Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

Today, I visited Idle Valley Nature Reserve, part of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. https://www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/nature-reserves/idle-valley

I arrived just after 09:00 as it opened. There was a large empty car park where there was a suggested donation of £3 to park – entry into the Nature Reserve is free. This seemed very reasonable to me. The car park is adjacent to the visitors centre (built in 2008).

In 1989 Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust acquired part of the Idle Valley for the grand total of £1.  Over the coming years, further land came to the Trust in separate parcels to formulate the now Idle Valley Nature Reserve, which currently totals around 450 hectares of prime wetland habitat and it is one of the largest sites for nature conservation in the East Midlands and it is also one of the largest Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)  in the county.

There are four designated walking routes in the reserve and these are easy to follow using the signed colour coded posts.

Leaving the visitors centre I passed a unique waste bin for empty cans. What was surprising was that people were not putting other rubbish in it!

I decided to do the Riverside trail. The river in question is the River Idle. There was a good path along the river bank.

I met a couple of dog walkers first thing, but as I walked further away from the Visitors Centre I met nobody- it was a peaceful walk. I was feeling frustrated because most of the way along the river I could not see the river because of the build up of vegetation.

The River Idle is 30-miles in length and begins at the confluence of the River Maun and River Meden near Markham Moor. From there it flows north through Retford and Bawtry before entering the River Trent at West Stockwith.

As I walked further along, the view opened up and I felt happier.

I heard an engine running and then found the source of the noise – a pump taking water from the river to spray on crops in the adjacent field. The river looked as though it was a couple of feet below its normal level.

Leaving the river I passed by Chainbridge Pit – an old gravel working now filled with water and hosting wild birds.

Having almost completed the Riverside Trail I branched off and did a couple of other trails through woodland and then around another lake.

I was getting nearer to the Visitors centre so more people were about enjoying walking.

After the woodland trail I did the Lake View Trail around Belmoor Lake where I passed a small weir and had views across the lake of the visitors centre.

As I got near to the finish I walked along a windy path as you can see from the angle of the trees.

Arriving back at the Visitors Centre I found that it was much busier than when I had left. I stopped by the café for refreshment’s.

It had been good to explore new territory.

Happy Walking! 😊🚶