 At 300 hectares (700 acres), Lower Woods is the largest Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserve, and one of the largest woodlands in the county. A visit to Lower Woods is to go back in time to what is still a Mediaeval landscape of individual woodlands and coppices surrounded by ancient woodbanks and separated by fingers of grazed Common land and old grassy roads called 'trenches'. Lower Woods is a Site of Special Scientific Interest of national importance for its woodland wildflowers: its 70+ 'ancient woodland indicators' making it the second richest woodland botanically in the West of England. But there are also good populations of many native mammal species like our 12 bat species (including barbastelles), stoats, dormice, roe deer, badgers and foxes, excellent numbers of breeding songbirds and over-wintering woodcock, and many butterfly, beetle, moth, hoverfly and dragonfly species.
Things to see and do
As much as anything else, Lower Woods is a beautiful place to go for a walk and get away from it all. A map and leaflet containing self-guided trails is available from the Trust headquarters or from a leaflet dispenser at Lower Woods Lodge. For those wanting some more detailed information about the fascinating history and ecology of Lower Woods, a guidebook (price £3) is also available from the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust head office. Contact us for details.
New visitors usually stick to one of the three waymarked routes, but wondering further afield, particularly south of the Little Avon river, it is possible to walk for hours without seeing another soul, even when the car park appears to be full.
The woods can be extremely muddy in the winter, but by sticking to the wider grasslands, or by leaving the paths entirely, the worst patches can be avoided. The autumn colours here are more subtle – but as beautiful – as those at nearby Westonbirt Arboretum. Look out in particular for the naked ladies (autumn crocus) on paths going down to the stream, the deep reds, coppers and golds of the wild service tree, oak and beech leaves in Lower Wetmoor, as well as the spindle berries, crab apples and wild pears. Go to the coppice coupes in the northern woods for marsh tit and woodcock, or (if you are lucky) the Commons at dusk for barn owls.
In many ways, spring is the time to see Lower Woods at its best. In early spring see first daffodils and then wood anemone in Wetmoor (yellow route); in April see carpets of bluebells in the Northern Woods (around the green and red routes) and later look for early purple and greater butterfly orchids and herb paris. The best places for birds are around the edges of the woods, especially in scrub or in the recently coppiced areas around the Lodge – listen out for song thrushes, willow warblers, blackcaps and nightingales.
In summer the canopy of trees pushes most of the colourful life to the grasslands and trenches. Look for butterflies like white admiral and silver washed fritillary, hornets, dragonflies and an astonishing wealth of old meadow species like ragged-robin, common-spotted orchids, betony and devils-bit scabious along the 2-mile long Horton Great Trench, Plumbers Trench and the Wetmoor Meadows. Also look out for hundreds of tiny frogs and possible glimpses of adders and grass snakes. Demoiselles and kingfishers congregate around the Little Avon glades along the Little Avon river. In August keep your eyes peeled for the rare violet helleborines along the woodbanks of the southern woods.
Getting there
Lower Woods Nature Reserve is in South Gloucestershire, between Wickwar and Hawkesbury Upton. Most visitors park at Lower Woods Lodge, accessed down a stone track opposite Inglestone Farm Holiday Cottages off from the Wickwar to Hawkesbury Upton road. However, there is also rougher road access to the Southern Woods via Vinney Lane or Wood Lane, Horton. More detailed directions can be found on the leaflet.
Sat nav / internet map: GL9 1BY
Numerous public footpaths cross the site and the reserve is open access at all times on foot. A bridleway goes right through the Woods from north to south, and horse-riders may obtain a permit from the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust for access to certain other parts of the Reserve. Motor vehicles are prohibited from the site except for the car park and its access.
Some of the flatter paths around Lower Woods Lodge are accessible for terrain wheelchairs and pushchairs in the drier months of summer and early autumn, but the woods on the whole are infamously muddy, with some steep slopes.
Get involved
It takes a great deal of management to maintain the landscape, species diversity and accessibility of Lower Woods. A group of volunteers meet at the site every Thursday throughout the year (see contact details below), and additional volunteer groups come from (among others) Avon Wildlife Trust, the Cotswold Wardens and BTCV. The Bristol Conservation Volunteers meet on the second and third Sundays of each month from October to March.
A volunteer management committee of 20 people assist decision-making on the site, and also help with survey and monitoring.
Get involved in our extensive range of events including practical workshops, survey, guided walks and wildlife spotting days.
Wood sales
We also sell many of the products of our coppice management:
Firewood: £60 for a Landrover load (within 10 mile radius only).
Hazel bean sticks: £4.00 for 10.
Hazel pea sticks: £2.50 for 10.
Hazel weaving rods / heatherings: £10 per bundle of 20.
Hedging / woven fencing stakes: 50p each.
Turned wooden items: individually priced.
Other products available on request.
For more information contact us.
Lower Woods Nature Reserve Leaflet
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