We also seen a wild deer. The bird hides are amazing.
Nature reserve established following foot & mouth disposals. The foot and mouth outbreak of 2001 saw 466,312 animals – 448,308 of them sheep - being buried in 26 trenches in and around the runways at Great Orton. Also they have to hire all types of cycles for all family members.Great place for a nature walk on a nice day.
Not the prettiest place in Cumbria, but excellent access & parking, with disability aware staff and good facilities.
Bike hire & trails excellent for children from toddlers Good cycle hire n tracjs, excellent wildlife experience with good conservationThank you for taking the time to leave us a review.Lovely place to visit. There was bike suitable for all abilities and the facilities were all clean and tidyNature reserve established following foot & mouth disposals. Great walks around the site with lots of bird hides to sit in to discover who visits and have yr lunch out of the rain!
Ten years on from the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, a massive burial ground outside Carlisle is now a nature reserve. Bike hire & trails excellent for children from toddlers upwards.This is the version of our website addressed to speakers of
Bike hire is a great way to get about the reserve but it is possible to walk around it all. Free parking and admission. Follow signs for Wiggonby.Watchtree Farm was named after a tree from which local people kept watch for Border Reivers heading down from Scotland.The great cycle routes created by the Watchtree Wheelers scheme to give disabled and disadvantaged people the chance to get out on a bike. Well worth a visit. In the sky, more than 60 species of bird have been spotted.There are skylarks, little grebe, tufted duck and mute swans are just some of the feathered visitors. Watchtree Nature Reserve: Great for all the family - See 117 traveler reviews, 75 candid photos, and great deals for Carlisle, UK, at Tripadvisor. Lots of wildlife...if you're quiet! Staff are very welcoming and helpful. Wildlife is perfectly at home here and we have abundant Brown Hares, the European protected Great crested Newt, numerous breeding birds, … Not the prettiest place in Cumbria, but excellent access & parking, with disability aware staff and good facilities. Take a picnic. This is also a breeding colony for sand martins, and there’s a bird ringing initiative which captures, rings and releases birds through the year to help wildlife organisations monitor populations and assist with research.Watchtree has a fantastic variety of habitats. Several other airfields were also used for this task. Watchtree Nature Reserve has been created on the site of Great Orton airfield which was used as a mass culling and disposal site for livestock during the 2001 Foot and Mouth disease outbreak. Pictures were broadcast around the world of Watchtree becoming a huge burial ground for more than half a million animals culled because of foot and mouth disease.When the devastating episode was over, local people worked with Defra and other organisations to transform this into Watchtree Nature Reserve, the wildlife haven we see today.Brown hares, roe deer, foxes stoats and weasels are just some of the mammals which roam these fields. Lots of information on what's on in reception. Now, Watchtree is the largest man-made nature reserve in Europe. And excelent escape from the suburbs on your doorstep. After the war, it was used to store munitions until its closure in 1952.In the 1960s it became farmland once more, then parts of it became a car rally facility, a flying school, clay pigeon shooting club and a site for Great Orton Wind Farm.Then, in 2001, the land became unintentionally famous, for a purpose which could have scarred this place for good were it not for the efforts of the local community. It's never overcrowded, has beautiful views to the Lakeland fells and the Pennines. Pictures were broadcast around the world of Watchtree becoming a huge burial ground for more than half a million animals culled because of foot and mouth disease. When the devastating episode was over, local people worked with Defra and other organisations to transform this into Watchtree Nature Reserve, the wildlife haven we see today. Watchtree Nature Reserve is a 205 acre haven for wildlife and people. Featuring flower rich meadows, old and new woodland, miles of hedgerow and wetland habitats this a place for everyone. Lovely day out. Thank you for taking the time to leave a wonderful review.
We had a lovely walk around the reserve and we're treated to a fantastic display of starling murmarations. Its land was requisitioned during the Second World War to become Great Orton Airfield. This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.Ryan2016Watchtree, Manager at Watchtree Nature Reserve, responded to this reviewThis response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.Review tags are currently only available for English language reviews.This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.Ryan2016Watchtree, Manager at Watchtree Nature Reserve, responded to this reviewThis response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.Ryan2016Watchtree, Manager at Watchtree Nature Reserve, responded to this reviewThis response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.Ryan2016Watchtree, Manager at Watchtree Nature Reserve, responded to this reviewThis response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.Run mainly by volunteers, this retired second world war air field has been brought back to life as...Good to know Watchtree is still open for non-contact visits.
Throughly enjoyed my walk around the...I go walking here several times weekly. It had three runways alongside hangars, a control tower, offices workshops and accommodation blocks. Watchtree Nature Reserve: Great place to enjoy fresh air and countryside for a few hours - See 117 traveller reviews, 75 candid photos, and great deals for …
There are woodlands, planted with red squirrels in mind, and wetlands which have become great breeding grounds for insects and amphibians, as well as traditional hay meadows, ideal for boosting the bird population.Take the B5307 or A595 from Carlisle, or the A596 from Wigton.