Our visit to the Phillips' small nature reserve in Swallowcliffe

One evening last week Esther and Matthew Phillips kindly showed us around their nature reserve which they started two and half years ago when they moved to Swallowcliffe. 

With a torrential downpour half an hour before we arrived we were fortunate that the sun came out and the warmth returned. As we gathered, we were shown two occupied Housemartin nests under the eaves as well as a very active Hornets' nest further along. Although Hornets are not aggressive and rarely sting they often cause problems in roof spaces by chewing plasterboard and roofing felt!

Esther and Matthew are members of The Wiltshire Small Rewilders. It is a volunteer-run network providing support and knowledge sharing for small rewilding projects (of up to 50 acres)  across Wiltshire and the surrounding area. One of the founders is Jonathan Thompson who is well known to our society. 

Esther and Philip have planted about twenty native trees in their first winter and have steadily increased the number of differing habitats for wildlife, with extensive swathes of grasses - home to two deer which happily spend most of their days in the reserve, and a perfect home for small mammals such as field voles which attract bird of prey. There are perches provided for them, an important detail as there aren't many large trees around the field. Also, they created an additional dewpond which will take a couple of years to become fully established but is already attracting more bird life. 

With vines, soft fruit, a forest garden and plenty of space to grow vegetables the Phillips are developing a reserve which will also support their enthusiasm for sustainable living.

Our Chair especially enjoyed sampling a Szechuan pepper, with a lovely tangy long lasting flavour!

We were invited in for refreshments at the end of the evening and had a lovely time chatting and seeing photos of the reserve taken during the spring and summer when it was awash with colour.