Wild & Wonderful Greenheart

Wigan’s industrial heritage played a vitally important role in shaping its rich present day biodiversity. Habitats, such as Wigan’s wetlands and woodlands are now accepted to be regionally and in some cases, nationally important.

So what has Greenheart got for you? Mammals such as the threatened red squirrel and the much more common roe deer, a list of bird species longer than your arm, (including the first record of a Black faced Bunting for Europe!!!!). Butterflies, dragonflies, damselflies and all the other flying jewels.

In a nutshell, Greenheart Regional Park has so much for people to discover!!!!

Just for an example of why Greenhearts wetland areas are so important……. All five native species of amphibian can be found in Wigan. In fact we have some areas where all five species can be found in a single pond! Then there is the bittern now a regularly seen species over at Wigan Flashes – This is one of only a handful of sites where this rare bird is resident all year round.

The woodlands of Greenheart also have their ‘jewels’, all three species of woodpecker breed here as do two owl’s the Tawny Owl and the Long-eared Owl and if you’re looking on some of the woodland edges at dusk you could see the Barn Owl which is making a comeback. Buzzards are now a very common sight over our woodlands and again we now have a number of breeding pairs resident.

All in all Greenheart is a very special place for wildlife – most of it is just waiting for you to discover it!