The Elton Reservoir Basin has been managed as a working country park since September 2020 by the Elton Reservoir Basin Countryside Warden Service (NGO).

The Elton Reservoir Basin Country Park includes the Greater Manchester’s largest area of Lowland Meadow, Lowland Acid Grassland, Lowland Fen and Flood-plain Grazing Marsh. The plots have been tested by Natural England are identified on their Priority Habitats Inventory and some have appeared on MAGIC MAP, with others pending updates.

This is the fourth largest wetland in Greater Manchester, and the most diverse as it includes multiple different registered Sites of Biological Importance. The wetland is made up of many ponds (marlpits, brickpits, ancient coal mines), two reservoirs, streams and field ditches, a canal, a huge marsh, and a complex series of connecting drains that once collected water for industry – all edged by the River Irwell.

Invertebrate surveys have been carried out across the country park taking in all types of habitat
from silage fields, pasture and hayfields to marsh, reedbed, water and stream.

Published 01/02/2024