Wild Salisbury 2025: A Year of Wonder, Wildlife and Wellbeing

Written by Charley and Polly, January 2026

Last year, thanks to a £1,500 grant from Salisbury Transition City, Wildlife and Wellbeing was able to run Wild Salisbury 2025 – a year-long programme of nature connection events designed to help local people slow down, notice wildlife, and support their wellbeing.

Over the course of the year, more than 200 people took part – 161 adults and 42 children – many of them discovering local wildlife (and local greenspaces) in a whole new way. From dawn choruses and bat walks to fungi forays and solstice celebrations, Wild Salisbury invited people to step outside and reconnect with the natural world right on their doorstep.

The water meadows

What we did

We planned and ran 15 events, and also added a four-week “Birdsong for Beginners” course to our programme. Across the seasons, the programme included:

  • Building bird boxes and learning how to support garden birds
  • Sunset celebrations at the spring, summer, autumn and winter solstices and equinoxes
  • Dawn Chorus Discovery walks in May
  • Bat Nights throughout the summer (a firm favourite!)
  • Butterfly, bird and moth events in high summer
  • Fantastic Fungi in autumn

Many events sold out, especially the Bat Nights, which offered a magical mix of science, storytelling and the thrill of hearing bats through detectors as they flew overhead.

Using bat detectors on a bat walk

Salisbury’s green spaces as our backdrop

One of the joys of Wild Salisbury 2025 was showcasing just how rich Salisbury is in green spaces. Events took place across the city, including:

  • Harnham Water Meadows
  • Avon Valley Nature Reserve
  • Castle Hill Country Park
  • Queen Elizabeth Gardens
  • The Secret Garden at Bourne Hill

In the colder months, we moved indoors to welcoming community venues such as the Quaker Meeting House and Rose Cottage at Harnham Water Meadows.

We carefully planned events so people felt comfortable coming on their own, and so they could arrive on foot, by bike or by public transport. Many events were suitable for people with limited mobility, and improving accessibility will be a continued focus as we move forward.

Build bird boxes at the Quaker Meeting House

The people behind the programme

Wild Salisbury 2025 was supported by nine volunteers, who helped with welcoming participants, making hot drinks and ensuring events ran smoothly. At the start of the year, events were led by facilitator Charley Miller. By the end of the year, we were delighted to welcome a second facilitator, Clay Ingram, with a third, Polly Whyte, joining the team in 2026.

Clay leading a bat walk at Avon Valley Nature Reserve

Clay’s journey is a great example of how community projects can nurture local talent. He grew up in Salisbury and first joined a Bat Night as a paying participant. After volunteering, it became clear he had the skills and enthusiasm to lead events himself. With funding support, we were able to train Clay to run Bat Nights independently – giving him valuable experience and helping Wildlife and Wellbeing grow sustainably.Trying new ideas

The grant from Salisbury Transition City also gave us the freedom to experiment. One highlight was the Birdsong for Beginners course: four early-morning walks at 7am, exploring different green spaces before the working day began. This pilot offered a deeper level of learning and connection, and we’re excited to repeat it in 2026.

Bird Song for Beginners Course

Looking ahead to 2026

Overall, Wild Salisbury 2025 was a joyful, well-attended programme that showed how much appetite there is locally for nature-based wellbeing activities. Building on what we’ve learned, we’re planning a few changes next year:

  • More family-focused events, with activities designed specifically for children
  • Improved facilities and accessibility, including access to toilets for longer events and clearer information about routes
  • More community-led solstice and equinox celebrations, with opportunities for people to share stories, food or reflections

Thank you

Wild Salisbury 2025 simply wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Salisbury Transition City, our volunteers, facilitators, and everyone who came along – whether for a single walk or multiple events across the year.

If you live in Salisbury and would like to connect more deeply with nature, we’d love to welcome you to a future event. Salisbury’s wildlife is closer than you think – and it has so much to offer our wellbeing. Just sign up to our newsletter to find out when our events are running.