On this trip I entered the reserve via the Beeston Canal towpath which I haven’t done before. It was foggy to start off with though not actually all that cold, even though large parts of the lakes and ponds were frozen. You can’t get lost on this route (or really any of the different routes around the nature reserve) so we just followed it until we decided we needed a cup of tea (first time I’ve used a flask in ages!) and then headed back the way we’d come to where we’d parked the car.
This was the first time I used one of the hides at the reserve (pictured above). There’s a QR code to scan on your phone at the door and a quick form to fill in then you get sent an email with the code to open the door straight away. The code is the same for all of the hides and changes every month. It did provide some lovely views over the water though not, at this time of year, much wildlife.
A lot of the water was partly or fully frozen over and it was quite amusing to see the ducks attempting to keep upright on the ice.
The reserve is a lovely place to walk, even busy it’s big enough that you can still easily avoid seeing a lot of people. The paths are well tended and easy to navigate and you never know what nature you might encounter.
You can find more photos of this and previous trips to Attenborough Nature Reserve here.
Louise Jayne's Blog 