Pennington Flash Country Park
TypeCountry park
LocationLeigh, Greater Manchester
Operated byWigan Council
OpenAll year
Birdlife at Pennington Flash
The Flash

Pennington Flash Country Park is a 200-hectare (490-acre) country park located between Lowton and Leigh in Greater Manchester, England.

History

A flash is a water-filled hollow formed by subsidence. Pennington Flash is a 70-hectare (170-acre) lake created at the turn of the 20th century by coal mining subsidence, mainly from Bickershaw Colliery.[1] Before the flash the area contained two farms, both of which were abandoned in the early 1900s due to flooding.[2] During the 1960s and 1970s the idea to convert the flash for recreation was emerging and the country park was opened in 1981.[2]

Nature

Pennington Flash Country Park is a nature reserve. Over 230 bird species have been recorded on site including black-faced bunting, nightingale, marsh harrier, spoonbill and Leach's storm-petrel. Additionally, a wide variety of butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies can be spotted in the area.[1]

Facilities

Facilities include a small information centre, Pennington Flash café, a nine-hole municipal golf course, a car park with electric vehicle charging points, a children's play area, toilets, picnic and recreation areas, eight bird hides,[3] fishing on certain shores, sailing, windsurfing and rowing through Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club.[4] There is a network of tracks and footpaths suitable for walkers, cyclists, horse riders, joggers and wheelchair users.[5] A Parkrun takes place every Saturday morning.[6]

A course here would have been the venue for rowing and canoeing if the Manchester bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics had been successful.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Pennington Flash, RSPB Liverpool, retrieved 3 January 2011
  2. 1 2 "Pennington Flash - History - LLSC". 29 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "Pennington Flash - Country Park in Leigh".
  4. ↑ Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club, Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club, retrieved 10 March 2010
  5. ↑ Park Information, archived from the original on 26 July 2011, retrieved 30 June 2012
  6. ↑ "Pennington Flash parkrun - Pennington Flash parkrun". www.parkrun.org.uk.
  7. ↑ "Manchester 2000 Volume 02". Issuu. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
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