Catcott Nature Reserve, Somerset

Catcott Nature Reserve, or Catcott Complex Nature Reserve, is a 227 acre site on the Somerset Levels, south of Burtle, adjoining, to the east, the much larger Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve. The land at Catcott is almost completely flat, the elevation only six to ten feet above sea level, and it consists of a patchwork of riparian habitats - open water, wet woodland, marsh, fen, reedbeds, and hay meadows, separated by rhynes, ditches and a few tracks; not especially scenic, but of great value to wildlife.

The reserve is a particularly favoured location for birds, with many different species found here over the course of the year. It is also home to a good range of wildflowers, including bog myrtle, water violet, southern marsh orchid and marsh pea, plus other wildlife such as great crested newt, roe deer, otter, brown hare, slow worm and grass snake, which despite its common name is most at home in wetland habitats.

Most of the site is too wet to explore fully, though several paths give access to various sections, and some of the drier meadows can also be crossed.

The Reserve

Catcott Nature Reserve is reached by Broad Drove, at its intersection with West Drove; from the junction, a quarter mile track (Lady's Drove), liable to be muddy and rutted, leads north along the west edge of the preserve to a parking area, opposite a patch of open water, a good birdwatching location. Also at the road junction is the main track to the reserve, Higher Ropes Drove, heading east, and linking with a route into Shapwick Heath; there are more parking places at the start of the track.

The Reserve

North of Higher Ropes Drove, the central section of this portion of the reserve contains around ten wet meadows, cut for hay in the autumn, and grazed by cattle and Exmoor ponies in the summer. These are the best places for wildflowers. Surrounding the meadows, on three sides, are areas of wet grazing marsh, the Catcott Lows, usually completely flooded in the winter since the land here is slightly lower than the meadows. South of the drove are more varied habitats; the westernmost section is a larger area of water - Great Fen, enclosed by reedbeds and circled by a loop path, with good elevated views available from the Tower Hide, on the east side. Further east are wet oak woodland (Catcott Heath) crossed by more paths, and another two hay meadows (South, and Taylors), while beyond is an area of wet marsh, an extension of the Catcott Lows. Elsewhere, the reserve has three more hides; beside the northern car park, at the southeast corner of the woodland, and along the drove. A small detached section of the reserve, Little Fen, is situated a little way south along West Drove.