Barnsley Main Nature Reserve
Location
Near Dearne Valley Country Park
OS Map Reference
SE 36412 06349View on What3Words
Know before you go
Dogs
When to visit
Opening times
Open at all times. We recommend a 1 hour trip for this reserve but it's easy to combine with a visit to neighbouring Dearne Valley Country Park.Best time to visit
June to SeptemberAbout the reserve
On the edge of urban Barnsley, and well connected to other wildlife havens in the Dearne Valley, Barnsley Main is part of a green landscape with an industrial past.
Linking up sites for wildlife and people, Barnsley Main is more than just one nature reserve in isolation – it’s part of an important network of wildlife sites in the area, connected by the Trans-Pennine Trail. Dearne Valley Country Park is only a short walk away, with Littleworth Park just a mile away.
These links allow both people and wildlife to move more freely around the area and between habitats.
Habitat
Contact us
Location map
Reserve Information
About
The green, green grass of Barnsley
A walk along Barnsley Main will put you on top of the world – well, on top of the Dearne Valley anyway. The hilltop offers the best panoramic view of Barnsley and the river Dearne corridor anywhere in the valley. For somewhere so close to the centre of a large town, you’ll be amazed at how green this landscape is.
The reserve’s rolling grassland is surrounded by a fringe of broadleaved woodland and scrub, which hasn’t always looked this green and pleasant. It was once the black spoil heap of the Oaks Colliery pit head that still stands on Oaks Lane. We manage the restored grassland with seasonal cutting for a hay crop. In spring and summer, it’s a good place to watch butterflies on the wing, including some rarer populations of small heath.
By developing the surrounding ditches, we also hope to encourage more amphibians, insect species and birds.
Seasonal Highlights
Spring: Plants - Red clover; Bird’s-foot trefoil; Speedwells; Invertebrates - Small copper; Small heath
Summer: Birds - Swallow; Swift; Plants - Knapweed; Lady’s bedstraw
Autumn: Fungi - Black earth tongue
Winter: Birds - Buzzard; Kestrel
Directions
Public transport
Buses from Barnsley Interchange to Wombwell and Cudworth stop near the site.
By car
From the M1 take the A628. After Barnsley Centre and just past Hoyle Mill take a right onto Oaks Lane. After less than half a mile, the entrance to the reserve is on your right, across from the old mine shaft building.
