Attenborough Nature Reserve is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...

at Attenborough, Nottinghamshire, England, located south west of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

city centre. It is owned and managed by

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust The Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust founded in 1963 is a wildlife conservation charity working to protect and enhance the wildlife and habitats of Nottinghamshire. They care for over 60 nature reserves covering more than of wildlife habitat ran ...

, supported by

Broxtowe Borough Council Broxtowe refers to a number of geographic entities, current and historic, in Nottinghamshire, England: * Broxtowe, Nottingham, a housing estate in Apsley ward, within the City of Nottingham * Broxtowe (UK Parliament constituency), the constituenc ...

, following the completion of purchase from

Cemex CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V., known as Cemex, is a Mexican multinational building materials company headquartered in San Pedro, near Monterrey, Mexico. It manufactures and distributes cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in more than 50 countries ...

UK in December 2020.Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust secures ownership of 'cherished' Attenborough Nature Reserve
'' Nottinghamshire Live'', 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020 At its centre is a building called Attenborough Nature Centre, comprising visitor services and educational facilities.

History

The site was used as gravel pits between 1929 and 1967, and was latterly still owned by CEMEX, the gravel extraction company, who continue to extract sand and gravel from neighbouring areas. As sections of the site are worked out they are restored as wetland. In 2010 an area known as Thrumpton's Land was restored in this way. The reserve was established at the completion of an earlier phase of workings in 1966 and was opened by the naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. In late 2019, the owners announced their desire to sell the site, and an appeal backed by Sir David Attenborough, whose family traditionally hail from the area, was launched to raise one million pounds needed to enable transfer of ownership to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, which had helped to maintain the site with the owners for 60 years.Sir David Attenborough backs £1m nature reserve appeal
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

Nottingham'', 25 November 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2020Notts Wildlife Trust launches 'urgent' £1m appeal to buy Attenborough Nature Reserve
''

Nottingham Post The ''Nottingham Post'' (formerly the ''Nottingham Evening Post'') is an English tabloid newspaper which serves Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. The ''Post'' is published Monday to Saturday ...

, 26 November 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2020 The purchase of the site from Cemex UK was concluded in December 2020, following a £750,000 grant allocated as part of the Landfill Communities Fund from Biffa Award.

Geography

The reserve now covers 145 hectares of lakes, wetland, grassland and scrub. It sits at the confluence of the

River Erewash The River Erewash is a river in England, a tributary of the River Trent that flows roughly southwards through Derbyshire, close to its eastern border with Nottinghamshire. Etymology The approximate meaning of the name is not in doubt, b ...

and the Trent, and is part of an area designated as the Attenborough Gravel Pits

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI). The SSSI covers and extends westwards beyond the reserve, to the County Boundary. There are large lakes formed by the flooded pits, known as Church Pond, Clifton Pond, Main Pond, Tween Pond and Beeston Pond, plus drier areas of scrub and grassland such as Corbetts Meadow and Erewash field. There are also areas of native willow and woodland. The gravel pits are significant for the numbers of wintering

shoveler The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks: * Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea'' * Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii'' * Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis'' * Northern shoveler, ''Anas ...

and

bitterns Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' in Old English; the word "bittern" ...

, as well as the numbers of breeding birds. The species count since 1966 is now over 250 bird species. Among the nationally rare birds seen at the reserve are

penduline tit The penduline tits constitute the family, Remizidae, of small passerine birds, related to the true tits. All but the verdin make elaborate bag nests hanging from trees (whence "penduline", hanging), usually over water. Characteristics Pendulin ...

(1994),

squacco heron The squacco heron (''Ardeola ralloides'') is a small heron, long, of which the body is , with wingspan. It is of Old World origins, breeding in southern Europe and the Greater Middle East. Behaviour The squacco heron is a migrant, wintering ...

(1998 and 2011), purple heron (2003 and 2016) and sora (2004).

Facilities

The Attenborough Nature Centre at the site provides an educational facility, shop and refreshment point and car park for the reserve, accessed from Barton Lane, Attenborough. The centre was completed in 2005, since which it has won a Gold award for eco-tourism. Almost 40 years after he opened the reserve itself, Sir David Attenborough returned to open the centre. An article in ''

BBC Wildlife ''BBC Wildlife'' is a British glossy, all-colour magazine about wildlife, operated and published by Immediate Media Company. It produces 13 issues a year. ''BBC Wildlife'' was launched in January 1963 as ''Animals Magazine'', edited by filmmaker ...

'' listed it as number 9 in a top ten 'eco places in the world'.Green Traveller blog
accessed 18 Mar 2012 The facilities are open seven days a week, and the centre is surrounded by the ponds. There are also two public

bird hide A bird hide (blind or bird blind in North America) is a shelter, often camouflaged, that is used to observe wildlife, especially birds, at close quarters. Although hides or hunting blinds were once built chiefly as hunting aids, they are now commo ...

Gallery

File:Attenborough Nature Reserve Visitor Centre - geograph.org.uk - 763738.jpg, The Nature Centre with raised walkway File:Attenborough Nature reserve - geograph.org.uk - 1062596.jpg, A winter nature trail File:Animals of Attenborough Nature Reserve 06.jpg,

Canada geese The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is o ...

swimming in line File:Animals of Attenborough Nature Reserve 01.jpg, Egyptian and Canada geese together File:Attenborough Nature Reserve 03.jpg, Nature Centre viewed from the main footbridge File:Visitor Centre - geograph.org.uk - 1357290.jpg, Lakeside picnic area

References

External links