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Carsington Reservoir
Owned by Severn Trent Water,Carsington Reservoir is relatively new it opened in the Mid 1980s.It has since become established as an excellent birdwatching site ,as well as being very popular with the general public as a recreational destination.In the summer it can get very busy.There are very good facilities ,paths suitable for walking and cycling around the reservoir as well as woodland walks.There is a visitor centre with a restuarant cafe and shops.The Wildlife centre is the venue for regular arent birds brilliant events run by the RSPB ,working closely with Severn Trent Water who also provide a Ranger service.Events are held regularly.There are several bird hides if you are approaching by road from the Cromford direction,turn off before the main entrance ,the first car park is signposted from the road.From this carpark the Sheepwash and Paul Stanley memorial hides are a short walk away..A circuit of the reservoir is aproximately eight miles ,if you are feeling energetic you could walk from any of the three hides to the wildlife centre or the visitor centre.
Access by road to the main entrance (for the visitirs centre)is via the B5035 from Cromford (turn off by by the knockerdown Pub,Carsington is clearly signposted from here)
The large gull roosts often produce an unusual gull in amongst the black headed and herring gulls for example recent visitors have included kittiwakes and ,meditearanean gulls,Iceland,yellow legged and Glaucous gulls amongst others have been recorded in recent years.
Some highlights from this year at Carsington have included: Red Breasted Merganser pair,Long eared owl (tawny,barn and little owls are resident on site or on farmland nearby),an Osprey,some Avocets,Red crested pochards,Great northern diver,Black necked grebe,Grey. plover,Grasshopper warbler,Wood sandpiper,Spotted and Pied flycatchers,Black terns,Raven,Pink footed geese.(other geese that can be seen regularly are Canada,Barnacle,Greylag and some escapee Cackling geese.)Over 200 bird species have been recorded.For the latest sightings see link to the Carsington Bird Clubs website on this sites blog page (now archived).Other wildlife to be seen on the site includes Water voles,Hares,Grey squirrels ,Rabbits,and Brown rats.
For details of the RSPBs Arent birds brilliant scheme visit this webpage http://www.rspb.org.uk/brilliant/sites/carsington/ Every Tuesday and Sunday between 10.30 and 4pm ,the Arent birds brilliant team are present in the wildlife centre.Telescopes and binoculars are provided .The kids can have fun with the CCTV camera that can operate themselves .There are bird walks for beginners on the first sunday of each month,for adults and children over the age of twelve .
An exciting forthcoming conservation project ,involves re-indroducing native crayfish at Carsington.A number of habitat management projects remain ongoing . 
