About the reserve

One of a chain of reed beds close to the Severn Estuary, this reserve is an important feeding and resting place for migrating birds. It is in an unusual setting, next to a wild stretch of the Severn Estuary and beside an industrial site. The tall reeds provide a breeding ground for reed and sedge warblers and reed buntings. The best time to see migrating birds is when they arrive in spring, and late summer when they leave. The reed warbler is one such summer visitor, completely dependent on reed beds for nesting, and returning to the same breeding site each year. In early autumn a variety of other migrant birds such as blackcap, chiffchaff, willow warbler and whitethroat visit the reserve. The brick pit was once the site of clay extraction for brick making, and filled with surplus slurry which the present reed bed has colonised.