RSPB - giving nature a home
Search
Close
Skip to content
Shop | Community
Log in | Sign up
  • About the RSPB
      About us
    • Our history
    • Our mission
    • How the RSPB is run
    • RSPB Media Centre
    • RSPB job vacancies
    • At home & abroad
    • International
    • England
    • Northern Ireland
    • Scotland
    • Wales
    • Get in touch
    • Contact us
    • RSPB offices
    • Connect with us your way
      Our activities
    • Gardening for wildlife

      Gardening for wildlife

      See our ideas to keep you connected to nature during coronavirus

    • Connect with us your way

      Connect with us your way

      From our regular emails to your favourite social media, there’s more than one way to keep in touch with nature

    • Martin Harper Blog

      Martin Harper Blog

  • Our work
      Nature conservation
    • Conservation and sustainability
    • Projects
    • Landscape scale conservation
    • Centre for Conservation Science
    • Satellite tracking birds
    • RSPB News
    • RSPB News
    • 'Our work' blog
    • Our positions and casework
    • Our positions
    • Casework
    • State of Nature report
      Featured news
    • Mindful mornings

      Mindful mornings

      If you can’t get outside, why not bring the outside in by downloading our bird song radio app?

    • How nature can help protect our homes

      How nature can help protect our homes

      Following the floods this winter, watch how one area is using nature as a natural protector.

    • Casework

      Casework

      Catch up with the RSPB’s own nature detectives on the case as they look to save some very special places.

  • Birds & wildlife
      Wildlife guides
    • Identify a bird
    • Bird A-Z
    • Other garden wildlife
    • Guide to birdwatching
    • UK conservation status explained
    • Nature's Calendar: January
    • Nature's Home magazine
    • About Nature's Home magazine
    • Birds and wildlife articles
    • RSPB Podcasts
    • Nature's Home blog
    • Advice
    • How you can help birds
    • Gardening for wildlife
    • Ask an expert
    • Wildlife and the law
    • How to report crimes against wild birds
    • Bird songs
    • Which bird song is that?
    • Most popular bird guides this month
    • Which bird song is that?

      Which bird song is that?

      Find out how to identify a bird just from the sound of its singing with our bird song identifier playlist.

    • Who to contact if you spot an injured or baby bird

      Who to contact if you spot an injured or baby bird

      Read more advice about what to do if you find a bird that needs help

    • In for a duck

      In for a duck

      It’s nesting season for our waterfowl too but what are the rules you need to follow for ducks, geese or swans?

  • Get involved
      Activities
    • Big Garden Birdwatch
    • Help nature at home
    • RSPB Competitions
    • Dolphinwatch
    • Community & advice
    • Join our local groups
    • How green are you?
    • RSPB Community
    • Get involved blog
    • Volunteering & fundraising
    • Volunteer
    • Fundraise
    • Help nature thrive as a corporate partner
    • Our grant funders
    • Campaigning
    • Climate change effects on nature and wildlife
    • Protecting wildlife sites
    • Campaign with us
    • Five actions to Revive Our World
    • Let nature sing
    • OxCam Arc
    • Top activities to do
    • Help nature at home

      Help nature at home

      Great ideas on how your garden, or even a small backyard or balcony, can become a mini nature reserve

    • How green are you?

      How green are you?

      See some of the ways you can get into green living.

    • Campaigning

      Campaigning

      See our toolkit for ways to campaign with us to protect nature and save wildlife.

  • Reserves & events
      Reserves A-Z Events, dates & inspiration
    • Events
    • COVID-19 information
    • Dates with nature
    • Places to visit blog
    • #ThanksToYou
    • Find a reserve
      Top reserve this month
    • Marshside

      Marshside

      This fantastic wetland site is located north of Southport town centre and has some of the best wildlife in the region.

    • Lytchett Fields

      Lytchett Fields

      The reserve has seen more than thirty species of wading birds.

    • Arne

      Arne

      Heathland home to more than 2565 species.

  • Fun & Learning
      For teachers
    • Supporting resources
    • Wild Challenge
    • School outreach visits
    • Big Schools Birdwatch
    • Sign up for the newsletter
    • School trip ideas
    • For families
    • Big Wild Sleepout
    • Wild Challenge
    • Nature reserves for families
    • For kids
    • Fun factoids for all the family
    • Games and activities
    • Kids stories
    • RSPB kids competitions
    • Latest kids' activities
    • Wild Challenge

      Wild Challenge

      Nature is an adventure waiting to be had. Get out, get busy and get wild!

    • Fun factoids for all the family

      Fun factoids for all the family

      Find out more about the nature and wildlife outside your window.

    • Youth membership

      Youth membership

      As well as a free gift and magazines, you’ll get loads of ideas for activities to try at home.

  • Join & Donate
      Join us
    • Choose a membership
    • Family membership
    • Youth membership
    • Gift membership
    • RSPB Life Fellow Membership
    • Renew your membership
    • Our 2020 film
    • Donate
    • Our appeals
    • Make a one-off donation
    • Make a regular donation
    • Memorial donations
    • Plant a memorial tree
    • In memoriam booklet download form
    • Thank you
    • Leave a gift in your Will
    • Other people's gifts
    • Legacy donation FAQs
    • Legacy administration
    • Legacy booklet download form
    • Thank you
    • Other ways to help
    • Gift Aid
    • Support us when you shop
    • RSPB Images
    • RSPB second-hand binocular scheme
    • Win with the RSPB
    • Payroll Giving
    • Stamp out albatross deaths
  • Login to your account Sign up for an RSPB account
  • Shop
  • Community
  • Home
  • Reserves & events
  • Reserves A-Z
  • Darts Farm

Darts Farm

In line with Government guidance on non-essential retail, our shop here is closed. See our Covid-19 updates page for the latest safety information on visiting RSPB reserves (link below). Thank you for your support and understanding.
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
Address
RSPB, Darts Farm, Topsham Rd, Exeter EX3 0QH
Grid ref
SX977883

See our reserves Covid-19 updates page for which sites are open and other important details.


Located on the outskirts of Exeter, Darts Farm is home to a large variety of wildlife. These include flocks of linnets, fieldfares and redwings during the winter, dragonflies, skylarks and kingfishers in summer. There's also a popular shop and tearoom here, part of a larger shopping complex.

Plan your visit

Opening times

In line with government guidance, our shop is closed during lockdown.

Darts Farm is a shopping centre with our RSPB shop located inside. We are open as follows:

Monday to Friday 10am-5.30pm
Saturday 9.30am-5.30pm
Sunday 10.30am-4.30pm
Bank Holidays: 9am-5pm

Festive opening times

  • Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 16 December: late night Christmas shopping till 8pm.
  • Christmas Eve: open 10am-4pm
  • Christmas Day: closed
  • Boxing Day: closed
  • New Year's Eve: open 10am-4pm
  • New Year's Day: closed
  • All other days in the festive period are open our usual opening hours as above.

Entrance charges

Free entrance to RSPB members
Yes
Adults
Free
Children
Free

Facilities

  • Car park
  • Toilets
  • Accessible toilets
  • Baby changing
  • Pushchair friendly
  • Picnic area
  • Binocular hire is closed
  • Guided walks is closed
  • Viewing points are closed
  • Nature trails
  • Shop is closed
  • Play area

Accessibility

How to get here

By train

Topsham. 20-minute walk, following signs to Exmouth.

By bus

The number 57 Exeter to Exmouth bus stops opposite Darts Farm.

By bike

Cycle Path Exeter to Topsham continues to Darts Farm.

By road

From M5 Motorway: Leave motorway at Junction 30 and follow signs to Exmouth. Once on the dual carriageway, 'Darts Farm Shopping Village' is signposted on a tourist brown sign. Go past the first entrance and enter the car park in through the second. The RSPB Shop is above the Cotswold Outdoor shop.

Sat nav POI file: If you have a satellite navigation system that can accept POI files, please see our POI page for a download link and instructions.

Get directions from Google Maps
RSPB reserves on Google Earth

What will the weather be like?

12 degrees, Sunny day

Contact Darts Farm

  • RSPB, Darts Farm, Topsham Rd, Exeter EX3 0QH
  • 01392 879438
  • @RSPBExeEstuary
  • Find us on facebook

What will you see?

Our star species

    Dark-bellied brent goose

    Brent goose

    Flocks of brent geese come to feed on the fields and saltmarsh from October and stay until spring.

    Perched Buzzard illustration

    Buzzard

    The buzzard is now the UK's most numerous bird of prey.

    House sparrow adult male

    House sparrow

    Watch our local house sparrows from our Darts Farm shop.

    Little Egret

    Little egret

    These dainty little white herons can be seen throughout the year at Darts Farm.

    Adult pied wagtail

    Pied wagtail

    Pied wagtails are charming little birds, with black, grey and white feathers and a long tail.

Seasonal highlights

  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Autumn
  • Winter

On the farm and ponds you'll see skylarks, fieldfares, linnets, goldfinches, greenfinches and chaffinches, mute swans, great spotted woodpeckers, sand martins, chiffchaffs, buzzards, swallows, kestrels, peregrines, sparrowhawks and kingfishers.

Around the farm and ponds, look for reed warblers, reed buntings, great and blue tits, greenfinches, pied wagtails, skylarks, buzzards, moorhens, whitethroats, kingfishers, willow and sedge warblers. On the wetlands, you might see lapwings and Canada geese.

Keep an eye out for buzzards, hobbies, wheatears, tits and finches, meadow pipits, stonechats, little grebes, brent geese and common sandpiper on the farmland and pond. Wigeons, teals, snipe, curlews, barnacle geese and green sandpipers feed in the wetlands.

Around the farm and ponds, you'll see flocks of finches, tits, fieldfares, song thrushes, blackbirds and redwings. Watch the wetlands for brent and Canada geese, teals, wigeons, black-tailed godwits, snipe, curlews and lapwings.

About Darts Farm

Habitat

On the outskirts of Exeter, Darts Farm is home to a large variety of birds, insects and other wildlife. Our shop here is part of a large shopping complex in beautiful farmland, with ponds and wetland areas.

Conservation

Our shop at Darts Farm overlooks the Clyst Valley towards RSPB Goosemoor, where we have recreated valuable saltmarsh and mudflat for waterbirds. 

Just beyond lies RSPB Bowling Green Marsh, which we manage as a vital roosting place for waterbirds such as avocets and black-tailed godwits around high tide.

Site information

On the outskirts of Exeter, Darts Farm is situated on farmland but surrounded by wetlands.

Latest blog posts

read our blog

Share this

  • Facebook Facebook Created with Sketch.
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

You might also be interested in

Bowling Green Marshes RSPB Reserve

Bowling Green and Goosemoor

An ideal spot to watch birds up close throughout the year, from black-tailed godwits in spring to brent geese in winter.
RSPB Giving Nature a Home Campaign

Join us - legacy

Become an RSPB member by signing up here.
RSPB Giving Nature a Home Campaign

Homes for Nature Fund 2017

You can give nature the space it needs to survive and thrive...

We spend 90% of net income on conservation, public education and advocacy

Quick links

  • Contact us
  • Online Community
  • Vacancies
  • Media centre

Information for

  • Teachers
  • Policy makers
  • Farmers & landowners
  • Scientists

Our work in

  • England
  • Scotland
  • Wales
  • Northern Ireland
  • International

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

Partnering with

BirdLife_logo

The RSPB is a member of BirdLife International. Find out more about the partnership

Fundraising Regulator logo OSCR logo

© The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: England and Wales no. 207076, Scotland no. SC037654

  • Terms & conditions
  • Cookie policy
  • Privacy policy
  • Charter and statutes
  • About our site
  • Modern Slavery Act

Cookie Preferences

Accepting all non-essential cookies helps us to personalise your experience

Edit settings
Accept all

Essential cookies are required

These cookies are required for basic web functions

Enable analytics cookies

Allow us to collect anonymised performance data

Enable marketing cookies

Allow us to personalise your experience

Save settings
Read our cookie policy