About the reserve

A favourite for families - and bats! 

Back in 1955, Moorlands - an Edwardian woodland garden and part of the ancient Forest of Galtres - became our second nature reserve. As well as being one of our oldest reserves, it's one of our best for a family visit, with a nature trail, opportunities for gentle pond-dipping, wooden sculptures, and an irresistible tree house, which doubles as a bird hide. Enjoy views of a variety of woodland birds, including great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch and a variety of tits as they visit the feeders. 

You'll see another type of tree house on your visit - bat boxes! These have been successfully used by common pipistrelle and brown long-eared bats, while soprano pipistrelle, Brandt's and Daubenton's bats have also been recorded here. We also have badgers on site, so please stick to the path to avoid disturbing them.

There's a 1km circuit around the wood on a mostly-flat path, with plenty of benches where you can stop and take it all in.

Tree Time

In autumn, there's a chance of spotting woodcock, and you can find amazing fungi on a stroll through the leaf litter. It's in spring though, when Moorlands is at its finest. Along with the spectacular collection of rhododendrons and azaleas, some of which are very old, large and unusual, there's a succession of flowers right through the season - snowdrops, bluebells, primroses and wood sorrel.

And don't forget to admire the trees. Mature native species grow side to side with the more unusual snakebark maple, magnolias and two dawn redwoods.