Nature reserves within the Avalon Marshes

RSPB Hall Wall (BA6 9SX)
Ham Wall is a wetland teeming with wildlife – from rare species like water voles and otters to magnificent birds like bitterns and kingfishers. Enjoy stunning views across the marshes to Glastonbury Tor and follow secluded paths through the landscape. Free to access but £3 for parking (free parking for RSPB members).

Regular events (ticket prices apply) organised by RSPB include guided walks, photography sessions, and events for families such as pond dipping with nets: Ham Wall (rspb.org.uk)

A local flat and even cycle way / footpath runs through the heart of the reserve (the old railway track), linking Glastonbury to Ham Wall and onto Shapwick Heath nature reserve.

rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/ham-wall/
Ham Wall recent sightings blog – community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/hamwall/b/hamwall-blog

Shapwick Heath (Western entrance, BA6 9TT)
Next to Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath is located at the heart of the Avalon Marshes area. It is an internationally important site for wetland birds and is composed of a mosaic of wetland habitats including traditional wildflower meadows, a network of ditches, fen, mire and wet woodland, along with open water and reed beds restored from former peat-diggings. Shapwick Heath is also the location of the Neolithic ‘Sweet Track’, a scheduled ancient monument and the oldest man-made trackway in Britain, preserved in the anaerobic conditions of the reserves wet peat soils.

Visitor information, parking, a café and public toilets can be found at the Avalon Marshes Centre. Visitors can also access archaeological reconstructions such as a Saxon longhall, the dining room of a Roman villa and an Iron Age roundhouse, which 110 volunteers have worked on since 2015.