Fishwick Nature Reserve: woodland on the Ribble bank

Steep bank woodland immediately off the river path, and the reserve most people pass without noticing.

Fishwick Nature Reserve occupies the steep north bank of the River Ribble east of Preston city centre, on ground that was never built on because it could not be. It is woodland on a slope, with the river below and the Fishwick district above.

It sits directly on the eastern river section of the Guild Wheel, which is how most people encounter it. The Wheel runs along the bottom; the reserve climbs away from it. Nothing on the route signs it as a destination, so it is passed by almost everyone who cycles the circuit.

There are no facilities. The paths that climb the bank are informal and steep in places, and they are the wettest ground on this side of the city after rain. Treat it as an extension of a river walk, not as a visit in itself; the nature reserves index sets out the alternatives.

Why the reserves are where they are

What matters here is that the Wheel runs along the foot of the slope, so most people pass the reserve without climbing into it — it is better known as a bank seen from below than as a place anybody sets out for.

Fishwick sits on the bank itself, which is what distinguishes it: this is the river edge, so the habitat is shaped by what the water does to the bank each winter. Riverside woodland is a genuinely different community from the woods on the slopes above, and being able to see both within a mile is unusual this close to a city centre.

Ground conditions, and the walk

None of these is a surfaced site, and this one is the most exposed to the river of the group. It sits on the bank itself, so the ground it stands on is remade by whatever the water does each winter, and the path along the top of the bank is unfenced where the fall is steepest. The nature reserves sheet sets out what the group has in common; what is particular here is that the river is not a view from this site, it is the edge of it.

Because it is on the bank, this is one of the sites best reached as part of a river walk, not as a destination. The Ribble path connects it westward towards Avenham and Miller Parks and the city centre, and the eastern arc of the Guild Wheel runs along this stretch.