Restoring the Post-industrial Landscape for Wildlife Conservation and The Community: Wigan Flashes LNR, A Case Study

Wigan Flashes Local Nature Reserve has been heavily modified by industrial processes, predominantly mining, in the last two centuries. This has left a variety of habitats which are dominated by subsidence lakes (flashes) that consist of open water, extensive reedbeds and scrub. In the last ten years work has been undertaken to restore the conservation value of the site. This was specifically targeted at bittern (Botaurus stellatus) and for recreation, primarily by local people. The management has improved the general quality of the habitat and this has led to an increase in visits from the main target species, bittern. Use by the community has increased in parallel with the developing habitat quality as efforts have been made to improve site security and footpath quality. The Wildlife Trust has further led on a range of community engagement projects over the 10 years it has been involved with managing the Wigan Flashes Reserve. The results show that by using and adapting traditional and more drastic land management techniques, the periurban, post-industrial landscape can deliver important regional, national and international conservation gains alongside greater community use and involvement as part of the development of the delivered by the site.