Back to nature

4:40pm Friday 7th March 2008

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EAST Lancashire is one of the best examples of how to heal the scars of industry and give the environment back to nature.

The area around Burnley was one of the busiest coal mining areas, but most of the scars of the once proud industry are healing.

Rowley Lake proves this point. It is reached from Turf Moor football ground and up the road towards Todmorden. As the road bears right look for a brown sign to the left indicating Rowley. A track soon leads to a large free car park.

The scars of Rowley Pit have long gone and an area of subsidence is now filled with water to produce a substantial lake. Thanks to the Forest of Burnley project and a Millennium Grant, a footpath lined with trees follows a circular route around the lake. Picnic tables have been provided and here is a perfect place to watch wildlife and young and old alike enjoy feeding the wildfowl.

From now until the end of April, wildfowl which winter with us will be seen in their splendid breeding plumage. On the day of my visit a cool wind was blowing, but this did not deter birds such as tufted duck, pothard and goldeneye from displaying. Also present were coot, moorhen and Canada geese which will soon be nest-building.

As the trees begin to mature, woodland birds are adapting quietly to this environment and I watched treecreeper, long-tailed tit, jay and a great spotted woodpecker.

Rowley is no longer an industrial tip but a haven for wildlife. Many will regret the passing of Lancashire's industrial heritage but even the old miners would have loved this breath of fresh air.