RSPB Old Moor: How nature has bounced back after the pit closures with bitterns, marsh harriers and bearded tits

With its lush reedbeds, wide expanses of water and excited children pointing out the many birds on what one youngster mistakes for the "ocean", it's almost impossible to imagine what it was like 50 years ago.
Alexandra Wood
By Alexandra Wood
Published 31st Mar 2023, 16:45 BST

Then what is now RSPB Old Moor on the boundary of Rotherham and Barnsley was a semi-derelict farmstead, near a massive marshalling yard, which took coke and coal from Manvers Main Colliery to Manchester. The rising ground in the distance, now densely planted with thousands of trees just about to break into leaf, were spoilheaps.

"It was a real mix, there was a huge area that was used for coal stockpiling, it looked like a moon landscape,” said Eric Bennett, a retired Barnsley Council principal planner.

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"If you went from here to Barnsley in the 70s you'd pass about six collieries with railway sidings, mining gear - and a lot were on fire.”

Volunteer Gerald Lax pictured at RSPB Dearne Valley Old Moor Old Moor Ln, Wombwell, Bolton upon Dearne, Barnsley, as the site celebrates 20years since it opened. Picture taken by Yorkshire Post Photographer Simon Hulme 28th March 2023 Volunteer Gerald Lax pictured at RSPB Dearne Valley Old Moor Old Moor Ln, Wombwell, Bolton upon Dearne, Barnsley, as the site celebrates 20years since it opened. Picture taken by Yorkshire Post Photographer Simon Hulme 28th March 2023
Volunteer Gerald Lax pictured at RSPB Dearne Valley Old Moor Old Moor Ln, Wombwell, Bolton upon Dearne, Barnsley, as the site celebrates 20years since it opened. Picture taken by Yorkshire Post Photographer Simon Hulme 28th March 2023

Eric designed the system of managing water levels on the reserve, which celebrates its 20th anniversary under RSPB ownership today with a brass band, theatre group and exhibition, although it had opened as a wetlands reserve five years earlier and was initially run by Barnsley Council.

The site was a floodplain for the River Dearne: “All the complicated stuff was about making the habitat right for wildlife – you didn’t want inundations that were uncontrollable.”

In the 1950s three birders had discovered a birding site, now part of the reserve, called Wath Ings. At the time birdwatching wasn’t the norm. "If people saw birds they were likely to want to shoot them rather than watch them,” said Eric.

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By the mid 1980s the pits were closing and “literally the place was falling to pieces, there was no work and no prospects”. Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster councils got together and secured £5m to regenerate the area.

Eric Bennett pictured at RSPB Dearne Valley Old Moor Old Moor Ln, Wombwell, Bolton upon Dearne, Barnsley, as the site celebrates 20years since it opened. Picture taken by Yorkshire Post Photographer Simon Hulme 28th March 2023 Eric Bennett pictured at RSPB Dearne Valley Old Moor Old Moor Ln, Wombwell, Bolton upon Dearne, Barnsley, as the site celebrates 20years since it opened. Picture taken by Yorkshire Post Photographer Simon Hulme 28th March 2023
Eric Bennett pictured at RSPB Dearne Valley Old Moor Old Moor Ln, Wombwell, Bolton upon Dearne, Barnsley, as the site celebrates 20years since it opened. Picture taken by Yorkshire Post Photographer Simon Hulme 28th March 2023

The idea of creating wetlands and using the soil to landscape contaminated land at the Wath Manvers coking plant was the brainchild of Roger Mitchell, then working for Rotherham.

Old Moor was acquired by the RSPB in 2003 which planted reed rhizomes from Blacktoft Sands, along with a truckload of eels and fish like rudd – food for one of Britain’s most elusive birds, bitterns.

Then they were extremely rare. In 1997, only 11 male bitterns were recorded in the UK. Now they breed at the site, along with schedule one species marsh harriers and bearded tits. Volunteer Gerald Lax tries to keep a beady eye on the bitterns, but says it’s like being a detective, as they tend to stay hidden in the reeds. The males can be identified from their deep booming call, which sounds “like blowing over the top of a milk bottle”. Once the male has mated, he leaves the feeding and bringing up of the young to the females. A barn owl has just flown over the car park and birders are enthusiastically heading in the direction of a rare visiting bird. Is Eric surprised by the abundance of wildlife? Not really. “If you give nature a chance it bounces back quite quickly.”

Related topics:BarnsleyRSPBRotherhamBarnsley CouncilManchester