Time to get the hiking boots out?

I’ve been in Selston for well over four years now and today, I realised that I hardly know the place. I came to this conclusion after visiting the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust‘s website.

Farmland in Selston. The M1 is to the right of this view, just over the hedge. Pinxton is in the distance. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On their website, the Trust have a list of nature reserves in the county, and I discovered that I have one less than a mile from my home. Just off Salmon Lane, on the way to Annesley Woodhouse, is Annesley Woodhouse Quarry Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

According to the Trust, the nature reserve ‘is one of the county’s finest remaining areas of unimproved Magnesian Limestone grassland, and interesting plant species include rockrose, bee orchid and common spotted orchid. A range of birds breed on the site, including willow warbler and redpoll. The sunny grassland slopes provide habitat for a wide range of invertebrates, such as butterflies. Species recorded include common blue, meadow brown and small heath.’

So what’s this to do with my hiking boots? Well, there are many footpaths and walks in the area, none of which I have explored yet. It’s about time I got my boots on, picked up my camera, and did some exploring.

Related articles

• United Kingdom: IoS investigation: HS2 – the hidden cost to Britain’s wildlife (independent.co.uk)
• HS2 – what it means to the neighbourhood (alanrowley.info)
• The tiny birds that could derail the 225mph bullet trains (manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
• HS2 route causing concern in East Midlands (bbc.co.uk)