Attenborough Nature Reserve
| Attenborough Nature Reserve | |
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Attenborough Nature Reserve looking across one of the flooded gravel pits towards Attenborough village
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| Location | Attenborough, Nottinghamshire, England |
| Nearest city | Nottingham |
| Coordinates | 52°53′59″N 1°14′09″W / 52.8996°N 1.2357°WCoordinates: 52°53′59″N 1°14′09″W / 52.8996°N 1.2357°W |
| Area | 145 hectares (360 acres) |
| Created | 1966 |
| Operated by | Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust |
| Open | 7.00am to dusk |
| Status | SSSI (for map see Map) |
Attenborough Nature Reserve is a nature reserve at Attenborough, Nottinghamshire, England, located 7 Kilometres south west of Nottingham city centre. It is managed by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust in partnership with the site's owners, Cemex (formerly RMC Group), supported by Broxtowe Borough Council. At its centre is a building called Attenborough Nature Centre, comprising visitor services and educational facilities.
The site was used as gravel pits between 1929 and 1967, and is still owned by CEMEX, the gravel extraction company, who continue to extract sand and gravel from neighbouring areas. Working gravel barges still pass through the site. 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 David Attenborough.
The reserve now covers 145 hectares of lakes, wetland, grassland and scrub. It sits at the confluence of the River Erewash and the Trent, and is part of an area designated as the Attenborough Gravel Pits Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The SSSI covers 226.6 hectares (560 acres) 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 ponds have become the most important bird overwintering area in Nottinghamshire for shoveler and diving ducks. The species count since 1966 is now over 250 bird species. Among the nationally rare birds seen at the reserve are penduline tit (1994), squacco heron (1998 and 2011), purple heron (2003) and sora (2004).
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