Reserves

Priory Farm

Grid ref: 499 756 / Area: 0.7 hectares

A small piece of Gordano wetland, this reserve is home to breeding warblers and many plants. With industrial Portbury in the background and a tip alongside it, it is a symbol of conservation in a threatened environment.

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, on the A369 Bristol-Portishead road, at Portbury turn into Station Road (Sheepway). Park by the railway bridge and walk along the road.

Access
No access to the reedbed, but good views available from the road.

Wildlife and conservation
Although reeds appear to be the dominant plant, 80 other species of flowering plant also grow here. Ragged robin, southern marsh orchid and marsh marigold can all be seen in patches of fen vegetation, along with some locally uncommon plants such as bog stitchwort and fen bedstraw. Priory Farm is also the home of brown sedge, which is very rare in this area.

In summer, the main interest is the birds that breed in the reedbed. Sedge warblers and reed warblers breed here. Listen for their scratchy songs in spring and summer.

Some areas of fen are cut in winter, to prevent the build-up of dead vegetation and the drying-out of the reedbed.

Further information
The site is owned by a tipping company and leased to the Trust.

reed bunting

Image library

Reserves: Priory Farm

Reserve map

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