Colliers Wood to receive official reserve status
Woodland on the site of a former mine in Nottinghamshire is set to become an official nature reserve.
Colliers Wood is the third reserve in 2012 to be awarded the status by Broxtowe Borough Council, after Watnall Green and Watnall Spinney.
It will bring the total to 13 in the borough, which cover an area of 260 acres (105 hectares).
Volunteers met with council officials at the site on Saturday to mark the occasion.
The wood was once the site of Moorgreen Colliery - opened by Barber, Walker and Company in 1865.
Coal production started in 1871 and, at its height in the 1960s, the colliery produced about one million tonnes of coal per year. It closed in 1985.
The woodland was created through a restoration scheme during 1996 and 1997, and now has a diverse range of habitats including wetlands, grasslands and a large lake.