This wonderful wildlife haven is run by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and lies just a short distance from the former mill buildings of Strutt’s mill, the famous Belper landmark, where the Trust currently has its headquarters. This wetland nature reserve is a truly excellent place to see many birds which visit it throughout the year, depending on the season and also sometimes by the weather.
Lying on the West side of the River Derwent, the reserve is one of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s most important wetland reserves, consisting of two pools, one main one and a smaller pool, wonderful water meadows and reed beds. A good selection of birds have been recorded there over the years, including fire crests, pied flycatchers, spotted flycatchers, crossbills and hawfinch, the latter two coming from coppice woods at the end of Wyvern Lane, an area with great potential for seeing significant sightings.
The resident bird population includes many familiar species such as Canada geese, little grebe and tufted ducks , which can be seen on any visit, but because it is open to the public throughout the year, many more species visit and it’s a great opportunity to see something unusual if you visit the nature reserve several times in different months. Waders such as curlew and the common sandpiper pass through in the spring and rarer birds such as the sedge warbler, breed at Wyver Lane Nature Reserve.
Large numbers of gulls visit during the winter months, mainly the large black headed gulls but it is also possible to see common, herring, lesser and greater black backed gulls. It can sometimes look strange, especially when you think how far away from the sea and the coast Belper is but they look quite at home when they all fly in together, accompanied by other coastal wildfowl, who escaped the icy North. In really cold conditions, numbers of the duck species such as wigeon, can reach more than 100.
Not only is the nature reserve a wonderful attraction for common species, it is home to several birds of prey who hunt there, including the hobby, buzzard, kestrel and sparrowhawk and there have even been occasional visits by peregrines and red kites. Permits are needed to access the hide which are free to Derbyshire Wildlife Trust members and maybe purchased by non-members as well.
The Trust manages 42 nature reserves throughout the country, from wetlands to upland, woodlands and wildlife meadows and the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has published a book of wildlife walks which is well worth purchasing and highlights the route, which takes in Wyver Lane. All of the walks in the books featured detailed route descriptions, with tips on what to see and when.
Visitor parking is of the A517 or the A6 and is a pay and display, and disabled access is off the A6 as well. The offices of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is in the building, which is located at East Mill, Bridge Foot at Belper, and the offices are on floor three where there is accessed via stairs all the lift.