Whisby Moor is a small

moor Moor or Moors may refer to: Nature and ecology * Moorland, a habitat characterized by low-growing vegetation and acidic soils. Ethnic and religious groups * Moors, Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during ...

situated close to the A46 road, west of

North Hykeham North Hykeham is a town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district, in the county of Lincolnshire, England. It forms part of the Lincoln Urban Area. The population of the town at the 2011 census was 13,884. History North Hykeham was ori ...

, in the

North Kesteven North Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The district is located to the east of Nottinghamshire, north-east of Leicestershire and south of the city of Lincoln. Its council, North Kesteven District Council, is bas ...

district of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, England.

Geography

Whisby Moor is situated geographically south-west from

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

city centre, with the village of Whisby less than to the north-west. The Nottingham-Lincoln Line runs through the Moor. The southern part of the Moor, including th
Natural World Centre
is in the parish of Thorpe on the Hill.

Whisby Nature Park

Former sand and

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used eithe ...

s have been filled and turned into mesotrophic lakes, surrounded by wet willow scrub and now form part of Whisby Nature Park. The nature reserve was established in 1985. The park opened in 1989 on either side of the Nottingham to Lincoln railway line. It was designated a Local Nature Reserve in 2002. The park has breeds of

Shetland cattle The Shetland, known natively in the Scots language as Shetland wikt:kye#Scots, kye is a small, hardy Scottish list of cattle breeds, breed of cattle from the Shetland Islands to the north of mainland Scotland. The cattle are normally black an ...

and is home to a variety of bird species including

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 t ...

teal alt=American teal duck (male), Green-winged teal (male) Teal is a greenish-blue colour. Its name comes from that of a bird — the Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca'') — which presents a similarly coloured stripe on its head. The word is ofte ...

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 ...

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, '' ...

and

goldeneye ''GoldenEye'' is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Martin Campbell, it was the first in the ser ...

great crested grebes 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 ...

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

and

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

, which can be observed from several bird hides. Whisby holds a substantial population of

nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is no ...

s, which have become synonymous with the reserve. The park is also home to the Hazel Pot Beetle, a

leaf beetle The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle ...

of the

Cryptocephalinae The Cryptocephalinae are a subfamily of the leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), and belong to the group of case-bearing leaf beetles called the Camptosomata. The tribes Fulcidacini and Clytrini The Clytrini are a tribe within the leaf beetle sub ...

subfamily; it was released into the park in November 2000. Plants include ''

Dactylorhiza praetermissa ''Dactylorhiza praetermissa'', the southern marsh orchid or leopard marsh orchid, is a commonly occurring species of European orchid. Description ''Dactylorhiza praetermissa'' grows to tall, with leaves generally unspotted. The flowers, appea ...

'', ''

Trifolium arvense ''Trifolium arvense'', commonly known as the hare's-foot clover, rabbitfoot clover, stone clover or oldfield clover, is a flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae. This species of clover is native to most of Europe, excluding the Arctic zone, ...

'' and a bicolour form of ''

Cytisus scoparius ''Cytisus scoparius'' ( syn. ''Sarothamnus scoparius''), the common broom or Scotch broom, is a deciduous leguminous shrub native to western and central Europe. In Britain and Ireland, the standard name is broom; this name is also used for oth ...

''. A visitor centre has been established at Whisby nature reserve, known as the Natural World Centre and is run on behalf of North Kesteven District Council. The nature reserve hosts training courses, talks and events for children. Many unusual animals and plants are found in Whisby. For example, in 2018 large numbers of bird watchers were attracted to the reserve to see a melanistic blue tit. Not all parts of the nature reserve are open to the public and some areas are grazed by cattle and sheep to promote the growth of smaller plants. In 2017

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

included Whisby Nature Park in a list of five of the best birdwatching sites in the UK, particularly as a place to hear nightingales.The Guardian - Five of the UK's Best Birdwatching Sites
Retrieved 24 April 2019.

References

External links

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

Natural World Centre

Doddington and Whisby Parish Council

Hazel Pot Beetle in May 2002

Beetle in November 2000

Audio clips

Hazel Pot Beetle on the ''Today'' programme
{{coord, 53, 11, N, 0, 37, W, display=title, region:GB_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Local Nature Reserves in Lincolnshire Parks and open spaces in Lincolnshire