Carr Vale Flash Nature Reserve

About

Carr Vale Nature Reserve is owned and managed by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and is the best wetlands site in the East Midlands for birdwatching.

It can be accessed from the Stockley Trail or from the Peter Fidler Nature Reserve which is next to it, and parking is available in the Stockley Trail car park off Riverside Way. The Doe Lea river runs through the site where the endangered water vole and even an occasional king fisher can be seen.

Carr Vale lies on a flyway for many species and great skeins of geese can be seen flying over during the winter months. In spring and autumn a range of migrating birds feed and roost here and, in early summer the marsh and scrub are home to a variety of breeding birds, including reed and sedge warblers, whitethroat, yellowhammer, and gadwall, and the grassland provides nesting habitat for the nationally declining skylark.

A network of footpaths makes the whole reserve accessible to the public and they’re great for wheelchair users. A series of small reed fringed lakes or ‘flashes’ stretch out in the bottom of the valley, and give the Reserve its name. Bolsover Castle and the dramatic ruin of Sutton Scarsdale Hall can both be seen from the Reserve

A footpath alongside the river takes you over the Millennium Bridge to a smaller pond and what is known locally as the ‘Southern Marsh’. The surrounding grasslands provide grazing for sheep, leading to short grass that’s great for breeding Lapwings and wintering Wigeon.