Wild places

Martin's Wood is a 4.75 hectare woodland, located within Charnwood Forest, and and is one of a network of newly planted woodlands to be found within the wider National Forest area. The site consists of two fields, enclosed to the north by Dean's Lane and on all other sides by mature shelter belts. Martin's Wood was planted in 1995 and is surrounded by dry-stone walls on the perimeter.

Martinshaw Wood is an excellent site for invertebrates and fungi. It has had a troubled past but is today protected and managed by the Woodland Trust. The Wood has ancient origins and has been managed since at least the 13th century as part of the estate of Lords of the Manor of Groby. In the 19th century it was planted with North American conifers and was sold in 1925 and clear-felled for its timber. It then naturally recolonised but during the second World War was clear-felled again.

Melton Country Park covers a 140-acre site with the Scalford Brook Flood Storage Reservoir at the centre. This reservoir was constructed in the early 1990’s to reduce the risk of flooding to properties in Melton from the Scalford Brook. It was designed by Severn Trent Water and built by Melton Borough Council. Since 1996 it has been operated and maintained by the Environment Agency. The dam is designed to cope with a 1 in a 100 year, flood.

This former railway line was part of the Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway which opened between 1879-1883 to transport iron ore, agricultural produce and passengers.

This is a recent (1990’s) extension to Mossdale Meadows. This extension was given to the Town Council by the developers of the Meridian Leisure Complex having stripped the area of the top soil / overburden to reveal a large blue clay area. This has been excavated and used to seal the area of the Meridian Leisure complex which formally was a sewage treatment works built in the 1920’s.

This nature reserve covers 12.6 hectares and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It represents an island of unimproved grassland amidst arable or improved ley grass. It has not received any artificial fertilisers or herbicides and is grazed by sheep or cattle and cut for hay.As well as the dry, unimproved grassland, the site has four field ponds several hedges. It supports a fine array of wildflowers, including orchids, with common and great crested newts in the ponds.

Mill Hill Wood is a small broadleaved woodland, planted in the early 2000s. A mix of native species include Wild Cherry, Hazel, Oak and Ash. Open grassland and grass rides form a network of open space around the trees.

The verge was designated a Local Wildlife Site in 2014, at which time it was recorded as an unmanaged but fairly species rich mesotrophic/calcareous grassland. The parish boundary between Barrowden and South Luffenham runs roughly along road.

Morcott is a tiny village, comprising of just a couple of streets, with the church and large churchyard featuring in the centre. The church (St Mary the Virgin) dates from the 12th century, possibly before. The churchyard is largely grassland, with Yew (Taxus baccata) trees dotted throughout.

The Centre stands on the site of the abandoned Nunckley granite quarry.  A branch railway line was constructed in 1897 and conveyed over 100,000 tons of ballast from the quarry for the construction of the Great Central Railway. The quarry was closed in 1924 and the branch line in 1964.  Work to restore the line started in 2007 and the site, including a heritage centre, coffee shop and railway station was opened to the public in 2016.

Mountsorrel Common (sometimes mistakenly called Rothley Common) is a remnant part of the Mountsorrel Hills habitat complex, which once stretched from Castle Hill in the east, through Broad Hill, Hawcliffe Hill, Cocklow Wood and to Buddon Wood in the west, but has now mostly been lost to quarrying. Overlying pink granite, the site has slightly acidic to more neutral areas and is best characterised as W10 (Quercus robur – Pteridium aquilinum – Rubus fructicosus) woodland, with small acid to neutral grassland glades & rides, and disturbed woodland scrub to the east.

Narborough Bog is a compact site offering a mosaic of different habitats including reedbed, damp woodland, riverbank and unimproved meadow. It contains Leicestershire's largest remaining peat deposits. Although the reedbed has suffered from drying out and invasion by Meadowsweet in recent years, remedial efforts by the LRWT are now bringing it back to its former state.

This small but interesting nature reserve is a former brownfield site and is trapped between the Coalville ringroad and a mineral railway line. It has a number of ponds, scrub and low fertility grassland. The largest pond was created by mining subsidence and now has a boardwalk allowing access to the water's edge.

New Lount Nature Reserve is a 19.5 hectare mixed reserve of species-rich grassland, ponds, plantation woodland and scrub within The National Forest. The site, which was designated a statutory Local Nature Reserve in 1995, sits on the site of the former New Lount colliery.

This is ancient woodland which has been notified as a SSSI as one of the best remaining examples of acid lowland woodland in Leicestershire. It covers 34 ha and is located north-east of Pickworth. This wood is remarkable in that it stands on a large ‘island’ of glacial sand and gravel in an area where the geology is predominantly limestone and clay, as a result its vegetation is very different from any other wood in East Leicestershire or Rutland. The rides are narrow and there are old sand pits in the wood.