Barton Hills NNR

30/05/2026

The news we hoped we’d never have to tell

Last night at approximately 9pm a fire was discovered at the top of Leet Wood. Due to the lack of recent rain and already dry underbrush the fire caught quickly and spread eastwards downhill towards the stream.

Fire crews were called, and 7 appliances were deployed (Luton, Ampthill, Kempston & Biggleswade plus support vehicles), with approximately 30 fire crew on hand.

The remainder of the evening and throughout the night was spent dousing out flames and charred trees and vegetation right up until mid Saturday morning.

A swathe of the reserve (hundreds of square metres) of mature woodland has either been sadly damaged or destroyed as the result.

We believe the source to have been a lit disposable bbq being thrown into the undergrowth.

Barton Hills NNR is classified as a SSSI (site of special scientific interest) and is therefore robustly protected by law.

The Police are now involved and investigations are ongoing in order to determine the perpetrators from wildlife camera footage.

Thankfully the fire destroyed a small part of Barton Hills, but it could have been much worse.

Please please please don’t think it’s ok to visit with the intention of having a fire or bbq on site. You’re not welcome.

It’s illegal, thoughtless, extremely dangerous, and if found you will be prosecuted.

15/05/2026

We’ve had three separate reports this afternoon of schoolchildren starting a fire and exploding canisters under the overhanging trees at the bottom of Leet wood.

We have separate confirmatory sightings that some of the children are wearing Arnold School uniform.

If your child has been out in a group and has been on the hills after school please check with them if they have been involved. The fire was quite significant and had to be put out by a member of the public.

The Police and fire services have been notified and we are checking wildlife cameras in that area for help to identify the perpetrators.

We will be in touch with the school first thing Monday to advise them of this completely irresponsible and very dangerous behaviour.

16/04/2026

16/04/2026

Today we’re doing the annual Pasqueflower count upon Knocking Hoe NNR and marvelling at the abundance of beautiful flowers!

Thanks to all our our kind volunteers for their assistance!

09/04/2026

Our amazing volunteers continued with more hawthorn popping today as well as repairs to the trough.

The Pasque flowers are now coming through in increasing numbers which is lovely to see (we shall be doing our annual count in the next week or so to look at numbers) and recent gate/fence repairs seem to be holding and doing the trick!

19/03/2026

Our first real spring volunteer day on the reserve!
After what felt like years of bad weather we managed to continue the scrub clearance on Flagstaff hill

Well done and thankyou to all the kind volunteers new and old who helped out today!

28/06/2025

More path cutting this week by our amazing team of volunteers, this time from the Old Road end and into the Meadow.

20/06/2025

This weeks volunteer task focussed on clearance of the top path through Leet Wood. Although a very hot day to be undertaking such a big job, our amazing volunteers managed to cut it back all before finishing early due to the heat! Next weeks job will be clearing from Primrose Hill down to the meadow.

15/05/2025

15/05/2025

Todays volunteer task was infrastructure based. A complete replacement of main straining posts on the recently damaged kissing gate on Flagstaff hill, as well as step replacement at the bottom entry point. Thanks to all of our amazing volunteers for another job well done!