"From coal pits to coal tits": How Wigan's industrial past has transformed into green spaces

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Former coal mines that have transformed into Wigan and Leigh ’s popular green spaces have been nationally recognised as nature reserves.

What were once colliery areas known for smoke and soot, loved for their huge employment boosts in their hayday, have now become the ‘lungs of Wigan’ that dog walkers, bird watchers and nature lovers now aspire to visit.

The areas, now called ‘The Flashes of Wigan and Leigh’, will knit together a total of thirteen sites including Wigan Flashes, Amberswood, Three Sisters, Bickershaw Country Park, Pennington Flash and Viridor Wood near Bamfurlong in Wigan, creating the first National Nature Reserve in Greater Manchester.

Dozens of environment and political figures gathered at Amberswood on October 3 to celebrate the momentous occasion. The new NNR will protect 738.21 hectares of precious wetland habitats, home to nationally significant wildlife populations including the willow tit, water voles and great crested newt. READ MORE: Golf pro, 53, bought illegal £20 Taser gun to tackle rat infestation in 'comedy of errors' The wetlands were originally formed through the flooding of land which had subsided due to significant coal mining during the 1800-1900s.