Coombe Hill Nature Reserve

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Coombe Hill Nature Reserve is an area of mixed habitats including wetlands and a disused canal lined with trees. The wetland area, which has two hides, can have a variety of waterfowl and waders, and the trees are hosts to warblers and other summer visitors. It lies near to Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury and is accessed from the junction of the A38 and A4019 roads.

Birds

Notable Species

Redshank, Greenshank, Ringed Plover, Snipe, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat.

Rarities

Spoonbill, Great White Egret, Stilt Sandpiper.

Checklist

Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Barnacle Goose, Greylag Goose, Shelduck, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Teal, Shoveler, Little Grebe, Coot, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Moorhen, Lapwing, Curlew, Whimbrel, Redshank, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Common Tern, Buzzard, Kestrel, Barn Owl, Stock Dove, Turtle Dove, Peregrine, Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Raven, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Redstart, Wheatear, Pied Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Great Tit, Long-Tailed Tit, Wren, Reed Bunting.

Site Information

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust supported by Grundon Waste Management, Heritage Lottery Fund, English Nature & The Environment Agency have in recent years acquired an area of over 200 acres of former farmland next to the Trust's Coombe Hill Canal Nature Reserve in the Severn Vale. These areas have now been combined to form Coombe Hill Nature Reserve.

The farmland used to be part of the Coombe Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI - a designation given to the country's most important wildlife sites) but in the 1970's & 1980's due to agricultural 'improvements' much of this area's wildlife interest was lost and most of the area was removed from the SSSI designation. The Trust's Management Plan for the meadows, ditches, hedges and long pools is to restore this once important area to it's former condition as a very valuable Wetland Habitat.

The Reserve falls within the Severn and Avon Vales Wetland Partnership area. The Trust is a key partner in this initative which aims to develop and create a wetland landscape within the River Severn floodplain