Malmesbury and District Natural History Society

Enjoying and preserving nature in Malmesbury and the surrounding area now and for the future

Walks

We lead nature walks in and around Malmesbury to enjoy the wildlife in our local area

Talks

We organise talks from experts on natural history to learn more about our local wildlife

Projects

We run surveys and activities to support local wildlife

Next Upcoming Event

Dawn Chorus Walk
04 May 2025 - Braydon, Malmesbury, Wiltshire SN16 9RN United Kingdom
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Events

Current and Future Events
04 May 2025
Dawn Chorus Walk
07:00 - 10:00
Ravensroost Wood, Braydon, Malmesbury, Wiltshire SN16 9RN United Kingdom

Join us to listen and watch as the dawn chorus of bird song celebrates the breeding season. Location tbc Members = Free; Non-members = £3

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10 May 2025
BioBlitz
09:00 - 12:00
Holy Cross Church, Sherston, Church Street
Sherston, SN16 0LR

Join us to identify as many species as we can in the churchyard of Holy Cross Church in Sherston, and contribute towards local monitoring of wildlife. We will be monitoring […]

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16 May 2025
Bat emergence and survey walk
20:00 - 22:00
St Mary with Ethelbert Church, Church Lane
Luckington, SN14 6PG

We will be conducting an emergence survey of bats at St Mary with Ethelbert Church in Luckington, followed by a walk to search for bats and other npcturnal wildlife around […]

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08 June 2025
Wildflowers, Butterflies and Bees
10:00 - 12:30
Echo Lodge Meadows, Wood Lane
Brinkworth, SN15 5EF

A walk around Echo Lodge Meadows spotting wildflowers, butterflies and bumblebees. Members = Free; Non-members = £3

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04 July 2025
Night Safari
20:00 - 22:00
Cotswold Water Park,

A walk in the Cotswold Water Park looking for owls, bats and other nightlife Members = Free; Non-members = £3

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Please see the EVENTS page for a full list of our past and future events – Events

Past Events
13 April 2025
Snakeshead Fritillaries at North Meadow
10:30 - 12:30
North Meadow, Cricklade, Latton Close
Swindon, SN6 6JL

It's MDNHS's second birthday and we'd love for you to join us on a celebratory walk around North Meadow in Cricklade to see the famous snakeshead fritillary flowers. We will […]

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20 March 2025
Butterfly and Moth Ecology and their Local Habitats
19:00 - 21:00
Malmesbury Town Hall, Cross Hayes
Malmesbury, Wiltshire SN16 9BZ United Kingdom

Maurice Avent of the national charity Butterfly Conservation will give us a talk on these fascinating and much-loved insects. Members = £3; Non-members = £5

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20 February 2025
Curlew and Lapwing Talk
19:00 - 21:00
Charlton Village Hall, The Street, Charlton
Malmesbury, Wiltshire SN16 9DL United Kingdom

Hear about the conservation work being carried out in Wiltshire to help these engandered birds from local expert Jonny Cooper. Members = £3; Non-members = £5

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Please see the EVENTS page for a full list of our past and future events – Events

Latest Posts

Our latest news

6th February 2025
Blog / News
30th June 2024
News
On Tuesday 2nd July at 2.30pm in Malmesbury Town Hall, our Chair, Miranda Shirnia, will be giving a talk as part of the Athelstan 1100 celebrations comparing wildlife in Malmesbury in 924 and today.   Here is a short film as a little introduction…   Tickets available here: https://www.athelstan1100.co.uk/…/talk-one-day-in-may…   [...]
29th June 2024
Blog / News / Projects
Swift Awareness Week is a national event which was first held in 2018 with swift activities promoted by groups throughout the country. This year it takes place from Saturday 29th June to Sunday 7th July. In the Malmesbury area we are behind a lot of other small towns in that we have only recently founded a Swift Group to study and safeguard these birds. Our focus during Swift Awareness Week therefore is to try to get a good initial estimate of the numbers of nesting birds and thus provide a baseline to monitor how well they are doing in future years. Our swifts should have young in the nest at this period, which means they will be bringing food to the nest location every hour or so, at least on mild days when there are plenty of insects available. Hence our focus during the week will be to try to confirm as many nests as possible by observing the behaviour of the swifts around the streets. Our surveys so far have shown that there is an extensive colony of swifts in the area of Horse Fair and adjacent streets, particularly Burnham Road and West Street. There is a smaller colony which extends along King’s Wall and Burnivale. Please keep your eyes open for any swifts, either in these areas or elsewhere, and if you find any apparently using nests we would greatly appreciate a report.     [...]
25th June 2024
Events
On Saturday, 20 of us went for a walk around Lower Moor Farm looking for Dragonflies and Damselflies.   We found Common Blue damselfly, Blue tailed damselfly, Red eyed damselfly, Common Darter, Four spotted Chaser and Black tailed skimmer (both female and male), a male Emperor Dragonfly patrolling his territory and a female egg laying.   We also found a number of Exuviae from both Common Darter and an Aeshna species. Oh and there were quite a few froglets about too…   Many thanks to Teresa Farr for the photos!               [...]
6th June 2024
News / Projects
Are you aware of the pollution being pumped into our river and does it worry you? Here are some photos of the impact of sewage discharges from the Noah’s Ark pumping station in Garsdon. Quite honestly they are revolting! Sewage in the river at Garsdon In 2023 there were 50 days of discharging from this pumping station alone – that’s roughly once a week and the people living nearby are noticing that wildlife is being damaged by it. If this concerns you too, and you often walk along a section of a river near you, why not become a Water Guardian? This involves, walking the route regularly and reporting on the quality of the water. You can sign up on Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s website https://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/water-guardians You might just want to be involved in pressurising the water company to clean up their act. If so please contact us and we will be in touch. Letters have been sent to all the candidates to become the new MP for the South Cotswolds constituency asking for them to commit to supporting our campaign to clear up our rivers and brooks should they be elected on 4th July. The sewage spills must stop and we want their support to do this. [...]
27th May 2024
Events / News / Projects
Great Somerford’s ‘Team Hedgehog’ were out and about installing camera traps for hedgehogs on the morning of 11th May. This project is a collaboration between Malmesbury and District Natural History Society, Wiltshire Mammal Group and the people of Great Somerford. It was a beautiful morning for a walk around Great Somerford meeting with people who have kindly agreed to host a camera. We started at 10am with a demonstration of how to do it. Then, by 10.30am we broke up into teams of 2 with 4 or 5 cameras each to install. By 12.30pm they were all in – just a morning’s work and it was all done. ‘Team Hedgehog’ you were excellent, everything completed without any stress, in fact it was really quite fun! Hedgehog survey Great Somerford In all, 30 cameras are now placed around the village and will stay there for 30 days until the morning of Monday 10th of June when they will be taken back in again for the data to be analysed. At the end of that week, Malmesbury’s ‘Team Hedgehog’ will be in action installing them at 30 locations around Malmesbury Town!  The cameras will be installed across Malmesbury on Saturday 15th June and removed again on Monday 15th July. At the moment we have 12 volunteers helping to install them and 11 helping to take them out. We really could do with some more helping hands. It’s not a complicated process and people will be put into pairs so you won’t be on your own. For those who are interested I have created a video you can watch showing you how to install a camera and the first camera installed on the day will be a demonstration too. So, if you are free on either or both of those days please think about giving us a hand – it will be a quick and simple process with a few more volunteers. Please contact us via our contact page if you are interested.  This project is funded and run nationally by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society [...]

Please see the NEWS page for all of our posts – News

Featured Projects

Please see details of some of our long-term projects

Hedgehog Friendly Project

Hedgehogs are in real trouble. Numbers have plummeted in recent years mostly due to loss of habitat and less food for them to eat, with rural areas seeing greater declines.

Swift Project

In early May the skies around Malmesbury are filled with the screeching and swooping of Swifts (Apus Apus)

Dormouse Project

The Hazel dormouse (Muscardinus Avellanarius) is a charismatic and distinctive native British mammal. It has gingery-brown fur, large black eyes and a long fluffy tail. They are typically active from mid-April to late October

Please see the PROJECTS page for details of all of our long-term projects – Projects

Partners and Resources

We work with a number of local groups to deliver our events:

Malmesbury River Valleys Trust who manage the local nature reserve Conygre Mead
Wiltshire Mammal Group support mammal conservation in Wiltshire by running surveys, organising training workshops and events, encouraging submission of records and loaning equipment
Wiltshire Bat Group, linked to Wiltshire Mammal Group, coordinate volunteers to deliver a number of projects and surveying of bats across Wiltshire.

Please see our Resources Page for links to our partners, useful tools and apps and other local and national groups and resources.

Our Volunteers

Our committee is made up of volunteers

If you’d like to learn more about the Society please see our ABOUT page for details  – About

If you would like to join our small team, or if you have other queries please email us using the Contact Form.

If you would like to become a member of the Society please complete the New Member Joining Form.

You can also find us on Facebook – Link to Facebook page

Malmesbury and District