About the reserve
Brockadale is a Nature Reserve of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and lies between the villages of Wentbridge and the Smeatons just to the east of the A1, 10 miles north of Doncaster.
Its name derives from 'broken dale', aptly describing the craggy outcrops of limestone which dominate parts of the reserve. Many of the steep-sided slopes are covered in semi-natural woodland, or meadows which have been long unploughed.
Brockadale became a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve in 1966, but with several extensions is now about 2km long and covers much of the valley between Wentbridge and the Smeatons. Most of this beautiful reserve is classed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
It has about a dozen species of plants which are rare in this part of the UK, all depending on the Magnesian Limestone rock which underlies the reserve. It also has a tiny snail which is found only in a handful of other places in the UK, and has a spider and a moth which are found nowhere else in Yorkshire
