Chew Valley Lake is a large reservoir about 7 miles
south of Bristol and is well known for its birds, including
internationally important numbers of wildfowl. 83.5
ha of the southern end of the site is managed in partnership
with Bristol Water, who own the site, as a Trust reserve.
How to get there
We encourage visitors to use environmentally
friendly forms of transport wherever possible. Most
of our reserves are easily accessible by bicycle, with
many close to the National Cycle Network. Click
here to view a location map of the reserve on the National
Cycle Network website.
Alternatively, take the B3114 south from Chew Stoke,
bear left for West Harptree and head north-east on
the A368. Good views across the reserve from causeway
at Herriott's Bridge where there is car parking.
Access
Hides with permit only, obtainable from Bristol
Water, Recreations Department, Woodford Lodge, on an
annual or daily basis. Woodford Lodge is reached via
the metalled track which heads towards the lake about
half a mile south of Chew Stoke on the B3114.
Wildlife and conservation
Chew is the largest artificial
lake in south-west England. Its surrounding reedbeds
are also amongst the largest in the south-west. It
is extremely important for migrating and wintering
birds including wildfowl, waders, warblers and swallows.
Large numbers of reed warblers breed in the reedbeds
which are also a vital autumn feeding station for both
them and sedge warblers prior to and during their migration.
Wintering and passage wildfowl include important numbers
of shoveler, gadwall, teal and tufted duck. Numbers
of fish-eating birds such as goosander, great crested
grebe and cormorant are also high, with the grebe numbers
often the highest in Britain in autumn. The winter
gull roost is a spectacular sight with up to 50,000
or more, and it is mostly black-headed, common and
Mediterranean gull that are regularly seen.
Breeding birds include great crested and little grebe,
gadwall, tufted duck, shoveler and pochard. Hobbies
often feed over the area in late summer. When the water
level falls, the mud can attract waders such as dunlin,
ringed plover and green sandpipers. The exposed mud
is rapidly colonised by annual plants which can include
rare species such as golden dock. The seeds of these
plants later attract finches and, when the area is
flooded, ducks such as teal.
The locally rare water avens grows by Herriott's Pool
and summer sees large populations of dragonflies hunting
over the water. These include high numbers of ruddy
darters and, later in the summer, migrant hawkers.
The reedbeds are also home to two scarce species of
wainscot moth.
Chew Valley Lake often attracts rare birds, including
osprey, the scarcer grebes, and an American wader or
duck appears most years.
Further information
There is a visitor centre and cafe run by Bristol Water
at the picnic site near the dam.
The Birds
of Chew Valley Lake website
contains frequently updated news and information on
its birds and wildlife, access, maps, and the definitive
Chew bird list!
The Birds
of Chew Valley Lake website contains frequently updated
news and information on its birds and wildlife, access,
maps, and the definitive Chew bird list!
