The Idle Valley Nature Reserve, also known as Lound Gravel Pits or Sutton and Lound Gravel Pits, is a

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) situated north-west of the town of

Retford Retford (), also known as East Retford, is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England, and one of the oldest English market towns having been granted its first charter in 1105. It lies on the River Idle and the Chesterf ...

in the Bassetlaw district of north

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

. The nature reserve is situated along the western bank of the

River Idle The River Idle is a river in Nottinghamshire, England whose source is the confluence of the River Maun and River Meden near Markham Moor. The Idle flows north from its source through Retford and Bawtry before entering the River Trent at West ...

and east of the villages of

Sutton cum Lound Sutton Cum Lound is a village located in Bassetlaw, north Nottinghamshire. It is located 3 miles from Retford. The civil parish is called Sutton. According to the 2001 census it has a population of 687, including Tithby and falling slightly to 6 ...

and Lound. The nature reserve is managed by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

History

The lakes within the nature reserve have been formed over seventy years of extraction of gravel and other aggregates, and since 1981 by

Tarmac Limited Tarmac is a British building materials company headquartered in Solihull, England. The company was formed as Lafarge Tarmac in March 2013, by the merger of Anglo American's Tarmac UK and Lafarge's operations in the United Kingdom. In July 20 ...

. Tarmac agreed to hand over all of its land within the SSSI to the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. In 2002,

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

designated the site, formally known as the Sutton And Lound Gravel Pits, a SSSI. The Idle Valley Learning Centre which offers diploma courses in environmental conservation from

North Nottinghamshire College North Notts College (previously North Nottinghamshire College) is a further education college in Worksop in the county of Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England ...

was opened in 2008 and is owned by the college. The nature reserve received £1 million in Lottery funding in 2008. Paths, fencing and clearing of land has also taken place since the handover of the land, the efforts of which in 2011 won Tarmac the

Mineral Products Association The Mineral Products Association (MPA) is the United Kingdom trade association for the aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, dimension stone, lime, mortar, and silica sand industries. Membership The Mineral Products Association (MPA) is the t ...

''Cooper-Heyman Cup'' double award. In 2017, a new boardwalk was constructed adjacent to the visitor centre in order to improve access to the reserve, as part of a partnership between the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and the Rotary club of Retford.

Geography

The reserve is over 3 miles long from the northernmost tip to the southern base of the site and covers over 450 hectares. It is the largest

in Nottinghamshire and the 5th largest SSSI in the county, covering 320 hectares.

Access and facilities

Idle Valley Nature Reserve is next to the A638 road and buses stop outside the reserve. Multiple public

rights-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

cross the reserve, including one around the majority of Bellmoor Lake. The reserve is open all year, and access is free, although visitors are asked to donate for using the car park. The main part of the reserve is accessed from the visitor centre. The northern end of the reserve can be accessed by walking from the visitor centre, although it is also accessible via Lound village. The visitor centre and shop are open daily except Christmas Day. Most of the reserve and its facilities are

wheelchair accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

, but some areas can be muddy and unsuitable for wheelchairs at times.

Fauna and flora

Birds

The site contains a rich number of breeding wetland birds and a nationally important population of wintering gadwall, one of 17 species of wildfowl that can be regularly found at the site each year. Key breeding species include

shoveler The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks: * Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea'' * Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii'' * Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis'' * Northern shoveler, ''Anas c ...

great crested grebe The great crested grebe (''Podiceps cristatus'') is a member of the grebe family of water birds noted for its elaborate mating display. Taxonomy The great crested grebe was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in t ...

and

tufted duck The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird ment ...

, along with locally scarce breeding species such as

wigeon The wigeons or widgeons are a group of birds, dabbling ducks currently classified in the genus ''Mareca'' along with two other species. There are three extant species of wigeon, in addition to one recently extinct species. Biology There are ...

and

pochard Pochard is a common name used for several species of diving ducks: *Four species in the genus ''Aythya'': ** Common pochard, ''Aythya ferina'' ** Baer's pochard, ''Aythya baeri'' ** Ferruginous pochard, ''Aythya nyroca'' ** Madagascar pochard, '' ...

. A number of breeding waders are also present, such as

lapwing Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A gro ...

Eurasian oystercatcher The Eurasian oystercatcher (''Haematopus ostralegus'') also known as the common pied oystercatcher, or palaearctic oystercatcher, or (in Europe) just oystercatcher, is a wader in the oystercatcher bird family Haematopodidae. It is the most widesp ...

little ringed plover The little ringed plover (''Charadrius dubius'') is a small plover. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek ''kharadrios'' a bird found in river ...

and redshank. The gravel pits contain a large winter population of

coot Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually ...

. 259 bird species have been recorded across the site, including nationally rare species. Recently, these have included a

gull-billed tern The gull-billed tern (''Gelochelidon nilotica''), formerly ''Sterna nilotica'', is a tern in the family Laridae. It is widely distributed and breeds in scattered localities in Europe, Asia, northwest Africa, and the Americas. The Australian gull ...

in 2015 and

blue-winged teal The blue-winged teal (''Spatula discors'') is a species of bird in the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. One of the smaller members of the dabbling duck group, it occurs in North America, where it breeds from southern Alaska to Nova Scoti ...

and

lesser scaup The lesser scaup (''Aythya affinis'') is a small North American diving duck that migrates south as far as Central America in winter. It is colloquially known as the little bluebill or broadbill because of its distinctive blue bill. The origin of ...

in 2014.

Mammals

In 2021, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust announced it had plans to reintroduce

beavers Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

into the reserve, after the species had been absent from Nottinghamshire for over 400 years. A licence application for the reintroduction of beavers submitted by the Trust to

was approved in June 2021.

References

External links

{{Commons category
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust - Idle Valley

Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust Retford