Idle Valley Nature Reserve
Bug Arch at the entrance of the nature reserve, with Bellmoor Lake in the distance.
Idle Valley Nature Reserve is located in Nottinghamshire
Idle Valley Nature Reserve
LocationRetford, Nottinghamshire, England
Coordinates53°20′21″N 0°57′56″W / 53.33928°N 0.96543°W / 53.33928; -0.96543
Area320 hectares (790 acres)
Created2002 (2002)
Operated byNottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
StatusSSSI (for map see Map)

The Idle Valley Nature Reserve, also known as Lound Gravel Pits or Sutton and Lound Gravel Pits, is a wetland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) situated north-west of the town of Retford in the Bassetlaw district of north Nottinghamshire. The nature reserve is situated along the western bank of the River Idle and east of the villages of Sutton cum Lound and Lound. The nature reserve is managed by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

History

The area that now forms the nature reserve was quarried for sand and gravel from the mid-1940s onwards. Tarmac Limited acquired the quarries in 1981. Bellmore Quarry was at the southern end of the site, and around 350,000 tonnes of sand and gravel were extracted every year until extraction ceased in 2005. Lound Quarry was to the north of Bellmore, and produced around 500,000 tonnes of agregate every year, until its closure in 2011. It has been estimated that the quarries supplied some 30 million tonnes of sand and gravel to the local construction industry, during the lifetime of the quarrying operation. The mineral extraction consent under which the quarry operated required that the land should be restored for agricultual use once it ceased to be a quarry. This required huge volumes of fill, as between 2 and 3 metres (6.6 and 9.8 ft) of material had been removed over the entire site. Initially, pulverised fuel ash (PFA) from Cottam power station was turned into a slurry and pumped to the site by Powergen, but Powergen ceased to supply the PFA in the early 1990s, and the large voids that were still left filled with water. They gradually regenerated naturally, providing habitat for breeding, wintering and passage birds.[1][2][3]

In 2002, Natural England designated the site, formally known as the Sutton And Lound Gravel Pits, as an SSSI.[4] Tarmac subsequently agreed to donate all of its land within the SSSI to the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, to ensure its long-term care and management.[5] The Idle Valley Learning Centre which offers diploma courses in environmental conservation from North Nottinghamshire College was opened in 2008 and is owned by the college.[1] The nature reserve received £1 million in Lottery funding in 2008.[2][6] Paths, fencing and clearing of land has also taken place since the handover of the land,[5] the efforts of which in 2011 won Tarmac the Mineral Products Association Cooper-Heyman Cup double award.[7] In 2017, a new boardwalk was constructed adjacent to the visitor centre in order to improve access to the reserve, as part of a partnership between the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and the Rotary club of Retford.[8]

Geography

The reserve is over 3 miles (4.8 km) long from the northernmost tip to the southern base of the site and covers over 1,100 acres (450 ha).[1] It is the largest wetland in Nottinghamshire and the fifth largest SSSI in the county, covering 790 acres (320 ha).[1]

Access and facilities

Idle Valley Nature Reserve is next to the A638 road and buses stop outside the reserve. Multiple public rights-of-way cross the reserve, including one around the majority of Bellmoor Lake. The reserve is open all year, and access is free, although visitors are asked to donate for using the car park. The main part of the reserve is accessed from the visitor centre. The northern end of the reserve can be accessed by walking from the visitor centre, although it is also accessible via Lound village.

The visitor centre and shop are open daily except Christmas Day. Most of the reserve and its facilities are wheelchair accessible, but some areas can be muddy and unsuitable for wheelchairs at times.[9]

Fauna and flora

Birds

The site contains a rich number of breeding wetland birds and a nationally important population of wintering gadwall, one of 17 species of wildfowl that can be regularly found at the site each year. Key breeding species include shoveler, great crested grebe and tufted duck, along with locally scarce breeding species such as wigeon and pochard. A number of breeding waders are also present, such as lapwing, Eurasian oystercatcher, little ringed plover and redshank.[10] The gravel pits contain a large winter population of coot.[11] 259 bird species have been recorded across the site, including nationally rare species. Recently, these have included a gull-billed tern in 2015 and blue-winged teal and lesser scaup in 2014.[12][13]

Mammals

In 2021, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust announced it had plans to reintroduce beavers into the reserve, after the species had been absent from Nottinghamshire for over 400 years.[14] A licence application for the reintroduction of beavers submitted by the Trust to Natural England was approved in June 2021.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Busy Learning In The Idle Valley" (PDF). Climate Nottinghamshire. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Grant helps wetlands development". BBC News. 23 November 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "Restoration success at Tarmac Quarry". Tarmac Limited. 25 March 2011. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ↑ "Sutton and Lound Gravel Pits SSSI". Natural England. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Partnering key to restoration success". Aggregates Business News. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "In pictures: Idle Valley Nature Reserve". BBC News. 23 November 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  7. ↑ "MPA COOPER-HEYMAN CUP". Tarmac Limited. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  8. ↑ "New Boardwalk at Idle Valley". Lincolnshire Live. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  9. ↑ "Idle Valley". Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  10. ↑ "Sutton and Lound Gravel Pits- Reasons for Designation" (PDF). Natural England. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  11. ↑ Catley, Graham P. (1996). Where to watch birds in the East Midlands. Helm Books. pp. 258–264. ISBN 0713644605.
  12. ↑ "Rare birds in Britain 2014" (PDF). British Birds. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  13. ↑ "Idle Valley Notts Birders". Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  14. ↑ "Beavers set to return to north Nottinghamshire after 400 years". ITV News. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  15. ↑ "Beavers will be reintroduced at nature reserve after licence granted". Lincolnshire Live. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
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