English
Walking along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal with your dog can be a bracing experience depending on the weather. The canal is raised in this area offering lots of extended views across Abram Flash and the next-door Lightshaw Meadows. The canal also offers some excellent exercise for dogs that love to swim.
The 7.3 hectare Abram Flash consists of a mosaic of habitats including mossland, wet grassland, reedbed, fen and open water, and forms part of the Wigan Flashes. The site is of particular interest for breeding waterfowl including mute swan, mallard, tufted duck, pochard, garganey, shoveler, gadwall and ruddy duck. Yellow wagtails and waders, such as lapwing, snipe and redshank, breed in the wet grassland, itself a nationally declining habitat. Characteristic birds of swamp and fen, such as reed bunting, reed warbler and sedge warbler, are also present.
The site is also locally important for wintering waterfowl which use the whole Wigan Flashes complex, and can provide valuable feeding and roosting habitat for migrant waders such as greenshank, ruff and dunlin. Water voles are also known to occur on site. Abram Flash links Wigan Flashes to Lightshaw Meadows and, further along, Pennington Flash, all part of the Wigan Greenheart – an amazing walk for you and the dog.
You can find this fantastic location also on the Bauwow App under the section “my areas”. Click on “direction to here” to see how to get there. Set up walkies dates with your packl members by clicking on the clock icon on the top right corner and let your friends know when you will be there!
Owned by Lancashire Wildlife Trust
Copy by Alan Wright
Email mchampion@lancswt.org.uk
Phone 01942 233976