Lavernock Point Nature Reserve, Vale of Glamorgan
★★★★★
Peaceful and scenic reserve, overlooking the limestone coastline of Lavernock Point; mainly calcareous grassland, with a good variety of wildflowers
Management
Location
Five miles southwest of Bridgend, along the B4265; CF32 0PB
Selected Wildflowers
Lavernock Point Nature Reserve is a scenic, peaceful and rather isolated site at the southeast corner of Vale of Glamorgan, reached by a dead-end road to the tiny settlement of Lavernock, and overlooking the limestone coastline, with views of Sully Island.
The reserve encompasses what was originally three treeless fields of limestone grassland, plus a small area of ancient woodland, Oak Copse, though the meadows have in recent years been partly colonised by scrub and ash trees, yet plenty of the grassland remains, together with abundant specimens of common calcareous wildflowers, including centaury, dyer's greenweed and yellow-wort, together with four species of orchid; bee, common spotted, common twayblade and early purple.
About two thirds of the 20 acre reserve is within the larger Lavernock Point SSSI, which additionally includes more of the surrounding coastline. Paths run through the fields, linking, at the south edge, with the coastal path.
Also in the reserve are several concrete structures from a World War II battery, all still in good condition; the main components are two octagonal gun emplacements, an ammunition store, blast walls and a command post. All this replaced an earlier fortification on this site, begun in 1866.
The Reserve
The nature reserve is reached by Fort Road, off the B4267 (Lavernock Road); a small amount of parking is available at the entrance, after half a mile. The road continues for a few hundred yards, past a holiday camp, to Lavernock village, which consists only of three houses and a church. The small area of ancient woodland lies just north of the parking place, mainly oak, while the bulk of the reserve is to the south, bordered by the holiday park to the east and farm fields to the west, just beyond a stream, which forms the boundary. The path heads southwest, through the first of the three ancient fields, 'Old Hayfield', and into the second, where most of the wildflowers are found. The furthest field is now mostly scrub, and contains the World War II battery, though its furthest reaches, on the rim of the low coastal cliffs, are also largely grassland.
