Levels & moors

At the heart of the Somerset Levels and Moors, lies a beautiful, internationally renowned area called the Avalon Marshes, which incorporates two of our most popular reserves; Westhay Moor National Nature Reserve and Catcott Nature Reserve. The Avalon Marshes is not only one of the finest remaining lowland wetlands left in Britain,but is also a critical home for vulnerable wetland bird populations such as the Bittern, and is an internationally important overwintering site for tens of thousands of ducks and waders.

Somerset Wildlife Trust is currently planning a major fundraising campaign to enable it to buy Honeygar Farm from the Esmee Fairburn Foundation by early 2023. Honeygar Farm is located between the Trust’s Westhay Moor NNR, Westhay Heath and Catcott nature reserves in the Avalon Marshes, one of the largest and most important wetland areas in the UK.

As one of Defra's first pioneering Landscape Recovery projects in England, Adapting the Levels aims to facilitate the delivery of landscape-scale environmental and social benefits. Ultimately, the project will develop a suite of adaptation options to plot a course through the challenges of climate change and economic uncertainty.

Wetland LIFE is a nationwide, three year university-led project, funded by a number of UK research councils. It is working in the Somerset Levels to carry out a range of ecological and cultural research which aims to support the development of better wetland assessment tools for use by wetland site managers across the country. Our Westhay Moor reserve has been chosen as a study site as they provide examples of land use change in a rural setting, having been reverted into wetlands from agriculture and peat extraction, as well as having a rich history and vibrant recreational use.

Their life cycle is complicated, they can magically transform in size, shape and colour, have one of the longest migration journeys on the planet (during which they don’t eat!), and can grow to over a metre in length. These snake-like freshwater fish are hidden heroes in our Somerset waterways that play a critical role in our ecosystem, providing food for wetland birds and mammals.

Thanks to £94,000 funding from European Marine Fisheries Fund, with support from the Sustainable Eel Group (SEG), we have been working to ensure that these incredible animals can continue to find safe refuge in our county’s wetland habitats before their epic migration back to their breeding grounds.   

A picture of the Somerset Levels, one story at a time

Humans of New York’s goal was to photograph everyday New Yorkers, and record their quotes and short stories. This Facebook page now has over 20 million followers, and provides glimpses into the lives of strangers on the streets of New York City. Somerset Wildlife Trust is doing the same for the people of the Somerset Levels. The vision is to build a community on Facebook, to create a picture of the Somerset Levels, one story at a time and in telling those stories we hope people can better understand the area so they can protect it in the future.