Guided Evening Walks from Mid May to Late August
Take advantage of those light, warmer (and hopefully drier!) evenings and join our experienced guide for a short and easy nature ramble in one one these four fantastic locations. We will try to time the latter stages of our walk to coincide with sunset when we’ll use a bat detector to listen in on and locate these fascinating nocturnal mammals.
Adult Peregrine at Derby Cathedral
Our walk locations:
Derby and Darley Park
Starting on the Cathedral Green in the city centre, we will spend a while watching the famous Peregrine pair and their offspring as well as the Swifts, Grey Wagtails and other species that call this area of the city home. Heading upriver we’ll pass through the ever popular Darley Park with its fantastic variety of birdlife, looking out for Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and possibly a hunting Sparrowhawk as well as Kingfisher along the river. We’ll then make a quick visit Darley & Nutwood Local Nature Reserve to have a look for its fantastic variety of flora including its Pyramidal, Common and Marsh Orchids, before returning to the cathedral hoping for some nocturnal wildlife on the way.
Trent Lock to Long Eaton Gravel Pits
Starting at the ever popular Trent Lock near Long Eaton we’ll follow the River Trent towards Nottingham through some fantastic riverine wildlife habitat. Water birds abound and the well vegetated banks are the perfect location for variety of warblers such as Blackcap, Sedge Warbler and the reeling Grasshopper Warbler. The river banks are rich in insect life and we’ll be looking for Damselflies, Dragonflies as well as a variety of Butterflies as we walk. With such a profusion of insects, Hirundines and Swifts will be drawn to feed over the river area and in turn bring the possibility of hunting raptors such as Sparrowhawk or Hobby! The flooded gravel pits play host to Common Terns and Egrets and we should get some good bat activity on our return to Trent Lock.
Cromford Canal
We’ll start at Cromford Wharf and the River Derwent looking for its resident Dippers before heading along the canal itself looking for some of it’s iconic species such as Little Grebe, Grey Wagtail and its famous Water Voles. Passing High Peak Junction we will eventually reach the recently restored Aqueduct Cottage.
Dipper are likely at Cromford and Lathkill Dale
There we will spend a little time exploring the fantastic Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Reserve of Lea Wood which offers the chance of such specialities as Pied and Spotted Flycatcher as well as Common Redstart before retracing our steps back to the Wharf looking and listening for Daubenton’s Bats hawking insects low over the water.
Lathkill Dale
Starting in Over Haddon we’ll enjoy a fantastic evening wander through this jewel of a valley! A host of migrant birds spend the Summer here and we’ll be spending our time looking for a variety of warblers, such as Garden Warbler and Willow Warbler as well as birds like the Common Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher in the wooded areas and enjoying Dipper, Grey Wagtail, Mandarin and Little Grebe on the river as Hirundine’s hawk through the insect rich skies above.
When: Mid May to end of August. Available most Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings as well as some weekend evenings – just get in touch to book your preferred evening.
Duration: 2-3 hours
Cost: Adult (over 16’s) £20, Under 16’s £10 (must be accompanied by at least one full paying adult). A 10% discount will be given for a family/group of 3 or more booking together.
Need to know: All of the walks are on level, well laid paths and are generally suitable for all abilities and are accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs (** please there is a steep descent/ascent at the start/end of the Lathkill walk**). If arriving by car the car parks at Cromford Wharf, Over Haddon and Derby are pay and display.
