A former open-cast coal mine north of Tranent on the north-east side of the A1, just east of the Prestonpans/Tranent junction, adjacent to the estates of the Earl of Wemyss and March. As of plans in 2010 it was intended that the Blindwells settlement will initially consist of around 1,600 houses, and is part of East Lothian's planned 4,800 house total.[1]
Proposed settlement
The settlement was to include its own community centre, pre-school facility, primary and secondary schools and commercial aspects. Though the planned 1,600 houses implies a smaller development than the Scottish New Towns created in the sixties, this could be expanded to accommodate another 2,500 to 3,000 houses in the future, for which a total of 130 hectares were earmarked.[2]
Older maps also show a cluster of buildings at Riggonhead, on the bank to the south-east of the main pond, at NT416752, but all that remained were earth mounds which were frequently used by scrambler bikes.
In preparation for the new town development a series of man-made earth embankments were constructed in 2009 for the purpose of settlement tests, i.e. to demonstrate that the site is stable enough to be built on.[3]
By October 2023 150 houses were completed and occuppied, with 5 housing companies active, or about to commence building, on the site and plans for a new town centre had been submitted for approval.[4] Work on the new primary school started in 2024 and it is due for completion in the Spring of 2025.[5]
Note: the main pond, a precious habitat for the above species, was completely eliminated in its existing form in the early phases of developments for the new settlement in the fourth week of August 2018, ending one of the best wildlife sites in the local area. The subsequent year has seen much expansion of the earthworks on the site, with the remaining smaller pool (to the east end of the area occupied by the former "natural" pool) still attracting many gulls, and also occasionally small numbers of wildfowl and waders, but it is now entirely "artificial" in nature.
Minewater treatment scheme
The Minewater Treatment Scheme at Blindwells, soon after it was first established (3/4/11)Blindwells MTS, view to NE (photo dated 3 April 2011)
A reed bed treatment scheme for minewater, covering an area of 2.5ha, has been constructed to the east of the natural pond at Blindwells. It consists of a 30m long precast concrete cascade, 1.2m deep conditioning zone and 3 N° reed beds with associated inlet and outlet structures. The reed bed levels have been designed to give a gravity flow through the system and also a piped bypass system.[13] The photos here were taken in April 2009 when the reedbeds had only just begun to develop; by summer 2012 there was no sign of open water as dense vegetation was covering each of the pools. Reed harvest commenced spring 2015.[14]
Dinton Pastures Country Park is a country park in the civil parish of St Nicholas Hurst, in the borough of Wokingham, near Reading in the English county of Berkshire.
The boreal forest or taiga of the North American continent stretches through a majority of Canada and most of central Alaska, extending spottily into the beginning of the Rocky Mountain range in Northern Montana and into New England and the Adirondack Mountains of New York. This habitat extends as far north as the tree line and discontinues in mixed deciduous-coniferous forests to the south. The "taiga", as it is called there, of Eurasia occupies a similar range on those continents. Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the boreal forest covers 2.3 million square miles, a larger area than the remaining Brazilian Amazon rain forest. Although it is largely forest, the boreal forests include a network of lakes, river valleys, wetlands, peat lands and semi-open tundra.
Shollenberger Park is a 165-acre (0.67 km2) wetland park located in Petaluma, California. Together with the 80-acre (320,000 m2) Alman Marsh, and 260-acre (1.1 km2) Ellis Creek which opened to the public in July 2009, a total of 505 acres (2.04 km2) are accessible to the public. The entirety is referred to as the "Petaluma Wetlands".
Housing more than 200 resident and wintering bird species, Chennai has long been a haven for bird watchers. It is one of the few urban areas in India with diverse range of birds including greater flamingo, black baza, osprey, Indian eagle-owl, Coppersmith barbet, Spot billed pelican and pied avocet can be seen. The following are some known birding hotspots in and around Chennai.
Portrack Marsh Nature Reserve is a 50 acres (20 ha) reserve by the northern bank of the River Tees between the Tees Barrage and the Tees Viaduct, near Portrack housing estate in Stockton-on-Tees borough, County Durham. It is the last remaining wetland on the lower Tees. The site is bounded by Marston Road, a disused railway line, the Northumbrian Water's waste water treatment site, the River Tees, the Tees Barrage White Water Course, the grounds of The Talpore pub and a Tees Barrage access road.
Englemere Pond is a 26.1-hectare (64-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the southern outskirts of North Ascot in Berkshire. The site is also a Local Nature Reserve. It is owned by the Crown Estate and managed by Bracknell Forest Borough Council.
Wraysbury and Hythe End Gravel Pits is a 117.2-hectare (290-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wraysbury in Berkshire. It is part of South West London Waterbodies Ramsar site and Special Protection Area.
Lavells Lake is a 12.5-hectare (31-acre) Local Nature Reserve on the outskirts of Woodley, a suburb of Reading in Berkshire. It is owned by Wokingham District Council and managed by the council and The Friends of Lavell's Lake. The nature reserve is part of Dinton Pastures Country Park.
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