Old Moor Wetlands Centre RSPB

Pontefract Road, Wombwell, Barnsley,
South Yorkshire S73 0YF

Tel: 01226 751593

website: www.rspb.org.uk

There are five hides out on the Old Moor Wetlands Centre RSPB reserve and one overlooking the bird-feeding garden. There are two viewing platforms in the pond and picnic area. Two easy-going trails give excellent views of wildlife on the reserve. Follow the trail around the ponds and picnic area to see wildflower meadows and a variety of birds and insects, or take the trail to the hides, where you can get closer to wildlife in a variety of different habitats. Both trails are suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs and are less than one mile in length.

Spend time in the hides and you may be rewarded with an unforgettable kingfisher encounter. Listen for their shrill, piping calls and then watch for the flash of blue and orange. You may be luck enough to find a Little Owl perched in a tree or on a fencepost. They become very active at dusk and you may hear their shrill calls. Huge numbers of lapwings gather in winter. If a bird of prey, such as a peregrine, is in the area, they take to the air in a vast wheeling mass. Look among the black and white of the lapwing flocks for the golden glow of the Golden plovers. Several thousand spend winter here. Tree sparrows can be seen at the bird feeding alongside the commoner birds. Listen for their short and sharp 'tek' calls as the fly in and out.