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36. Walton Common
Grid ref: 428 738 / Area: 25 hectares
Walton Common is both a Scheduled Ancient Monument
and an SSSI. There are excellent views of the Gordano
Valley and, above the quarry, across the Severn Estuary.
It is an area renowned for wildflowers and butterflies.
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 B3124 between Clevedon and Portishead.
In the village of Walton-in-Gordano, turn up the Portishead
coast road. Park at GR 423 735 on roadside verge beside
Clevedon golf course. Walk 25m towards village and
up sign-posted diagonal public footpath.
Access
From several points on public
footpaths.
Wildlife and conservation
Walton Common
supports a variety of wild plants and animals. Wildflowers
include thyme, marjoram, rock-rose, St John's wort,
autumn gentian and violets. Butterflies are particularly
notable including common blue, brown argus, grizzled
and dingy skipper, green and purple hairstreak, and
dark green fritillary. Other insects such as grasshoppers,
glow-worms and moths are abundant. The scrub and woodland
edge provide food and nest-sites for blackcap and whitethroat.
Buzzard, kestrel and sparrowhawk sometimes hunt across
the common.
Management involves cutting back the scrub and sapling
trees to restore the flower-rich grassland and the
restoration of grazing to create a mosaic of short
and long grass, scrub and woodland-edge. Without management,
Walton Common would revert to a poor woodland and many
of the grassland species for which it is famous would
be shaded out.
Further information
The Common is covered by a Countryside Stewardship
agreement with the Countryside Agency. The Common
remains in private ownership and the Trust has a
10-year lease.
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