The nature reserve sits within the North Wessex Downs AONB, located on the outskirts of Marlborough in Wiltshire. Wiltshire Wildlife Trust purchased the site in 2022 to protect it from the threat of development, preserve it for the local community to enjoy and increase its biodiversity.

Bay Meadows is now both a nature park for everyone to visit and a nature reserve for wildlife, comprising 30 acres of restored water meadows. The River Og, a typical Wiltshire chalk stream, runs through the reserve and joins the River Kennet in the town, making Bay Meadows an important wildlife corridor between Ogbourne Maisey and Marlborough. Surveys undertaken as part of the project have revealed more than 300 species call Bay Meadows home, including otter and wild brown trout; it is also one of the last refuges of water voles, which have decreased by over 94% nationally and are now absent from most nearby counties.

Chairman Alan Pardoe and Chief Executive Mike Hill of The Hills Group opened Bay Meadows on 1 November at an official opening event attended by Ninna Gibson, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, Nick Fogg, Mayor of Marlborough, and Nick Holliday, Committee Member of National Lottery Heritage Fund, as well as a small group of the Trust’s major stakeholders.

Thanks to the generous support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Hills Group, Dyson, Fish in Need, Marlborough Area Board, the Town Council, and other generous donors, the Trust completed a two-year programme of habitat restoration and community engagement work prior to the reserve opening. Attendees of the official opening event had the chance to learn about how Bay Meadows has been transformed for the benefit of wildlife and local people since the land was purchased.

As part of the restoration project, the floodplain meadow was restored to not only improve wetland habitat to attract more mammals, birds, fish and pollinators, but to also provide a nature-based solution to mitigating climate change. A series of shallow scrapes were created to hold water back in the floodplain, allowing it to be released slowly during extended dry periods to help sustain wildlife and provide ideal habitat for water birds. Trees and snakeshead fritillary bulbs were also planted with the help of community volunteers to increase biodiversity across the site. Grazing by a small herd of cattle has been introduced into the Wildlife Refuge area to create ideal conditions for more wildflowers to flourish.

As part of the community engagement work, schools, clubs and other organisations visited Bay Meadows to participate in fun, nature-based activities, such as building dens and bird boxes. A dedicated area was also set up to deliver wellbeing activities for the Trust’s Marlborough Wellbeing Programme, such as conservation work, wildlife walks and nature-based crafts, to increase nature connectedness in adults from the local community.

The opening of the nature reserve has given Marlborough communities access to a new nature-rich green space, with the creation of easy walking trails. For families, there is a picnic area, a den building area, logs to climb on and an enchanted tunnel. There is also a bug hunting trail, reptile mats and bug hotels for children to explore. WWT’s experts will continue to use the wellbeing area created as part of the project for guided activities.

The creation of Bay Meadows nature reserve is part of Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s wider strategy to restore nature at a landscape scale by improving connectivity through wildlife corridors and better habitat management. The Trust is not only carrying out extensive works to improve, restore and create wetland habitat on its own nature reserves, but is also working with farmer clusters and landowners to restore a wide range of habitats across the wider landscape of Wiltshire.

Bay Meadows is now one of more than 40 Wiltshire Wildlife Trust natures reserves spread throughout the county covering over 3,000 acres, with all of Wiltshire’s habitats represented, from chalk downlands to woodlands.