BBOWT
Wildmoor Heath is a precious survival of rare heathland habitat and home to a rich, but fragile, community of fungi, insects, reptiles, birds, mosses and flowering plants.
Unusual variety
Unlike many other flat heaths, Wildmoor Heath is situated on a slope and offers visitors a wonderful range of habitats and views, from wet and dry lowland heath and valley bog, to mature pine and broadleaved woodland. Wildmoor's varied habitats attract a range of birds, including endangered ground-nesting birds. The open heath with its scattered cover of scrub provides ideal conditions for the tree pipit, stonechat and woodlark. The 'churring' call of the well-camouflaged nightjar can be heard at night.
Amazing plants
The valley bogs, fed by small springs from the higher ground, contain wet, peaty areas with a carpet of no less than nine species of bog-mosses, scattered with locally scarce plants such as bog asphodel, butterwort and white beaked-sedge. Look out for the round-leaved sundew, which feeds on small insects trapped by the sticky hairs on its leaves. This unusual plant can live for up to 50 years!
Grazing successes
Dexter cattle from the Wildlife Trust's herd are making a critical difference to the bogland habitats, by preventing the coarse purple moor-grass from taking over. This creates ideal conditions for dragonflies and damselflies - 20 species have been recorded here. You can enjoy these beautiful insects from boardwalks that cross some parts of the bog.
Reserve champions - supporting their favourite reserve
Colin Wilson: "Enjoy this place, there is so much nature to explore."
Things to do
Try our circular Wildlife Walk (1.5 miles). Just follow the badger waymarkers.- Volunteer with our Wildmoor Heath work party
- Help us manage this reserve by supporting us
- Tweet your wildlife sightings to @bbowt
- Sign up to our e-newsletter
- Explore the reserve and surrounding area on our Sandhurst Wild Walk. Starting in Sandhurst, this 9km circular walk takes in Wildmoor Heath nature reserve and part of Crowthorne Wood. OS Explorer Map 160, 1:25,000 scale, covers the route of this walk.
Download the site risk assessment.
Your photographs of Wildmoor Heath
Share your photographs of Wildmoor Heath with us! Just add them to our BBOWT flickr group, and tag them with 'Wildmoor Heath'.
Species and habitats
Nearby nature reserves
- Barossa
- 2 miles - Surrey Wildlife Trust
- Poors Allotment
- 3 miles - Surrey Wildlife Trust
- Shepperlands Farm
- 4 miles - Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust
.jpg "Water vole by Laurence Arnold")
.jpg "Bumblebee by Steve Mendham")