High Rid Reservoir

Sketch map: High Rid Reservoir

High Rid Reservoir

High Rid Reservoir is a pocket handkerchief of a Pennine reservoir on the outskirts of Horwich. It's a place I've only recently started exploring.

There are plenty of buses along Chorley New Road, the 575 between Bolton Bus Station to Wigan Bus Station are roughly every ten minutes. The bus from Bolton stops at the Ox Hey Lane stop, the bus from Wigan at the Cambridge Road stop. There's a car wash at the corner of Fall Birch Road which is a short walk up to the reservoir. The trees lining the right-hand side of the round to hide the golf course get progressively thicker as you walk up the road.

Fall Birch Road becomes High Rid Lane at the sign saying the road's unsuitable for vehicles (though I reckon the lads from "Top Gear" could take it at eighty in a Lamborghini). Once past High Rid Farm you get nice views of the fields rising up towards Winter Hill.

The entrance to the reservoir is a little wooden gate at the corner. Once you step down and through the path around the reservoir is pretty good though it gets a bit muddy in wet weather.

Little gull and black-headed gull

Canada geese, mallards, tufted ducks, dabchicks and black-headed gulls are the regulars. Goosander, scaup, common scoters, goldeneyes and black-necked grebes sometimes drop in for a few days. In the Summer large flocks of swifts and hirundines hawk over the water.

Tufted ducks

Common, Arctic and black terns visit on passage. Every so often something different turns up.

Little gull

Don't forget to have a look to see what's going on in the fields around the reservoir. There's the usual compliment of wood pigeons, jackdaws and rooks and plenty of meadow pipits. Where there's Pennine pipits there's always the possibility of a merlin. The trees and bushes by the reservoir attract warblers in the Summer. There's also a small pond in the field near the gate that's worth checking for dragonflies.

Fields north of High Rid Reservoir

Grey and pied wagtails are regulars, you might find yellow or white wagtails on passage.

Grey wagtail

Pied wagtails

High Rid Lane, walking back to the main road

All in all a nice hour-and-a-bit's slow walk round.