Pleasley is well served by buses as follows:
Stagecoach 53 (daily) from Sheffield to Mansfield via Eckington, Clowne & Bolsover and
Stagecoach 'Pronto' from Chesterfield to Mansfield & Nottingham.
Alight at Pleasley Miners Welfare which is close to Pit Lane.
Facilities
The site is owned by the Derbyshire County Council Countryside Service and has had a significant amount of
habitat creation works carried out.
There are no facilities, this is typical developing coalfield restoration site. It can appear very raw and on many days feel so! It is often colder up on the tops and in winter you will be pleased to have a watch point key. Always wrap up warm is the advice and take a flask if you are making a day of it. This is a classic local patching site. You can go up and see nothing one day, the next its all happening.
The best advice is to go early and see what has dropped in.
What to see
Specialities: The wetlands attract shorebirds and wildfowl at anytime of the year. Obviously spring and autumn are good times to visit. The water features have been designed with shallow edges to provide refuelling stops for Plovers, Shanks and Sandpipers. It also pays to check the big sky views from the pit top for passage birds especially raptors. These have included Red Kite, Marsh and Hen Harrier, Goshawk, Buzzard and Osprey. Merlin and Peregrine have been known to chase the winter finch flocks and up to four Hobby have been seen in the late summer. The surrounding fields are worth a listen for Quail in spring. The large winter linnet flocks are worth checking for Snow and Lapland Bunting. The site has also attracted several Woodlark records over the last four years
Pleasley over the last four years or so has seen a great deal of habitat creation taking place with wetlands, wildflower areas and woodland created serviced by Trails and walkways. The local group of volunteers, The Pleasley Nature Study Group have taken Pleasley to their hearts and spend many hours working to make the site a pleasure to visit and an attraction for wildlife. They meet every Saturday morning come rain or shine undertaking a wide variety of conservation tasks. All the group's work is done in close co-operation with the site landowners Derbyshire County Council and the North Area DCC Countryside Service. Many of the group's members have a keen interest in birding as well as other areas of natural history
Wetland development has been at the core of the site's transformation. The main feature is a three-hectare lagoon with many shallow areas, spits and islands designed primarily for waders and wildfowl. The lagoon relies on surface water run off. There is a water control point, which allows the site managers to maintain water levels or lower them as necessary. This was designed to create suitable feeding areas for waders on passage. Whatever the water levels there will be opportunities for birds to exploit. The main watch point is a substantial hide managed by the Pleasley Nature Study Group on behalf of the Derbyshire Countryside Service.
Two settling ponds are an important element of the inflow of water catching any sediment in the run off coursing through the ditches. The two ponds are located to the north of the Wildlife Watch Point and have become important in their own right primarily for Dragonflies. These reed fringed pools are already home to Emperor Dragonfly Anax imperator and Black-tailed Skimmer Orthetrum cancellatum. A ditch has also been dug and will be allowed to choke up with aquatic vegetation specifically for Dragonflies to exploit.
The main lagoon is set in an open bowl in an attempt to keep sight lines as wide as possible for wading birds. This bare aspect is ideal for a variety of shorebirds to utilise. The lagoon empties out through a series of Run Off Pools into a small sheltered valley. The Run Offs have been primarily designed for Dragonflies with a variety of water features and habitats. Some of the pools are open with vegetation around the edges; some are reed covered and some dry out creating draw down areas, which are ideal invertebrate habitats.
However within three years Reed and Sedge Warbler have discovered them. The Volunteers have placed substantial logs at key points to allow watchers to sit and study at length the antics of the developing wildlife community. To the east of the main lagoon are a series of flashes called the Dunlin Pools. These seasonal wetlands are typical of colliery spoil heaps and indeed are so often lost in derelict land reclamation/restoration schemes. This interesting landscape has been kept thanks to the efforts of all involved. They attract waders moving through and are also home to many freshwater invertebrates. The shallow waters of the Dunlin Pools are seasonal and are well worth a look in the early morning to check for birds. Already they have attracted good Derbyshire birds such as Curlew Sandpiper and Lapland Bunting.
Wetlands have also been built on the southward face of the tip in an interesting swilly or valley feature. Using a 360 Hymac Caterpillar machine and an experienced driver from specialist heavy Earth Moving contractors to create them. The contractors were Ambergate based J C Ball & Sons. Their motto is ' No Problem' and indeed it wasn't. A small pool had existed previously and was tweaked and left for a year to see how it went. The following year in the summer of 1999 on a Friday the machine returned and shallow dish areas began to form leaving as rough a surface on the bottom of the pools as possible. As this was being done Common Darters Sympetrum striolatum began to egg lay around the machine in the standing water. The driver was hooked!
He suddenly realised what the job was all about. So much so that he came back on the Monday morning describing Southern Hawker Aeshna cyanea and Brown Hawker Aeshna grandis which he had shown to his wife in their garden over the weekend. Another convert to the world of Dragonflies! A series of four pools were soon built with a variety of features, now known as The Dragonfly Pools. To cap it off a large Hybernaculum was built 20 metres long and 3 metres high to provide a winter home for amphibians. A large wildflower meadow was established on the southern slope over looking the pools, a fine fast food joint for the Dragonflies to feed over. Skylark and Meadow Pipits find it ideal to nest in and rear their families. By the spring of 2002 Harvest Mice had also made it their home too, watched over by singing Skylark with at least 50 singing males. These pools are evolving into a tranquil spot to sit and gaze at 14 species of Dragonflies with a developing colony of Emerald Damselfly, Lestes sponsa, which have recently taken up residence. They also turn up good birds including Wood Sandpiper and Jack Snipe.
The site links with the Pleasley Trails Network. This wonderful series of Trails/Greenways along former railway lines allows visitors to see a variety of wildlife at close quarters. In the summer months these sheltered sun bathed corridors, one set in an old railway cutting, are ideal haunts for Hawker Dragonflies to hunt along. They are also good for warblers and in the winter good flocks of mixed thrushes. The Teversal Trail linking on to Longedge Lane has had 24 species of Butterflies and a splendid show of wildflowers.
Thanks to Richard Taylor of the PPNG for the content for this page
DOS Verdict
A new site with an already impressive track record with 146 species of bird on the site list and 14 species of Dragonfly recorded in its first four years. Pleasley is not in the top ten of places to visit for most Derbyshire birders but we think that this site could well develop into a popular spot to go to, not just for birds & plants but for Dragonflies as well.
Bearing in mind that the specific habitats were created for birds and will mature over the years it will most certainly improve.
(Thanks also to Brian Cuttell for some of the above)
Top of Page
