| Beach | Woodland Trust | Wessex Water | Walborough Reserve | Nature Sightings |

Uphill and Walborough hills, the River Axe, the Pill, their banks and saltings are Sites of Special Scientific Interest managed and funded by Avon Wildlife Trust, English Nature and Wessex Water. The Woodland Trust manages the Donkey Field and the Plantation.

ALWAYS FOLLOW THE COUNTRY CODE

The flat sandy beach is only 250m beyond the boatyard and runs to the Knightstone jetty on the sea front at Weston- super-Mare.  When the tide is out, the lower reaches of the beach are muddy and can be dangerous.  Salt flats cover the seaward area Southwest of the Boatyard sea defence and a footpath crosses to the sand dunes at the southern end of the beach near the outfall of the River Axe opposite Brean Down.  

And be warned; you cannot cross the River Axe from Uphill to get to Brean Down – many have tried and have had to be rescued (or they drowned in the attempt). The only way is via a road journey of five or six miles.

There is plenty of parking on the beach but be aware that the sea can come in rather fast and you should park above the high water mark if you are stopping for a while. Cars are regularly lost when the tide races in.  There are some areas of soft sand sign posted at the Uphill end of the beach. Ignore the notices at your peril.

Black Rock is a tiny island that is exposed at low tide and remains clear of the water at high tide. It was very popular with fishermen although it is not used so much today. A muddy causeway allows access at low tide but it is dangerous to attempt to reach it when the tide is coming in.

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Woodland Trust: The Donkey Field

Together with the Plantation the Donkey Field, variously known as the 'Bluebell' and 'Snowdrop' Field, forms a green barrier between Uphill and Weston-super-Mare. The field famous for its springtime display of flowers took its original name in Thomas Tutton's day when it became the retirement field for a donkey used on the Manor estate to pull a little handcart on which was the name "Thos. Tutton Knyfton Esq. Recorder of Axbridge".

Indeed the cart was also to be seen in the field until it fell to bits. The donkey was everyone's pet and was buried in the field. Later the field was used to pasture beach donkeys from Weston. Forming part of the Graves-Knyfton estate the field and plantation was acquired by the Woodland Trust in 1997 for the benefit of the village and residents. Today cattle graze under the parkland trees and look out over the iron fence.

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk

The Plantation & Bluebell Field Uphill, Weston-Super-Mare OS Landranger 182; Explorer 153; ST 318591; 12.3 acres (5.0 ha); Parking Nearby; Mainly Broadleaved Woodland; Grassland

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Wessex Water

Wessex Water's new sewage treatment works at Weston-super-Mare became operational in time for the May 1 start of the 1999 bathing water season. Flows from the town will receive the highest levels of treatment and ultraviolet disinfection before discharge to sea - ensuring that Weston's beaches are given greater protection against the risk of environmental pollution.

Wessex Water pushed essential work forward as quickly as possible to ensure the works is operational in time for the beginning of the bathing season. "We are delighted to have reached this point ahead of schedule in order to meet the bathing water season deadline and we'd like to thank all our engineers and contractors for enabling us to do so," said Wessex Water's project manager Warwick Pugh. While it is impossible to guarantee that this scheme will bring a Blue Flag to Weston - there are so many other elements affecting that designation - the new works will not be a contributing factor to any bathing water quality failures.

Wessex Water provides water to more than one million people and treats waste water from more than 2.5 million customers living in an area stretching from Bristol to Bournemouth and from Minehead to Salisbury.
Extract from press release 29/4/99

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Walborough

This reserve situated just south of Uphill village has salt marsh and limestone grassland with rare plants and insects. Purchased by Avon Wildlife trust in 1996 with help from the heritage lottery fund and others including many local people this 49-acre wildlife reserve is made up of limestone grassland, salt marsh and muddy bank of the Axe Estuary Uphill Pill. Known to many locals as Young's hill it is similar to Uphill hill and has the same plants. The salt marsh is very varied with many specialised plants acclimatised to growing with the tides flooding over them at times. Many rare species are to be found here. Small birds feed on seeds of salt marsh plants or insects of the marsh and species such as linnet, skylark and starling occur in good numbers. A small number of twite, a very scarce species in the southwest, have been in recent winters. An excellent site for insect limestone grassland has some notable species and the sea wall often attracts wall butterflies.

Discovered in recent years, the rare spotted bee-fly which favours warm, bare sunny slopes- the larvae attacks grubs of solitary bees. A number of rare birds have been seen including Spoonbill, little egret, ganganey, wood sandpiper and Sabine's gull so far this year.

The abundant wild carrot on the sea wall holds sulphur pearl, a nationally rare micro moth which has spread north over recent years. Together with the local nature Reserve and areas of habitat created by Wessex water as part of their new sewage treatment works this is becoming an increasingly important area for wildlife.

More details at http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/avon/level1/reserves/walborough.htm

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