Blue Mountain Meadow

Blue Mountain Meadows is an open green-space between Bracknell and Binfield and was established following the closure of the Blue Mountain golf course and the building of a large new housing estate and school in 2016.  As part of a former golf course, the area benefited from being a managed green space with trees and shrubs that abutted the former fairways, mature trees on the eastern flank and several semi-natural ponds.  Significant new tree planting was done and a new large pond dug at the southern end to supplement several existing areas of water.  A new area of marshy reed bed was also established.  The former golf course fairways were also re-seeded with various wildflower and meadow grass mixes.  Surveys of Blue Mountain commenced in 2019 with the aim of seeing if the habitat improvements led to significant changes in the bird and butterfly species recorded there.  
Blue Mountain Meadows are well used by dog walkers and residents of the new housing estate.  One of the ponds is also frequently used for swimming on warm summer days and al fresco drinking and dining on mild evenings.  
In 2025, the planted trees are becoming well established and, despite the dry year, the ponds retained good levels of water throughout the summer.  A new management regime has begun with Trustgreen taking over the management contract for the meadows.  They have re-started the annual cuts of the meadow area which will hopefully lead to their recovery.    
Forty one species of birds were recorded over the year with the common ‘garden birds’ (blue tits, great tits, blackbird, robin and dunnock) maintaining good numbers.  Common woodland birds such as woodpeckers, nuthatches and jays are frequently recorded along with occasional sighting of goldcrests.   Finches are present but less common on Blue Mountain although large flocks of goldfinch are regularly seen in winter.  Chiffchaff and blackcaps are regularly heard in the summer, and the establishment of young trees and scrub has led to whitethroat now being recorded in good numbers.   The large ponds and proximity to the large lake on the River Cut, adjacent to the eastern edge of the meadows, leads to regular sightings of mallard, coot, moorhen and heron together with regular sightings of gulls and geese.  Reed bunting are a recent new sighting in the reedbed area although following a possible breeding pair being present in 2024, they were only an occasional sighting in 2025.  Grey wagtail, frequently recorded in early survey years, were not recorded in 2025.  
Ten species of butterfly were recorded in 2025 with the most abundant being common grassland species such as meadow brown and gatekeepers.