Attenborough Nature Reserve - The Beeston End
w/e 26 July 2020
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

By The RailwayThe Delta PathWe've often been to Attenborough and enjoyed walks around the Nature Reserve and usually enter the site from the Long Eaton/Toton end or through Attenborough Village itself. For a change this time we approached from the Beeston and Chilwell end along Meadow Lane. Carefully crossing the railway line we turned right to walk alongside the line (left) on what is known as the Delta Path (right).

The Bund

At the end of the Delta Path it continues straight on to eventually reach the Visitor Centre via the Works and Church Paths although warning notices indicated part of this route was closed due to an unsafe footbridge. The path to the left however called The Bund, bordering The Delta Sanctuary on the left, was open.
Main Pond

Viewing ScreenThe Delta SanctuaryAbout half way along The Bund is a Viewing Screen (left) offering a view into The Delta Sanctuary which at this point showed some extensive reed beds (right). The sanctuary is a rough square shaped wooded area containing a number of small ponds. A little further on from the screen a bench on the other side of The Bund provided another viewing point across Main Pond to the distant Power Station.
Open Water

There are a number of boards in the Reserve giving details about different areas and one near the end of The Bund says that the Delta was formed when sediment from sand and gravel processing settled at the bottom of a lagoon. As it dried out it formed a mixture of habitat for wildlife including wet woodland, reed beds and as can be seen here, expanses of open water.
Signpost

At the end of The Bund a signpost points right to the Visitor Centre and Trent Lock at Sawley beyond but we turned left to follow the riverside path towards Beeston Marina and Nottingham.
Riverside Path

A sign on the barrier on the riverside path warns that it is a busy route and elsewhere another says that although it is not a cycle path as such, it is used by cyclists so everyone should be careful.
River Trent

There are frequent views from the path over the River Trent of properties on the opposite bank most with a boat moored alongside.
Footbridge

A stone footbridge crosses an overflow channel from the Delta Sanctuary to the river and another of the many interpretation boards here is titled "Natural History of the River Trent".
Beeston Pond

At the next path junction with Beeston Marina in sight, we turned left along North Path and enjoyed pleasant views both to the right over Beeston Pond and ....

 Delta Sanctuary

.... to the left over the water and reed beds in the Delta Sanctuary.

Heron

And it was across that open stretch of water in the Delta Sanctuary that we spotted a heron sitting in a tree.
Beeston Pond

Surprisingly although we had heard a lot of bird song during our walk, apart from the heron, a wood pigeon and another at a distance on the open water, we had seen hardly any birds at all. This view of Beeston Pond with a foreground of wild flowers was typical of the scenery along North Path.

Swans

But as we neared the end of the walk and a return over the same railway crossing where we had started, a family of swans in Beeston Pond meant that the bag of corn we had been carrying did not go to waste.

Route Map

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