As Senior Reserves Manager for Mendip, I lead a team that looks after over twenty Somerset nature reserves, including Bubwith Acres, Cheddar Wood and Ubley Warren, supporting wildlife conservation in Somerset.

Why nature reserves need active management 

Our native wildlife evolved over thousands of years in a mosaic of grassland, scrub, and woodland. Before modern farming, that landscape was shaped by large herbivores - animals like aurochs and woolly rhinoceros - grazing, trampling and breaking up vegetation. Later, traditional human practices such as coppicing and small-scale grazing continued many of those processes. 
 
This all changed in the 20th century. Agricultural intensification and the loss of traditional practices led to the disappearance of 97% of the UK’s species-rich grassland and a decline in woodland quality and connectivity. 
 
Our Somerset nature reserves on Mendip represent the last remaining fragments of nature-rich land which escaped this fate – typically because they were too steep, rocky, and generally difficult to work on to have been considered worth converting to intensive farmland. To maintain them, we carry out active management that mimics the historical processes that once shaped the landscape. By rotationally clearing scrub from species-rich grassland, for example, we act as proxies for the grazing animals and traditional communities that would previously have kept these areas open. Without this work, we would gradually lose these remaining fragments and the species they support. 
 
This is very different from simply “re-wilding” a site. While allowing some habitats to scrub up can benefit wildlife, it is generally not possible to recover high-quality species-rich grassland once it has been agriculturally improved, nor to recreate ancient woodland except over very long timescales. It is far more effective to prevent degradation than to try to reverse it later. Grasslands in particular can change dramatically in just a few years if management stops.  
 
For these reasons, the work we carry out each year is essential - not only to prevent further loss, but to increase the resilience of these habitats to pressures such as climate change, pollution, public access and fragmentation. Our efforts in wildlife conservation in Somerset help secure these habitats for future generations. 

What does a typical year look like? 

In summer, one of our main tasks is controlling bracken where it threatens species-rich limestone grassland. On flatter ground this can be done with machinery, but on Mendip’s steep, rocky slopes it often has to be cut and raked by hand - labour intensive, but worthwhile, as these are often the most botanically diverse areas. Between October and February, outside the bird breeding season, we tackle denser scrub and carry out woodland work such as thinning and coppicing. Ash dieback has also required significant tree safety work, felling severely diseased ash that pose a risk to roads and footpaths. 
 
In spring, we focus on infrastructure - fences, gates, troughs, stiles and bridges. Fence posts last around 15 years, meaning we replace roughly 7% of our fencing each year - around two kilometres in-house - simply to keep up. It may not sound glamorous, but maintaining effective conservation grazing is the single most important tool we have for managing our grasslands. 
 
Our team is usually out four days a week delivering practical work, alongside volunteers and contractors. The remaining time is spent checking grazing, writing management plans and funding applications, maintaining vehicles and tools, responding to storm damage or urgent repairs, and managing the administration that comes with overseeing multiple sites. 

Thank you for your support 

None of this work would be possible without the help of our supporters and the generous donations you make. Although it might not always be obvious when you visit one of our Somerset nature reserves, a huge amount of work goes into maintaining them as safe havens for wildlife. From £20 to buy hand tools for volunteers to use on our reserves, to £200 to pay for a day of contractor time to control bracken, to £2,000 to replace a stretch of livestock fencing, every contribution directly supports wildlife conservation in Somerset.   
 
We’re also incredibly grateful to all of our volunteers who help us carry out practical work on the Mendip reserves – it makes a huge difference to how much work we can accomplish and is always the best part of my working week being out with the group. 
 
If you would like to support this work, you can contribute to our Nature Reserves Fund. Your donation will go directly towards caring for Somerset’s nature reserves, every day of the year. 

Support the Nature Reserves Fund today