Eastwood Farm LNR

On 29th June, one of the hottest days of the year so far, we met at the entrance to Eastwood Farm LNR for a guided walk with Reserve Friend Dougal Matthews.

He started with a potted history of the site which used to be a 65 acre farm in the 17th century, then a local domestic waste tip in the 1970's. This latter caused the site to be considered too toxic for house-building, so after the tip was filled up and capped the area was converted to a nature reserve (the farmhouse itself is now a private residence). Most waste is still there on site, with a settling pond used for waste water run-off before it gets into the River Avon. Monitoring is done for heavy metals which are present. The site is on a slope which leads down to the river through meadows, woodland and open areas. We walked past one of Brunel's railway tunnel air shafts, still used by trains and probably bats too.

The meadows are only cut once a year, so wildlife can flourish but seedling trees don't get a foothold. We saw old hedges with over 10 types of trees in them, so they could be 1000 years old (but may have been planted when the farm was created). We saw hawthorn, hazel, hornbeam, white poplar, oak, beech, wild cherry, acer, whitebeam, misty redwood, ash (unfortunately many have now been felled due to Ash Dieback Disease) and blackthorn full of ripening sloes.

There were plenty of herbaceous wildflowers there too, including ragwort (but no sign sign of the Cinnabar Moth caterpillars that feed exclusively on it), knapweed, bindweed, greater burdock, stinging nettle, thistle, plantain, brambles and white clover. Flying all around us were dragonflies, damselflies, also comma, marbled white, skipper and meadow brown butterflies. In the shade of the woodland, bat boxes and bluetit nestboxes have been installed either side of mature tree trunks – bluetits are territorial so the idea is that only one pair will be in each tree, leaving the bat boxes for the bats! It seems to be working most of the time, except when bees decide to make one or other of the boxes into their new hive...

We saw several jays (a threesome at one point), buzzards and gulls. Peregrine falcons from the Clifton Suspension Bridge site use the area for hunting, as do goshawks and kestrels. Squirrels, Roe and Muntjac deer frequent the area too. One of the two ponds we passed was a bomb crater from the Second World War (the bomb had missed its Bristol target), now a peaceful oasis; the other is used as a “settling tank” for the waste tip run-off, with infrequent dredging to spread the toxic waste over a wider area – the cost of removal to other sites is too expensive. Half-grown mallard ducklings seemed very happy there!

Photos: Comma butterfly; Banded Demoiselle damselfly; Beautiful artwork on benches

We concluded our afternoon by walking along the Avon footpath to Beeses Tea Gardens, where we enjoyed drinks (non-alcoholic of course) before returning to Keynsham.