening

Open access to the public, all year round.

How to get there

Langford Heathfield reserve adjoins the village of Langford Budville, 1.9 miles (3 km) north west of Wellington in Somerset. It is west of the village, adjoining the road to Wiveliscombe.

A National Cycle Network route crosses the southern end of the reserve.

Grid Reference: ST 106 227.
 

 

Events Nearby

Click the following link for a full list of Somerset wildlife events