Rewilding Bartinney | Wild Solace

In the far west of Cornwall, Bartinney nature reserve is an ancient landscape with sweeping views across the wild Cornish coastline. It’s an important ecological site looked after by Cornwall Wildlife Trust Reserves Manager, Nick Marriott. We caught up on a mizzly autumnal day as Nick shared what it’s like to care for such a special place.

I'm Cornwall Wildlife Trust's West Reserves Manager, I look after Bartinney nature reserve, which is now West Cornwall's largest nature reserve. It’s an incredible space. From the top of the hill, you can see Longships Lighthouse to the east in Sennen, and St Michaels Mount to the west in Mounts Bay. On a clear, cool day, you can even see the Isles of Scilly on the horizon.

I’ve been working here since some parts were just wildlife-impoverished former potato fields. And I've been lucky enough to watch these fields transition into a patchwork of different species-rich habitats.  

Over the years, I've seen new wildlife arrive. I remember seeing the first adder, the first waxcap fungi and, more recently, the first yellow meadow ant nests. Thanks to generous legacies, Bartinney is now an internationally important site for heathland birds such as the Dartford warbler and nightjar. It's also considered to have the largest population of the rare tormentil mining bee in England. 

I love the solitude up here. There are no modern sounds most of the time, just the wind blowing through the heath and the sound of skylarks and cuckoos in the spring. It’s inspiring to be restoring or recreating habitats as we are here. The value for wildlife is always getting better and better, and I've had the chance to see that happen. 

Day-to-day, we work with local farmers to bring Dartmoor ponies and rare breed cattle to Bartinney to create a patchwork of different grass and heather heights. Short grass with flowers is good for feeding choughs, the tall gorse is great for Dartford warblers. In order to keep the meadows rich with flowers, they need to be cut for hay and then grazed with cattle, whose trampling pushes the seeds back into the ground for next year's flowers.

Volunteers help us manage bracken and scrub, and a local farmer takes hay from the meadows. We also maintain our fire breaks to protects the reserve from future wildfires, an important step in responding to climate change. 

It's a lot wilder up here in the autumn. You get the high winds, you can see the rollers coming in from the sea and, on a good day, you won't have summer’s heat haze so you might see the Isles of Scilly.  

In terms of autumnal wildlife, you might be really lucky and see a short-eared owl hawking over the heathlands looking for mice. Then later in the winter, you'll have snipe, woodcock and even choughs flying overhead. 

Discover the charities and partners we're working with in our latest impact report and find out more about the work of Cornwall Wildlife Trust on their website. Nick wears items from our Autumn/Winter 2025 collection.