Hollingworth Lake

Sketch map of Hollingworth Lake

Hollingworth Lake is a small Pennine reservoir just outside Rochdale. It's popular both for walking and watersports and can be very busy on a sunny holiday afternoon. It can provide a couple of hours' decent birdwatching in the course of a pleasant stroll. There are enough pubs, cafés and chippies for you not to need to take a packed lunch with you.

Hollingworth Lake

The lake itself attracts good numbers of wildfowl — mostly mallards, mute swans and Canada geese — and gulls, mostly black-headed. They're joined by common terns in Summer. There's usually a few tufted ducks, every so often they'll be joined by goosander and once in a while a goldeneye or a common scoter may visit. And whenever there's a large number of ducks and gulls there's always the chance of something special.

Male common scoter

Getting to Hollingworth Lake is very straightforward so long as the trains are behaving themselves. 

• From Smithybridge Station walk south up Smithybridge Road over the canal and after about half a mile you'll reach the lake. This is much the quickest and most direct route.
• From Littleborough Station go under the subway and turn right down Canal Street, walk about a mile along Hollingworth Roaad and you reach the lake.
• The 458 bus goes from Littleborough Station to Hollingworth Lake. It then carries on to Rochdale via Wardle (if you have the time and energy you can stop off at Wardle for a walk round Watergrove Reservoir).

Common tern

Most of the gulls and ducks congregate around the car park. There are usually a few common gulls and lesser black-backs around. Last year a glaucous gull hung around for a couple of weeks enjoying more than its fair share of chips.

Glaucous gull

There's a path around the lake from the car park, eventually turning round to join Rakewood Road. A little further along there's a small road on the left going to the visitor centre. The little bit of woodland around the car park is worth checking out for the usual suspects. In Winter you'll probably find siskins amongst the finch flocks and you might find lesser redpolls. From here there are a couple of paths through open pasture land that will eventually take you into Littleborough.

Looking North from Rakewood Road

Returning back to the lake, a little bit further up Rakewood Road there's a small lane on the right. Go down here, passing the play area, this skirts the south bank of the lake. The lake is pretty much hidden by wet woodland for the first hundred yards or so. The path then loops round, keep an eye out on your right hand side here for the short path to the hide. This overlooks a shallow pool separated from the larger part of the lake by a thin spit. This can be a good area for waders.

A common sandpiper.
The unusually thick base to its bill was the result of its struggling with the hard, thick mud of the 2018 drought.

Grey wagtail

The trees thin out as you carry on down the lane to the café, giving you another chance to check out any waterbirds on the lake. Following round the lake margin the next landmark is the outdoor activity centre. It's worth checking the pontoons here to see if the usual lapwings have any company. The rest of your journey is a meander round the edge of the lake, taking you back to the bottom of Smithybridge Road and Lake Bank.

Hollingworth Lake