Barton Fields
📍 Abingdon
🌿 Nature Reserve
💷 Free
⏰ 1 - 2 hours
👣 Gentle wander
March 2026 · Nature Adventures · Nature Reserves
A family nature day meeting newts, seeing badger sets and learning to slow down to spot animal tracks.
Our luck was in when I spotted this family nature day at Barton Fields, with the Abingdon Naturalists as part of the Atom Festival of Science and Technology. We had a great couple of hours watching birds at some feeders, looking for animal tracks, and seeing what had been found in the pond dipping session.
We love a stroll around a nature reserve, and having a guided tour from the people who know the site well added so much to the experience. Without their expertise we would have walked straight past the badger sett, the animal prints and the tree creeper.
Little Leopard has been much more enthusiastic about animal tracking ever since, wherever we go he's always on the look out for footprints, nibbled branches, and of course, poo.
We enjoyed lots of animal encounters - seeing the Heron go past, handling newts and slow worms, learning how to tell the difference between blue tits and great tits. With lots of muntjac deer prints and poo, we think it had passed along the same path just before us.
There was plenty of time to notice the small things too, and ask for more information from the friendly guides. Little Leopard loved seeing sap dripping from a freshly cut branch, watching the gold finches at the bird feeder, spotting a snakes-head fritillery by the pond.
These events aren't organised frequently, but even without them Barton Fields is a lovely nature reserve to walk around. Slow down and look out for herons, badger and deer prints, a variety of butterflies, and a wide range of birds.
One of the tips we got from the guides is to download the Merlin bird app which listens for bird song and IDs them for you, it's become a regular of our adventures since then.
Combine it with a stroll through Abbey Meadows and Thrupp Lake to turn this adventure into a proper nature expedition.
Nature Notes
Slow Worms
Actually a legless lizard
They live in compost heaps, woodland edges, eat slugs, snails, worms and spiders.
If threatened, they can detach their tales.
They're protected under the 1981 Wildlife Act.
Deer Prints
Muntjac deer
The smallest type of deer to live in the UK, they're about the size of a labrador.
They make a barking sound to mark their territory.
They feed on shoots, herbs, brambles, trees, grass.
Badger Sett
Surprisingly Palacial
The setts can extend to over 50m long, with multiple 'rooms', and entrances
4-8 badgers live together in a clan.
Setts get passed down through the generations, being kept in the same family for years.
A guided walk around the wildlife site, learning so much from those who know it best.
Address: Barton Lane, Abingdon
Parking: Limited on street parking nearby.
Opening Hours: Public footpaths are always open.
Entry Fee: Free
Website: abnats.org/barton-fields
