Redhill Common is a small but ecologically rich nature reserve in the Redhill/Northbourne area of Bournemouth, off Redhill Drive. At just 7 hectares, it's one of the town's more modest green spaces by area, but it holds a Green Flag Award for its mix of heathland, grassland, scrub and woodland, habitats that are increasingly rare on the urban fringe of Bournemouth and Poole.
A fragment of the old Turbary Common
The reserve is a surviving piece of the once much larger Turbary Common heathland, land protected from building development as far back as the 1802 Christchurch Inclosure Act. Conifers were planted across the heath in the 19th century, and again in the 1920s by unemployed ex-servicemen through the British Legion, changing its character considerably. Much of the surrounding common was formalised as a recreation ground and renamed Redhill Park in 1937. It took until 1998 for the ecological importance of what remained of the common to be properly recognised, triggering a heathland regeneration project aimed at restoring its original heath, grassland and scrub mix.
Wildlife, volunteers and one of the "Five Parks"
Today the site is looked after by the volunteer-run Redhill Common Conservation Group, which organises guided walks and events and maintains an on-site information board about its wildlife and plants. Foxes, badgers, a good range of birds and, in summer, reptiles are all recorded here. Redhill Common is also one of the sites held by The Five Parks, Bournemouth charitable trust (registered charity 299740), together with Kings, Queens and Meyrick parks and Seafield Gardens, public green space set aside for the town over a century ago.
Entry is free, the common is open daily, and there's parking, toilets and refreshments on site. For the neighbouring recreation ground, see Redhill Park, and for more ideas nearby, browse our guide to things to do in Bournemouth.
