Saltwells Nature Reserve gets its name from the Victorian brine spas which were once present onsite.

At 250 acres, it is the biggest single managed piece of green space in Dudley Metropolitan Borough and is one of the largest urban nature reserves in Britain. It is 4.2km (2.6 miles) long, stretching from Cinder Bank in Netherton in the north to Quarry Bank High Street in the south.

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Saltwells won the first UNESCO UK Man and the Biosphere Urban Wildlife Award for Excellence in 1992 and remains only one of 25 sites to be given this award to date.

It contains two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), a Scheduled Ancient Monument and ancient woodland alongside grassland, canals, a reservoir, pools, brooks and patches of marshland and reed bed, providing a diversity of habitats for plants and animals.

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The Friends of Saltwells Nature Reserve was established in March 2019, following a successful community campaign to protect an area of land surrounded by the nature reserve from development.

We are a voluntary group consisting of members of the public who wish to preserve and enhance the nature reserve for the benefit of the local community and all who use it, working alongside the wardens of the reserve.

 

See more information in the sections on the geology, ecology and history of the reserve.

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                              Click on the PDF to download a map and information of

                               the self-guided trails around Saltwells Nature Reserve.

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