Natural England - Shapwick Heath NNR
Shapwick Heath NNR
Shapwick Heath NNR is a major wetland reserve forming a large part of the Avalon Marshes.
County: Somerset
Main habitats: Peatland
Area: 390 Ha
Site map: Nature on the Map.
It boasts a wide variety of habitats, including traditionally managed herb-rich grassland, ferny wet woodland, fen, scrub, and ditches rich in aquatic plants and invertebrates.
To download a leaflet describing this NNR, click here 
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The NNR comprises former peat harvesting areas that were given to English Nature by Levington Horticulture. By raising and controlling water levels these areas have been transformed into a watery wilderness of open water, reed swamp and reedbed.
Otters, as well as many insects, plants and birds, populate the whole area. Small pockets of sphagnum moss, which once covered the whole valley floor, can also be found.
The best time to visit the reserve for the local flora is in the spring; for birds the site can be visited all year round.
Shapwick Heath is also the location of the Neolithic Sweet Path, the oldest man-made routeway in Britain.
Starlings
The starlings use sites managed by three different organisations - the RSPB (Ham Wall), Natural England (Shapwick Heath) and Somerset Wildlife Trust (Westhay Moor).
PLEASE NOTE: There is very little parking available at any of the sites, so avoiding the weekend rush will greatly improve your visit. Whenever you come, please follow any parking instructions given and avoid stopping on narrow verges or blocking gateways. There is NO PARKING FOR COACHES, other than at The Peat Moors Centre situated between Shapwick and Westhay villages.
Please take care not to disturb the wildlife or other visitors, by keeping noise to a minimum and obeying rules about dogs and restricted access.
For further info call the Starling Hotline (07866 554142)
For teachers: There is a full education programme running at Shapwick in partnership with RSPB Ham Wall. To make an enquiry or book a school visit please contact the Education Officer on 01458 860736.
How to get there
The reserve is 1 km north of Shapwick village and 7 km west of Glastonbury. By car, access to the site is via minor roads from the A39 and B3151. The nearest car park is at the Peat Moors Centre, 0.5 km north of the NNR's main entrance.
The nearest train station is in Castle Cary, 25 km to the east of the reserve, served by First Great Western and Wessex Trains.
First Group bus services connect Castle Cary, Glastonbury and Shapwick village.
The reserve is near National Route 3 of the Sustrans National Cycle Network. There are cycle racks at the site's entrances.
Accommodation
There is a wide variety of accommodation in the area. The nearest camping and caravan sites are in Cossington (8 km to the west) and Walton (5 km to the east). See information on places to stay.
Facilities
The nearest toilet and refreshment facilities are in local villages.
There are interpretation panels at the site, and waymarked paths leading to hides. There is disabled access to one of the hides and surfaced pathways suitable for wheelchairs are being constructed. For further details please contact the site manager by email, or telephone 01458 860120.
What to see
Reedbed and Fen: common reed grows naturally in the area and English Nature has created reedbeds in former sites of peat extraction to provide havens for otter and waterfowl, including the bittern. The fen areas support rich plant and insect communities, including the hairy dragonfly.
Open water: two areas of the reserve, Decoy and Noahs, are former areas of peat extraction that have now been restored to open water. They are home to ducks such as teal and gadwall.
Meadow: hay meadows on the site are rich in wild flowers such as the southern marsh orchid. Management of the meadows includes grazing with rare breeds of cattle and sheep to control coarse grasses and scrub. Surface water drains (called rhyns) cut in the meadows act as 'wet fences' to contain cattle and provide a home for plants such as yellow flag iris, great water dock and purple loosestrife.
Wet woodland: damp woodlands surround the meadows on the reserve and these support abundant ferns. Amongst other invertebrates, this habitat supports the rare lesser silver diving beetle.
History
Shapwick Heath used to be covered by the sea, the water retreating around 4,500 years ago. Reedbeds colonised the drying marshes and was then replaced by sedge and fen woodland. As the old vegetation decayed, it became peat.
Neolithic settlers colonised the surrounding areas of dry land and created raised wooden trackways across the wetlands. Part of one of these tracks, the Neolithic Sweet Track, can be seen in the reserve. The track was built in 3,806 BC and is the oldest man-made routeway in Britain. Apart from the track many other Neolithic artefacts have been found in the area.
In the 13th century the area started to be drained to create grazing land. Apart from its agricultural value the reserve was exploited as a source of fish, timber and fuel. The extraction of peat for use as fuel was thought to have started with the Romans who cut peat into turves during the dry summer months. The hand-cutting of peat continued into the 1950s after which the area saw the large-scale extraction of peat for horticulture. In Shapwick this mechanical extraction ended in the 1990s.
Land Marks
This site is one of the reserves featured in Land Marks, a colour 140-page softback book detailing the fascinating and often complex history of 21 English NNRs. Contemporary photographs, historic paintings and illustrations complement detailed descriptions of these reserves, the historic personalities associated with them, and their wildlife interest.
Have your say on the potential new visitor centre
Natural England is proposing to provide new visitor facilities to serve the Avalon Marshes area, including Shapwick Heath (managed by Natural England), Ham Wall (RSPB) and Westhay Moor (Somerset Wildlife Trust) National Nature Reserves. We have developed a short online questionnaire to understand who is visiting the nature reserves in the Avalon Marshes area, and what their thoughts are on the potential development of new visitor facilities at the former Willows Cafe site.
To give your views, fill in our online survey.