Oakhill Nature Reserve

A 150-acre mosaic of ponds, meadows, woodland and wetland on the edge of Goole — former railway land reclaimed by nature and now one of Yorkshire's best places to see dragonflies.

Until the early 1970s this was working railway land: a network of sidings, shunting yards and engine sheds carrying coal to Goole docks, alongside a brickworks — the Brick Ponds were dug at the end of the 19th century for clay by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company. The Selby branch joined the main line at Oakhill Junction, and the sites of the engine sheds and old sidings can still be traced within the reserve, whose name comes from Oaks Hill Farm. Over the past half-century nature has reclaimed the site, and a recent £300,000 Goole Town Deal upgrade added new paths and the 'Tommy Pudding' sculpture trail celebrating the site's coal-barge heritage.

Oakhill's restored ponds and scrapes form one of the best dragonfly sites in Yorkshire, with more than 20 species recorded, and a series of five ponds created for them along the northern path. The reedbeds, wetlands and grassland support kingfishers, water voles, great crested newts and nationally threatened willow tits, with over 200 plant and wildflower species recorded. The reserve is managed by East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Countryside Access Team together with the volunteer Friends of Oakhill, who run guided walks, wildlife events and habitat workdays.