Countryside Access
Nature Reserves
The Cotswold Water Park Society owns and manages several nature reserves across the Cotswold Water Park.
Key Facts
- Cokes Pit Local Nature Reserve
- Shorncote reedbed
Coke's Pit Local Nature Reserve
Cokes Pit was excavated 40 years ago, and was given to the Society in 2002.
Our ranger & biodiversity teams made some improvements, and, in 2003, Gloucestershire County Council declared Cokes Pit a Local Nature Reserve - the first in the Water Park.
Cokes Pit is home to breeding birds including reed bunting, tufted duck & great crested grebe; water vole, water shrew and nightingale; vast numbers of dragonflies; and lesser bearded stonewort.
Improvements include information boards around Coke's Pit, artificial ‘tern rafts’ in the lake, and a bird hide only a few yards from the road.
All this makes Coke's Pit one of the most interesting, accessible & informative reserves in the Water Park.
Shorncote reedbed
If you leave Keynes Park by the north east corner and walk towards South Cerney, you will come across this special wildlife refuge - the first Water Park quarry to be restored solely for wildlife.
Designed to attract wetland birds, the site is already more successful than anyone dared hope. Bittern, reed bunting, water rail & reed warbler all visit the refuge - as do otter and water vole. Two bird hides have been erected and provide a wonderful base for birdwatching throughout the year.
