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About us

Here at the Thames Basin Heaths Partnership we’d love you to fall in love with local heathland and help secure its future by sharing three simple messages. Everyone can help protect wildlife simply by keeping to main paths, learning how to prevent fires and by discovering ‘Greenspace on your doorstep’. Read more…

We’re a partnership of local councils, land managers and nature conservation bodies conserving the heathland of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area across Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. On these pages we’re sharing the story of the heathland and bringing you news of ‘Greenspace on your doorstep’, a strategy to create local country walks that help protect heathland wildlife. Read more…

A very special place

By working together we can all enjoy the fragile landscape of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area today, tomorrow and into the future.

So close to London, excellent transport links and every kind of urban facility. Yet with wonderful countryside and amazing wildlife! We are very lucky in Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire, where we enjoy the best of both worlds. If you have always lived and worked in this area, you might take for granted the swathes of heathland scattered across this part of the world, but these are precious remnants of an ancient landscape, and a haven for wildlife you won’t find elsewhere.

We can celebrate the fact that our heaths are home to every species of native reptile, rare Silver-studded Blue and Grayling butterflies, a dazzling array of dragonflies, and rare birds including the Nightjar, Dartford Warbler and Woodlark.

Who wouldn’t be captivated by the Nightjar? Every year it flies from Africa to breed near Guildford, Woking and Camberley! Motionless, perfectly camouflaged during the day, it feasts on flying insects at night. You could walk on the heath every day of your life and never know it was here, but visit on a summer evening at dusk and you may hear the magical, mechanical churring of the males. A ghostly bird, enshrined in mythology as the milker of goats! Its Latin name, Caprimulgus, literally translates as such, and harks back to an old myth that Nightjars would suckle milk from livestock.

And what about the Dartford Warbler, who braves the winter here, rather than heading off to warmer climes like some other birds? Cold winters have a devastating impact on these shy, yet striking little birds, but in good years they can explode in numbers, even dispersing into new areas.

And the Woodlark. I’m sure we wouldn’t be alone in missing its beautiful fluting song, should it succumb to its rapid decline. A picky bird, with very specific habitat requirements, we’ll forgive its fussiness and hope it heralds many springs to come.

Nightjar Dartford Warbler Woodlark

Special protection

Heaths are open areas, largely devoid of trees, so birds nest on the ground, making them extremely vulnerable to disturbance by people, their pets, and predators. Thankfully the Thames Basin Heaths are protected by law. Protected by the Wildlife & Countryside Act since 1981. And more recently, in 2005, they were designated a Special Protection Area, the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area. In accordance with an EU Directive to protect wild birds, enshrined in UK law by the Conservation of Habitats & Species Regulations. Over 8,000 hectares of heathland across Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire were included in the Special Protection Area, included because these amazing birds choose to breed here every year. The main sensitive period, when birds are actively nesting is March to September.

A strategic solution

With the designation of the Special Protection Area came a huge challenge. Local councils have a legal requirement to protect it, by ensuring that new development doesn’t have adverse impacts. Every planned housing development within 5km has to demonstrate this. To make this workable, a ground-breaking mitigation strategy has been developed to protect the SPA, without bringing the planning system to its knees. The strategy was published in 2009, as the Thames Basin Heaths Delivery Framework. A joint, strategic solution signed up to by all local councils wishing to progress development, including Guildford, Runnymede, Elmbridge, Surrey Heath, Woking, Bracknell Forest, Rushmoor, Waverley and Wokingham Borough Councils, Hart District Council and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

The strategy is two-fold. First it provides alternative places to go, alternative greenspaces, called SANGs, Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces, designed to soak up some of the additional recreational pressure generated by new development. There are over 80 SANGs, scattered across the whole of the region. Some of them are places open to the public for the first time, others are existing places, invested in for the future. Find one near you in our free online directory.

The second part of the strategy is a warden team, on the ground, telling the story of heathland, 7 days a week. That’s us, the Thames Basin Heaths Partnership warden team. We don’t own or manage the heaths, but we’re here to spread the word about wildlife, inspiring visitors to appreciate what they may have been taking for granted.

Photo of 15 team members in their Thames Basin Heaths uniforms - burgundy shirts and black jackets.

Here are most of the 2023 team!

What are we doing?

We’re a team of year-round wardens, supplemented by seasonal wardens from March to September. We’re out on the heaths 7 days a week during the nesting season, helping visitors enjoy their visit without disturbing the wildlife.
We put up 100s of signs on the heaths every March asking everyone to keep to main paths and be wildfire aware.
We run lots of free events, especially during Heath Week at the end of July, helping to spread the word about how special these places are.
We’re on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, backed up by our 26 partner organisations.
We publicise alternative places for dog walking, to help relieve some of the pressure. See ‘Greenspace on your doorstep’.
We speak to 100s of school children at our free sessions for local schools and youth groups. See ‘Our Amazing Heathlands’.
We send articles to many local publications, newspapers and parish magazines.
We give free talks to local groups.
We work closely with all the heathland land managers and the Fire & Rescue Services.

But who pays for all this? A one-off levy, paid by developers, on any new house built within 5km of the Special Protection Area. A practical, workable solution to what could have become a debilitating problem for councils, and a disaster for our wildlife and open spaces.

For everyone

It’s not just the wildlife that benefits from all this protection of course. The habitat is protected for the birds, and that protection means we still have these wonderful wild areas to enjoy. Without the protection, they may have been built on years ago. A nice win-win situation for people and wildlife.

If you haven’t already, we hope you will go to one of these amazing places and see for yourself. August is the perfect time, when the heather is in full bloom and the heaths are a purple spectacular! Chobham Common National Nature Reserve, and Horsell, Whitmoor, Ockham & Wisley Commons, Yateley Common and Bramshill Plantation are just a few of the places in the Special Protection Area. So we encourage you to go out and see for yourself how lucky we are.

A partnership

The Thames Basin Heaths Partnership is a partnership of the following 26 local councils, land managers and nature conservation bodies:

Greenspace on your doorstep

If you’d like to explore some of the greenspaces provided by local councils, have a look at our online directory or download the interactive PDF version…

Click here for a ‘Greenspace on your doorstep’ download.