Valley Wetlands

Address: RSPB Valley Wetlands, Holyhead LL65 3NA

Grid ref: SH313765

The Valley Wetlands, formerly known as Valley Lakes, is a wonderful nature reserve in Anglesey which gives you the opportunity to see wildfowl all year round. Look out for tufted ducks, pochards, shovelers, gadwalls and grebes around its reed-fringed lakes when you visit.

Plan your visit

Open at all times.

Free entrance to RSPB members: Yes

Adults: Free, but donations are very welcome.

Children: Free, but donations are very welcome.

Car park cost: Free

Facilities

No visitor centre
Car park
Toilets off-site
Accessible toilets off-site
No Refreshments
Viewing point
Nature trails
Shop off-site

Accessibility

How to get here

By train

Valley train station is 3 miles from the reserve. From here connecting bus services 4 and X4 pass the reserve entrance.

By bus

Bus services 4 and X4 pass the reserve entrance.

By road

Follow directions for RAF Valley. Continue through a small village; the road will drop down a small hill and you will see a lake on the right-hand side. Carry on alongside the lake and reedbeds; the road will kink to the right and just as you are past the lake the entrance to the reserve car park is on the right-hand side.

Sat nav POI file: If you have a satellite navigation system that can accept POI files, please see our POI page for a download link and instructions.

Other ways to get there

The reserve is also served by Anglesey Airport, 0.25 miles from the entrance.

Get directions from Google Maps

RSPB reserves on Google Earth

14 degrees, Sunny day

Contact Valley Wetlands

RSPB Valley Wetlands, Holyhead LL65 3NA
ian.sims@rspb.org.uk
01248 421100

What will you see?

Our star species

Pochard

The pochard is a stocky diving duck, smaller than a mallard.

Shoveler

Look out for shovelers at the reserve in autumn and winter months.

Bittern

If you're lucky you may hear the booming of bitterns in spring.

Reed warbler

Reed warblers can be seen here in spring.

Cetti's warbler

It usually makes its presence known with loud bursts of song and the first glimpse will probably be of a dark, rather stocky warbler with short wings and a full, rounded tail, diving for cover.

The reedbeds come alive with reed and sedge warblers and you may be lucky to hear a booming bittern. Keep an eye out on the lake for the spectacular courtship display of the great-crested grebes which breed here.

The wealth of wetland plants are at their height, dragonflies and damselflies are busy, and you may spot young grebes, ducks and coots being fed.

The bird numbers are swollen by migrants and the lakes can sometimes host hundreds of wildfowl including shoveler, tufted duck, goldeneye and wigeon.

About Valley Wetlands

Habitat

Valley Wetlands includes two SSSIs, designated for the important open water and aquatic plant communities. With more than 20ha of reed, it holds one of the most important reedbeds in Wales, which with the surrounding marshes are home to a rich variety of wetland birds, plants and invertebrates. The wetlands are interspersed with grasslands and rocky knolls so there can be tremendous variety of habitats even within a few metres.

Conservation

The reserve is primarily managed for breeding bittern and other reedbed wildlife. Over the years a programme of ditch & pool creation, reed planting and management, scrub clearance and water level control has helped to enhance the wetland ecosystem. This work has also benefitted the breeding and wintering wildfowl which enjoy the wetlands.

The lakes hold nationally important communities of aquatic plants, but which have been threatened by poor water quality, especially in Llyn Penrhyn. Joint work by RSPB, the MoD. Natural Resources Wales is investigating, monitoring and tackling the issue and in the past few years plants not seen in the lake since the 1960s have been re-found.

Site information

The reserve is adjacent to RAF Valley and can be very noisy when the aircraft are active.