Description
College Lake Nature Reserve is a peaceful wildlife reserve offering a rich natural environment for visitors of all ages. It is a former chalk quarry transformed into a thriving habitat supporting over 1,000 wildlife species. The reserve is an ideal destination for nature lovers, bird watchers, and families looking for a relaxing outdoor experience.
Visitors can explore interactive displays, walk around the lake, and enjoy bird watching from hides with views of wetland birds like lapwing, redshank, and common terns. Activities include a 2-mile circular Wildlife Walk, Tring Reservoirs Wild Walk, farming exhibition, seasonal guided walks, and Family Fun days. The reserve also features grasslands, woodlands, cornfield flower displays, a café, gift shop, picnic areas, and signposted walking routes.
Admission to the centre is free, making it accessible for all visitors. Charges apply for special events, with details available on their Events page.
Overall, it offers a calm and educational experience surrounded by diverse wildlife and scenic landscapes. The variety of walking trails and seasonal activities ensures something to enjoy throughout the year. With its natural beauty and peaceful atmosphere, it is a perfect place to unwind and connect with nature.
Features
- Free
- Host birthday parties: No
Features
An outstanding centre for wildlife that delights and informs wildlife watchers of all ages. Explore the interactive displays in our visitor centre and around the reserve. College Lake is one of the best places in Buckinghamshire for water birds and there’s something to see all year round.
- A visionary nature reserve: Once a chalk quarry, College Lake is now one of the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust's flagship nature reserves. The transformation is a fantastic example of what people passionate about wildlife can bring about through a shared vision and sheer determination. College Lake is widely regarded as one of the best places in Buckinghamshire for water birds, and with many hides overlooking the lake, this is a great destination for bird watchers or for families, whatever the weather or time of year.
- Wetland birds: The marshland is perhaps the most important of the reserve's homes for wildlife, as in the summer it supports a number of breeding waders. These include lapwing and redshank, both of which are rare species, and College Lake is a key breeding site in Buckinghamshire. In the lake, common terns nest on specially created islands. In the winter, the inhabitants of the water change, and wintering wildfowl, such as wigeon and teal, from Scandinavia and beyond, use the wetlands for feeding and roosting.
- Grassland and more: Elsewhere on the reserve, chalk grassland is alive with colour during the spring and summer as a wide variety of flowers come into bloom. These support a range of insects, including a number of rarer butterfly species such as the small blue. Rough grassland provides a home for breeding skylarks, as well as shelter for small mammals, which in turn feed birds of prey such as kestrels and barn owls. Woodland, scrub and hedgerows are widespread across the reserve, and support a wide variety of wildlife, including finches and tits and in winter. thrushes such as fieldfare and redwings.
- Cornfield flowers: An unusual feature of College Lake is the arable weeds project that started in the 1980s. College Lake was one of the first places in the country to actively conserve these rare and beautiful flowers, and the reserve now produces a glorious show of colour every year during June and July.
3.51 miles
