In this newsletter we ho..ho..hope you enjoy highlights of our autumn so far alongside news of upcoming activities and ideas for enjoying a mince pie (or two) within the winter Bathscape. Huge thanks to everyone who continues to support Bathscape activities, and to everyone who has joined us for a walk, community event or training session, listened to a podcast episode, and attended our conference or a volunteer day in the Bathscape this year!
Festive greetings
Thank you to everyone for your support in 2025! It has been a great year in the Bathscape and we really appreciate the ongoing support of partners, fantastic volunteers and community organisations. Sending everyone the warmest of wishes this winter (and our apologies – we may have got a little carried away with the festive photo this year!)
Unwrap the Bathscape
Looking for ways to explore new routes, to get out and about, or to share adventures with visitors, this winter? Then why not check out Bathscape’s online walking trails and tools?
We’ve got some fantastic self guided trails, nature trails, heritage and audio trails and the Circuit of Bath whole hiking route for you to try! Whether you’re enjoying the great indoors with festive treats, or enjoying a picnic of leftovers on your favourite bench, you can also take time out and listen to an episode of our podcast!
You can unwrap resources using the following links:
- Self Guided trails, heritage and nature trails are all available on our
walking festival page - Amazing walks in and round Bath (short walks) downloadable booklet
- This is a link to the Circuit of Bath whole hiking route
- You can access our Footprints podcast using this link or you can search “Bathscape Footprints” wherever you normally get your podcasts.
Photo credit: Dan Merrett and Ruby Barber
Cotswold Wow
Definitely on Santa’s ‘nice list’ this year are the wonderful Cotswold Voluntary Wardens team who, among many other wonderful activities, recently made and installed this bench at Lansdown.
You can find out more about the Cotswold Way and our partners the Cotswolds National Landscape via their website. Check out the beautiful Lansdown views using our Lansdown on the Level trail and try out the fabulous bench for yourself! We’d love to hear what you think.
Huge thanks to all of the wonderful volunteers for all that they do to make the Bathscape accessible throughout the year.
Photo credit: Cotswolds National Landscape/Cotswold Wardens
Sustainable decorations
At this time of year, as deciduous trees lose their leaves you might get to enjoy more Mistletoe moments as it becomes more visible hanging from branches. Mistletoe (Viscum album) is used to decorate homes in a much-loved Christmas tradition but in nature, it grows as a semi-parasite on trees. With the subtle translucent white berries of the female plant, you’ll perhaps spot it on the branches of apple, lime, hawthorn and poplar trees as it forms large spherical balls up to 1m wide.
Mistletoe is also an important winter food source for birds such as the Mistle thrush. It is also enjoyed by winter visitors like Redwings and Fieldfares who help to spread Mistletoe on the go! In addition, it’s a food source for six species of insect who are specialist mistletoe feeders, these include the rare Mistletoe Marble Moth and the Mistletoe Weevil.
**Elf and Safety warning** Mistletoe leaves, stems and berries are all poisonous to humans and most animals, including pets.
As a semi-parasitic plant, Mistletoe absorbs nutrients and water from a host tree, but also produces its own food through photosynthesis. Small plants do little harm, but larger ones can significantly weaken host trees. As it gets bigger, Mistletoe can take over the branch it is growing on, and can lead to distorted growth. The evergreen nature of Mistletoe and its retention of leaves throughout the winter increases windage of the tree too – this can be a problem, especially during winter storms. With management, the Mistletoe and tree can coexist well.
The Tree Council have been undertaking research into this fascinating plant, its distribution and some of these relationships. You can record your own marvellous Mistletoe moments to support this research through the MistleGO! citizen science survey.
For more things Mistletoe including its biology, history, folklore and suggestions for management you might like to explore the in-depth information available on ‘The Mistletoe pages‘.
Our partners, the Woodland Trust and Avon Wildlife Trust have some fantastic plant profiles to help you find out more about Mistletoe and other plants and wildlife you might spot on your winter walking adventures too:
- Woodland Trust Woodland Wildflowers
- Avon Wildlife Trust Wildflowers
- RSPB – Mistle thrush and other winter visitors
Funding opportunities for community organisations
For 2025-2028, this grant scheme is made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, they are offering more community grants to support the Cotswolds National Landscape.
You can find out more here about criteria and how to apply – https://www.cotswolds-nl.org.uk/our-work/grants-and-funding/caring-for-the-cotswolds/how-to-apply-for-caring-for-the-cotswolds/ .
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Bristol Climate and Nature Partnership are launching a new opportunity for six community organisations from across the West of England region to participate in the Community Climate & Nature Action Project’s Capacity Building Programme.
Participants will benefit from £30,000 funding and a tailored programme of support to co-produce community climate and nature action plans and start putting their plan priorities into action.
This opportunity is designed to support communities who may not have had the chance, capacity or resource to work on climate, nature and resilience before.
By community, this means organisations like sports clubs, young farmers’ groups, equalities groups, arts and heritage organisations, wellbeing groups, carers’ groups and education institutions.
If you’re part of a community organisation interested in this opportunity, please find out more and submit an expression of interest by 5pm, Thursday 8th January 2026.
Further details are available here – https://bit.ly/4oP5lJe.
A recording of the Information Webinar held in November is linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PuVlBxhsmU
Upcoming events
ReBalance Festival 2026 Tree Walks
As part of the Rebalance Bath Festival the Bath Urban Treescape team are offering two ‘tree’mendous walks on Sunday 1st February and Thursday 12th February!
You can find out more about Bath Urban Treescape and tree trails from their website. Follow the links below to book your place on these fabulous February walks:
* Sunday 1st February 2026 – Winter Tree Appreciation in the Botanical Gardens with Hugh Williamson – Book here
* Thursday 12th February 2026 – Locksbrook Winter Trees around Locksbrook Cemetery with Robin Barnes – Book here
Photo credit: Fiona Bell and Lucy Bartlett
Bath Natural History Society events
Bath Natural History Society promote an interest in all aspects of natural history and aim to encourage the study, conservation and recording of the fauna and flora of the Bath area. They are running some fascinating events in the new year. Check out their events page for more details of what is on and how to become a member!
Photo credit: Mike Williams (@bathnature.bsky.social), and below Ruby Barber
Walking in a winter wonderland
The Cotswold National Landscape website has lots of useful information to help you explore green spaces this winter. There are free routes to try and guides available to download from their map pages. You can also buy a waterproof copy of the ‘Circuit of Bath Trail Map’ from the Cotswold Way Association which is available here.
As well as downloading copies of Bath Urban Treescape trails, you can collect your own hard copies from a range of fantastic city centre locations, including Royal Victoria Park, Bath Leisure centre and The Urban Garden. At Prior Park Garden Centre – just a short walk from Bath Spa Train station – they have created an even bigger display to house the growing selection of trails. You can access all of the tree trails from the Bath Urban Treescape website.
Latest listening opportunities
Our latest podcast is here – you can listen now! This is the final episode of Footprints and also the first time that the whole Bathscape team have gathered together with Pommy, the presenter, to be recorded.
This episode brings you clips from our favourite podcast episodes over the 5 years and helps to show the breadth and the depth of the work of the Bathscape partnership. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making it!
We’d like to take this opportunity to pass on sincere thanks to the 115 separate organisations featured over the 5 series and to the 223 people interviewed – without their stories, expertise and passion for the beautiful Bathscape, this podcast would not have been possible.
Huge thanks to our talented, adventurous, and enthusiastic presenter Pommy Harmar for producing this, and all of our podcast episodes. Thank you to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and players of the lottery for making the podcast possible.
Find the latest episode or catch up on any you’ve missed or would like to revisit at: https://footprints.captivate.fm/ or search “Bathscape Footprints” wherever you normally get your podcasts.
