Our reserves

Amphibian and Reptile Conservation owns, leases or formally manages over 80 reserves covering more than 1500 ha (3800 acres) and a variety of different habitats, from coastal dunes to clay pits, woodland to heathland.

We're one of the UK's leading managers of lowland dry heathland and work in close co-operation with private landowners and various organisations.

The majority of practical work on our reserves involves the removal of trees and scrub, the control of bracken and other invasive plant species, the creation of basking sites, and heather and gorse management to provide suitable age classes of vegetation for different aspects of our unique heathland fauna. This work is mainly carried out by our own team of specialist conservation field workers, as well as our ever-growing list of volunteers. When managing our reserves we try to take into account the needs of all flora and fauna, not just amphibians and reptiles, and produce an integrated management plan. Our sites are carefully monitored for a number of key species.