One of the slightly ridiculous things about exploring the UK is how willing we are to drive an hour looking for beautiful countryside while completely ignoring what is sitting almost on our doorstep.
Stour Valley Nature Reserve is a good example.
It’s in Bournemouth. Properly in Bournemouth. Yet within a few minutes of walking beside the river, with reeds around the water, narrow paths disappearing through grass and trees filling the horizon, it becomes surprisingly easy to forget that you are still inside a large coastal town.
And apparently, if you’re me, it is also possible to spend a significant percentage of the walk photographing one enormous green caterpillar.
More on him later. 🐛
A Little Bit of Countryside Hiding in Bournemouth
Stour Valley Nature Reserve follows the River Stour through a mixture of riverside habitat, woodland and meadow.
BCP Council describes the reserve as stretching for around three miles along the river, with wildlife living throughout the valley including kingfishers and, if you are considerably luckier than I was, occasionally otters.
What I liked most, though, was simply how quickly the surroundings changed.
One minute you know perfectly well that you are in Bournemouth.
Then you find yourself walking along a narrow grassy path with trees on either side, looking across reeds towards the river and wondering why you don’t come here more often.
That might actually be the biggest danger of travelling regularly: somewhere close to home never feels urgent.
There is always another castle to visit, another coastline to photograph or another brown tourist sign demanding an immediate detour.
Meanwhile, the local places quietly sit there waiting.
The walking routes aren’t about huge viewpoints or one dramatic landmark. This is a gentler sort of place.
You walk. You watch the river. You stop somewhere for a few minutes because the light looks good. And then you carry on.
Sometimes that is exactly what you need.
The River Is the Main Event
The River Stour gives the reserve most of its atmosphere.
In places the water is open and easy to see; elsewhere it disappears behind reeds, trees and dense riverside vegetation. There are little spots where you can stop and look across the water without really needing to do anything.
I found one bench facing the river and immediately understood why somebody had put it there.
It is the sort of view that doesn’t demand a photograph every five seconds.
Although obviously I took one anyway.
There are mature trees, reeds and wetland areas throughout the valley, so even a fairly short walk gives you several different kinds of scenery rather than one continuous riverside path.
That variety was probably my favourite part.
Open grass one minute.
Water and reeds the next.
Then trees again.
It feels less manicured than a park and more like somewhere nature has been allowed a little more room to get on with things.
BCP Council says the valley was its first local nature reserve to receive a Green Flag, and the reserve is managed not just as somewhere for people to walk but as habitat for the wildlife living along the Stour.
And Then I Found The Caterpillar
Some people visit nature reserves and photograph kingfishers.
Some photograph otters.
I found a caterpillar.
And then apparently photographed it from approximately every angle known to wildlife photography. 😂
To be fair, it was difficult to ignore.
Bright green, enormous by normal caterpillar standards and decorated with markings that look suspiciously like eyes, it turned out to be the green form of an elephant hawk-moth caterpillar.
The Woodland Trust says elephant hawk-moth caterpillars can grow to around 8cm long. Their large eye spots become more prominent when the caterpillar retracts its head, helping it look considerably more intimidating to predators than a harmless caterpillar has any right to look. Green forms are also quite normal, although the caterpillars are more commonly brown-grey.
Late summer is a particularly good time to encounter them because the caterpillars begin wandering away from their food plants looking for somewhere to pupate.
Which probably explains why mine was crawling around on the ground looking as though it had somewhere extremely important to be.
I hope it eventually got there. After the photoshoot.
A Good Walk When You Don’t Want a Big Day Out
This is what I think makes Stour Valley Nature Reserve particularly useful.
Not every walk needs to become an expedition.
You don’t always want hiking boots, a packed lunch, six hours of daylight and a carefully planned route.
Sometimes you just want somewhere green.
Somewhere you can walk for a while, look at the water, take a few photographs and come home feeling as though you actually went somewhere.
Stour Valley works very well for that. It’s free to visit too, so I included it in my wider guide to free things to do around Dorset when you want a day out without an admission ticket.
And because the reserve stretches along the river, you don’t necessarily have to treat it as one fixed circular walk. You can explore as much or as little as you feel like.
For anyone wanting an easy starting point, Kingfisher Barn Visitor Centre on Granby Road is the official gateway to the reserve. The Parks Foundation currently lists a free on-site car park, with donations welcome, as well as toilets and visitor facilities. The centre also has a wildlife garden and serves drinks and cake.
That last bit may or may not improve your motivation to go walking.
I make no judgement.
One of Those Places We Forget to Notice
I don’t think Stour Valley Nature Reserve is somewhere you visit because you expect a spectacular attraction waiting at the end.
There is no castle. No giant viewpoint.
No famous monument demanding that everybody stand in exactly the same place for the same photograph.
And that is probably the point.
It is simply a surprisingly peaceful stretch of countryside running through Bournemouth, with water, meadows, trees, wildlife and enough space to disappear from the town for a little while.
If you like the quieter side of Dorset, you might also enjoy my walk around Clavell Tower and Kimmeridge Bay, where the landscape gets considerably steeper, windier and more dramatic. And for another wonderfully strange Dorset stop, there is Knowlton Church, where a medieval ruin sits inside a prehistoric henge.
Stour Valley is completely different from both.
It is smaller. Closer. Quieter.
And perhaps that is why it is so easy to overlook.
We’re very good at searching maps for somewhere interesting to go.
Sometimes we should probably zoom in first.
Especially when there might be an eight-centimetre caterpillar waiting for its photoshoot.
Quick practical information
Stour Valley Nature Reserve: Bournemouth, Dorset
Best for: Easy walks, riverside scenery, wildlife and local nature
Cost: Free
Starting point: Kingfisher Barn Visitor Centre, Granby Road
Parking: Free on-site parking is currently listed by The Parks Foundation; donations are welcome.
Visitor centre: Check current opening hours before travelling, as these can change.
One journey. One story. One more stop.