Although I have been visiting the reserve for many years I have never ventured up onto the top of the hill overlooking the reserve. During 2015 a lot of work was done to establish a footpath across the top of the reserve which now links up with Arrow Lane and the Lin Dike Hide.

Anyway, along with my two small pups we decided to go and explore this trail. We followed the track from the ‘Kingfisher screen’, it is a gentle stroll up the hill to the gate at the top. There are some great views looking over the ‘Big hole’ on the right and the River Aire ahead of you. Continuing along the track, it bears right slightly and heads down towards the river, staying on this track at the totem pole marker head right and follow the path slightly up hill, there are some great views all around, but wrap up warm as on our visit it was extremely cold and windy (mid March 2016). As we approached the top of the hill I was pleasantly surprised to see three larger lakes on the left. Continuing along the path there are some good views overlooking the ‘Pick up’ hide on the right, we had a short break and sat on one of the benches to take in the beautiful views, it felt quite strange seeing the ‘Pick up’ hide from a different angle, it certainly puts everything into perspective. We continued along this track keeping the three lakes on our left, walking around the lakes we had clear views of ‘the Moat’ and ‘Spoonbill Flash’ and ‘New Flash’ on the right, we met up with the trail which takes you down the slope to Arrow Lane, we didn’t take this track but continued left around the lakes and headed back to the totem pole marker on the River Bank trail from there we retraced our tracks back to the ‘Kingfisher Screen’ and finally the visitors centre.

A great walk, some lovely views of the reserve and one worth doing again.