Pugneys Country Park is a park located on the A636 between

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and Junction 39 of the M1 motorway. It is a Local Nature Reserve. The area was developed from a former

opencast mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

and a sand and gravel quarry and was opened to the public in 1985. It is overlooked by

Sandal Castle Sandal Castle is a ruined Middle Ages, medieval castle in Sandal Magna, a suburb of the city of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, overlooking the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder. It was the site of royal intrigue and the setting ...

. The park comprises two lakes, the larger of which is dedicated to non-powered

watersports Water sports or aquatic sports are sport activities conducted on waterbodies, and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boatin ...

and the smaller lake is designated as a nature reserve. A gauge miniature railway, running round part of the larger lake, operates on weekends and bank holidays, and cafeteria facilities are available. The nature reserve is home to a large flock of non-breeding

swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

s, with up to 100 in residence at any time. The lakes serve as a

flood defence Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

by providing an overflow from the River Calder.

References

{{Coord, 53.6565, -1.5038, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Parks and commons in Wakefield Country parks in Yorkshire Local Nature Reserves in West Yorkshire