Wheelchair accessible

Bickershaw Country Park is one of the clusters of sites that is part of the Flashes of Wigan and Leigh National Nature Reserve, located between Bickershaw village and Westleigh on the former Bickershaw Colliery. It is a 247-hectare haven for wildlife, comprising of extensive grasslands, woodlands, and scrubland.

Boasting 8 km of surfaced footpaths, with an additional 7km of unsurfaced paths, it has a number of large water bodies including “slow the flow” meandering wetland areas devoted to natural flood alleviation to local properties.  

Wildlife highlights include...

Low Hall is a well-loved smaller site that is part of the Flashes of Wigan and Leigh National Nature Reserve (NNR). It is particularly well served with art trails, sculptures and benches. Known locally as “Sammy’s Flood” it comprises of lots of hidden surprises including open water, swamp, scrub and woodland.

Wildlife highlights include the rare white letter hairstreak butterfly (which specialises on elm trees) and the grizzled skipper, which is more typical of a southern chalklands than a northern urban nature reserve. You can also see kingfisher, water rail, dragonflies and...

Amberwood is the most north easterly of the clusters of sites that is part of the Flashes of Wigan and Leigh National Nature Reserve (NNR). It a 160-hectare wetland mosaic consisting of a lake and a series of smaller ponds and lowland raised bog, linked by ditches and streams and interspersed with species-rich grassland and woodland.

It formed after open cast coal mining and wildlife highlights includes the elusive water vole which takes advantage of the ditch network. It is a great strong hold for amphibians with frogs, toads and common newts and new ponds have been created to...

Whitehead Hall Meadows boasts 5.58 hectares of wetland meadows, outlying wooded areas and a central pond near to the iconic Lancashire Mining Museum [hyperlink LANCASHIRE MINING MUSEUM – At Astley Green]

Whitehead Hall Meadows was part of Astley Colliery and was used as a recreation area for the villagers, however during World War Two it accommodated the colliery spoil. Since then wetland, woodlands and grasslands have developed to form valuable wildlife habitats. Orchids thrive here including northern marsh, southern marsh, leopard...

Three Sisters is a family-friendly visitors attraction where the Carbon Landscape story is brought to life.

Three Sisters Access for all comprises 3km wheelchair accessible paths co-produced with local groups with additional needs.

The Easter Egg Treasure Hunt is always a highlight with egg rolling down Arena Hill, one of the former coal spoil heaps.

A family-friendly site to enjoy:

• Ducks on the lake, birds at the feeding station and dragonflies over the wetlands.
• Wildlife rubbings trail [hyperlink
...