Nearby Nature - Idle Valley
- Hannah Riley
- Feb 21, 2023
- 3 min read
Part of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, Idle Valley is one of the largest sites for nature conservation in the East Midlands. Covering around 375 hectares, there's a lot to see, with four major routes taking you alongside the River Idle and around a range of lakes, wetland, grassland and scrub areas.
I am determined every time we go to Idle Valley to do The Big Walk. We have still not yet managed to finish The Big Walk, but every time we find new and interesting things to take pictures of, and there's always plenty of birds for me to squint at and attempt to identify. It's roughly a 30 minute drive from Oakwell Farm, with a trip across Dunham on Trent toll bridge - 40p cash or card one way - and through the town of Retford, which is usually where we end up grabbing food if we've missed out on getting something at the reserve's café.
One of the most spectacular residents at Idle Valley are the beavers. Yes. Beavers. A total of 8 beavers were released into a large, secure enclosure in November 2021 to help foster better diversity within the local ecosystems, and as of 2023, there's even some baby beavers! Although the beavers are rarely seen by passers by, there are options to book a tour of the beaver enclosure through the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust website, which gives you the chance to scout about for signs of beaver activity, as well as learning about how they are transforming the habitat to help benefit the ecosystem as a whole.
Idle Valley harnesses other natural processes to help unlock the lands potential for wildlife, such as conservation grazing with rare breed sheep and cattle. Sheep are very careful feeders and will generally leave an area neatly nibbled, which can help target unwanted plants that may otherwise run rampant such as docks and nettles. Cattle are less selective, and their large mouths enable them to pull up longer vegetation, which is handy when trying to break up very thick, compacted areas of grassland. Both help promote diversity in vegetation though grazing, as well as turning soil with their movements over the land, and providing the pastures with ~ahem~ fertiliser.
Routes around Idle Valley range from 2.3km to 9.4km - apologies, I do work in metric - so there's a good variety of short and long walks to undertake, with the possibility of mixing and matching. Dogs are welcome as long as they are kept on leads, particularly around the livestock.
Entry to the reserve is free, and a parking donation of £3 is requested via signs with QR codes and links to a donation site. The site is open 9am-7pm daily, with the Visitor Centre opening times listed as 10am-3pm Mon-Fri, and 10am-4pm Sat-Sun. It's worth checking the Facebook page for Idle Valley as they often post if there are staffing issues or problems with facilities. In terms of accessibility, there is disabled parking, an accessible toilet, and most of the trails are suitable for pushchairs and wheelchairs. It is however worth contacting Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust directly if you have specific mobility needs. The shorter trails are generally in good condition, however the longer routes that follow the River Idle can get a bit soggy around autumn and winter.
You only need look at the events page for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust to see there's plenty to do at this and other reserves in the county, and even our repeated attempts to do The Big Walk have felt drastically different from each other, with me always spotting something new. I'm determined that I will make it to the beaver enclosure on our next excursion.
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