Birches Farm Trail

An exploration of the Birches Reserve provides a chance to walk around an ice age landscape and discover some rare Ice Age ponds and the wildlife that lives in them. These Ice Age Ponds have survived over 12,000 years in the landscape and provide a rare habitat for many different species.

To explore the trail click on the points of interest markers A to G on the map below.

Download a printable copy of the map for the Birches Farm Trail

These ponds are only found in areas that have previously been covered by glaciers. Often over time changes in land-use, drainage or farming practices have meant that the ponds are ploughed out, dried up or altered into features in hedgerows, farm ponds or ditches. On Birches Farm you will see several of these ponds and discover how they formed, what they can tell us about the past and what creatures live in them now.