A place for nature & people
Coton Reserve was established in 2004 to provide public access to the countryside and address declining nature. It includes habitats, paths, visitor facilities, and over 200 acres of leased arable farmland, generating funds for our work.
Our vision is to transform the farmland to create a nature rich landscape, with an abundance of wildlife, colour and sound, where common species thrive, and rarer species can recover.
At its heart will be a large new nature reserve, where the land will provide wider environmental benefits such as reducing flood risk, climate change mitigation and fostering the wellbeing of the Cambridge community.
There will be wonderful views from the hill, meadows will be a riot of colourful plants and buzzing with insects; hedgerows, scrub and woodlands will be full of bird song; and streams and ponds will throng with life.
To achieve our vision we will transform arable farmland into a mosaic of habitats including woodland, wildflower meadows, scrub, wetland and orchard. There will be public access and low-key visitor facilities appropriate to a nature reserve. The initial focus will be on the Bin Brook corridor that runs through the reserve and Red Meadow Hill.
Our aspiration is to see the greenbelt on the western edge of Cambridge become a “wild-belt”; this would be larger than our own land and involve neighbouring landowners, to help to deliver the vision of the Cambridge Nature Network to significantly increase the amount of habitat for nature and space for people.
The diagram below shows the area that would become a new nature reserve. The green shaded areas are habitats that we have already created and that we currently care for. The orange areas are new projects that we are progressing to create more habitats and green space. The lilac shaded areas are arable farmland that we want to transform in future to create the new nature reserve.
What Happens Next?
In 2024 we asked people how we could achieve even more benefits for nature, public well-being and climate mitigation, in ways that are financially sustainable. We received a very positive response to our ideas and this encouraged us and also helped to shape our vision.
At the moment, the farmland provides a rental income that supports our charitable work. This means that to create new habitats, we first have to find other sources of income to offset the loss of rental income and also cover our increased costs that would be associated with managing a nature reserve.
We are working on several new initiatives:
- An exciting and large scale project to create a new wetland area alongside the Bin Brook, click here to find out more.
- We have created a Habitat Bank to offset the impacts of new development in the Cambridge area, click here to find out more.
- Since 2021 we have been rewilding an area of ‘lost meadows’ and opened them to the public and we have planted two new areas of woodland.
We are raising funds for this important work via our Wilder Coton Appeal, please make a donation if you can.
We are also looking for the significant support that we will need to achieve our vision. If you think you can help then please get in contact at development@cambridgeppf.org
