Pennytown Ponds
Categories: Nature Reserves
Alfreton
Derbyshire
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Pennytown Ponds is a local nature reserve which sits at the heart of the Cotes Park Industrial Estate, often referred to as a green oasis. The site consists of four Ponds, woodland, footpaths and bridleways which are enjoyed by many people from Spring when the bluebells and wood anemones are in flower and the many bird visitors are returning to their familiar territory to raise their young and to join the many birds which stay all year. You will often hear the call of the Green Woodpecker here and there and the Spotted Woodpeckers drumming on the trees.
Fishing rights exist on the ponds and Palmer Morewood Angling Club have contact details for membership on the notice boards around the site.
We hope you enjoy your visit and tell others about this very special place, with its varied plant, bird and animal life that the site supports. When you are there, sit a while, it can be worth it.
Pennytown Ponds can be found by car off the B600, turning right at the Cotes Park Public House, next right following the road through to the ponds or by foot you can also access off Birchwood Lane via the bridleway signposted or via the industrial estate, again signposted.
The four ponds are balancing ponds for the drainage of the surrounding land. Moorhens, Coots and Mallards can be seen on the ponds and regularly breed. Mayfly, Damselfly and Dragonflies are seen throughout the summer and 25 species of water beetle have been recorded on the site. If you are lucky you may see Kingfishers flying low over the water and grass snakes during the summer..
Pennytown Ponds was once part of a large parkland known as Cotes Park as early as the 14th century. At the beginning of the 19th century the park was sold off in smaller parcels of land. Cotes park hall once stood in the centre of the park but this disappeared with the development of the industrial estate. A reminder of its existence is the stone outbuilding at the top of the bridlepath..
The ponds became isolated and forgotten as the industrial estate was developed during the 1970s, however, the site was designated as a County Wildlife site in the 1980s. Investment in the 1990s and the works of the Pennytown Ponds group and Groundwork has given the area a new lease of life, with the site becoming a Local Nature Reserve in 2002.
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