About the reserve

In World War II Dakotas took off from here carrying troops and equipment to the battlefields of Europe. The old runways are long gone but they can still be traced by the changes in vegetation. 

Learn more about the site's history

We are turning this former military airfield back into wildlife-rich hay meadow and pasture, habitats which have steeply declined in Wiltshire and the UK. On this one reserve we are meeting more than 45% of the government's 10-year target for restoring hay meadow in England!

The grassland is home to brown hare, roe deer, kestrel and skylarks. Adder’s-tongue fern, great burnet, oxeye daisies, ladies bedstraw and bird’s-foot-trefoil flower in the grasses.

Living in the hedgerows are bullfinch, lapwing, grass snake and 14 species of dragonfly.

Spiny restharrow and dyer’s greenweed are rare but survive here. Above the flowers fly small copper, brown hairstreak, common blue and marbled white butterflies. Birds include wheatears, whinchats, stonechats, partridge, barn owls and tawny owls.

Blakehill is the farm base for our northern reserves. We cut the hay in July after the skylarks have nested, then graze with cattle and sheep to control vigorous grasses. In some areas we are reseeding with local wildflower seed. 

See the Blakehill sightings blog