Where to go

Lightshaw Meadows is a central site in the clusters of sites that is part of the Flashes of Wigan and Leigh National Nature Reserve (NNR). Lightshaw Meadows is an area of open countryside and a beautiful mosaic of wetlands located in the heart of Abram. The land has been created over many years from mining subsidence.

Lightshaw Meadows covers an area of 18 hectares, 13 hectares of which has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).  

Wildlife highlights include yellow wagtail, lapwing, willow tit and other creatures such as bats, water voles...

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...

Little Woolden Moss is a 115-hectare site which showcases a “restoration reversal” of peat extraction. This has involved rewetting the bog and introducing cotton grasses, sphagnums and heathers to the outlying areas. The late May to July cotton grass specular is something to behold. Nowadays brown hares are regularly running across the vista with hobbies flying overhead. Curlews successfully rear their young whilst dragonflies dart over the wetlands. There is also a chance to view archaeology with the millennia old bog oaks.

To say this place has been inspiration to many would be an...

Within walking distance of Irlam Train Station, The Station Irlam – Train Station, Restaurant, Bar & Events and heritage museum, New Moss Wood began life as a bog, was drained, became a place for the Victorian night soil of Manchester, a post-war vegetable farm, a woodland planted in 1998/99 and in 2020 had a rewetting programme with a mini moss created.

A metal art gateway welcomes you and was designed by the children of Cadishead Primary school. On site there are a few hidden adventure balance beams, a poetry podcast trail...

Wigan Flashes is the most north westerly of the clusters of sites that is part of the Flashes of Wigan and Leigh National Nature Reserve (NNR). It hosts 10km of paths and a chance to explore on the Leeds Liverpool Canal (Leigh Branch) running through the site.

Wigan Flashes boasts a mosaic of wetland habitats proving the perfect place for open water, reedbeds, wildflower meadows and woodland trails. Parts of Ince Moss has Site for Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status. Reedbeds hide rare wildlife including the skulking water rail who squeals like a piglet, the beautifully...

This suburban site is a delightful mosaic of mixed woodland, meadows, peat bog and ponds. It supports an amazing variety of plants and wildlife. Its network of accessible paths allows you to enjoy woodland and waterside walks, and some stunning views from Pestfurlong Hill. On a clear day you can see as far as the West Pennine Moors. 

Gorse Covert Mounds is also home to Pestfurlong Moss, a remnant of the Manchester Mosses that once covered the whole area.  This ecologically important habitat is a Lowland Raised Peat Bog, which is home to a variety of Sphagnum Mosses, plants such as...

Once a brick clay quarry, Rixton Claypits [hyperlink Rixton Claypits local nature reserve | warrington.gov.uk] is thriving with wildlife and designated as internationally important with a Special Area for Conservation (SAC). This ex-industrial nature reserve boasts breeding great crested newts, known fondly as “Newtopia” within the ponds network and rich wildflowers in this undulating landscape. Explore the quiet tranquillity and feed your curiosity with information boards, viewing platforms, bridges and...