News: Reserve

Pensthorpe Brings Back Popular Summer Membership at Even Lower Price to Support Families Pensthorpe Nature Reserve has announced the return of its popular Summer Membership, now offering even greater value for visitors with a reduced price of just £25 – down from £30 last year. The limited-availability membership provides unlimited access from 18th July to… Read more »

Water, water everywhere, and how amazing it is!   The 2nd of February marks World Wetlands Day, a time to shout out how important wetlands are, both for wildlife and humans. Wetlands are so important that 40% of all life live or breed in them.   Wetlands are very diverse habitats, with one thing in… Read more »

Pensthorpe Wetland Bird Survey (2025) After a gap of some years, it was decided to resume the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS).  We have now completed our first full year of recording. So, what is WeBS? It is a national survey involving monthly counts of wetland birds on designated sites.  These… Read more »

Pensthorpe holds a diverse range of habitats and trees play an important part in all of them. Whether it’s an Oak in the woodlands, Willow in the reedbeds, or Hawthorn along the hedgerows, each provides safe spaces and food for wildlife. For birds, insects, mammals, lichens, fungi & humans, trees are vital! Around 50ha (123… Read more »

October is a very busy time for the Reserve Team, as habitat management really gets underway. One of the biggest tasks for the autumn season is cutting & clearing the Wildflower Meadow. In total during 2025, 60+ volunteers helped over eight days to mow & clear two acres (0.8 hectares) of vegetation. As always, areas… Read more »

I think it’s fair to say that both Stuart and I were somewhat apprehensive about conducting the bird survey on a day when the weather forecast was one of rain all day with winds gusting to 40mph.  Alas, when we arrived it was dry, with minimal wind but an overcast sky. A wonderful start with… Read more »

It was a blustery cloudy morning but quite mild. A family of Blackcap in a shrub on the drive was a lovely start to the day. I knew that Nick needed to leave mid-morning so I wanted to start with the Scrape & Moon Water which are usually the hardest parts to count! On the… Read more »

July seems to have whizzed by, with heatwaves & heavy rain all added in. A big focus during the summer months is controlling invasive & dominant plants & our amazing volunteer team, with help from two Corporate Teams, have been hard at work with removal. Himalayan Balsam and Monkey Flower are two invasive species, originally… Read more »

Mark Hill and myself did the Pensthorpe bird count Thursday morning. It was a beautiful sunny day with a light south westerly and temperatures of 190c – 230c. The oppressive heat of the last week had gone and the air was much fresher. The water levels were extremely low. This was especially noticeable at the… Read more »