Reserves

Littleton Brick Pits

Grid ref: 590 912 / Area: 2.04 hectares

This reserve is in an unusual setting, next to a wild stretch of the Severn Estuary and beside an industrial site. The tall reedbed is an important haven for birds.

How to get there
We encourage visitors to use environmentally friendly forms of transport wherever possible. Most of our reserves are easily accessible by bicycle, with many close to the National Cycle Network. Click here to view a location map of the reserve on the National Cycle Network website.

Alternatively, from B4461 follow road to Littleton-upon-Severn and turn right to Littleton Warth. Park outside industrial estate and follow path through estate to the left.

Access
Littleton is a restricted access site. It can be viewed with a permit or on one of the specially arranged guided walks. There are a limited number of permits available to members.

Wildlife and conservation
One of a chain of reedbeds close to the Severn Estuary, this reserve is an important feeding and resting place for migrating birds. The tall and vigorous reeds also provide a breeding ground for reed and sedge warblers and reed buntings.

The best time to see the migrating birds is when they arrive in spring, and late summer when they leave. The reed warbler is one such summer visitor, completely dependent on reedbeds for nesting, and returning to the same breeding site each year.

In early autumn a variety of other migrant birds such as blackcap, chiffchaff, willow warbler and whitethroat visit the reserve.

Each winter part of the reedbed is cut and burned, to ensure a healthy growth and keep the reedbed wet. The willows are occasionally coppiced, and invading scrub removed.

Other points of interest
Once the site of clay extraction for brick making, this pit was filled with surplus slurry which the present reedbed has colonised.