Upper and Lower Black Moss Reservoirs are reservoirs close to the village of Barley

Barley, Lancashire

Barley is a village in the borough of Pendle, in Lancashire, England. It is in the parish of Barley-with-Wheatley Booth. The village lies between Black Moss Reservoirs and Lower Ogden Reservoir....

, in the Borough of Pendle

Pendle

Pendle is a local government district and borough of Lancashire, England. It adjoins the Lancashire boroughs of Burnley and Ribble Valley, the North Yorkshire district of Craven and the West Yorkshire districts of Calderdale and the City of Bradford...

, close to the market town

Market town

Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

 of Burnley

Burnley

Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. They should not be confused with Black Moss Reservoir in Oldham

Oldham

Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...

, Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

. The reservoirs provide drinking water to Nelson

Nelson, Lancashire

Nelson is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, with a population of 28,998 in 2001. It lies 4 miles north of Burnley on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal....

 when needed.

Ornithology

During the winter different species of wildfowl can be seen. These include:

• Mallard
  Mallard
  The Mallard , or Wild Duck , is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia....
  
   (Anas platyrhynchos)
• Tufted Duck
  Tufted Duck
  The Tufted Duck, Aythya fuligula, is a medium-sized diving duck with a population of close to one million birds.- Description :The adult male is all black except for white flanks and a blue-grey bill. It has an obvious head tuft that gives the species its name.The adult female is brown with paler...
  
   (Aythya fuligula)
• Common Goldeneye
  Common Goldeneye
  The Common Goldeneye is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes. Their closest relative is the similar Barrow's Goldeneye....
  
   (Bucephala clangula)
• Goosander (Mergus merganser)
• Common Pochard (Aythya ferina)
• Common Teal
  Common Teal
  The Eurasian Teal or Common Teal is a common and widespread duck which breeds in temperate Eurasia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian Teal is often called simply the Teal due to being the only one of these small dabbling ducks in much of its range...
  
   (Anas crecca).

During the summer the number of ducks declines. These are largely replaced by wading birds such as:

• Northern Lapwing
  Northern Lapwing
  The Northern Lapwing , also known as the Peewit, Green Plover or just Lapwing, is a bird in the plover family. It is common through temperate Eurasia....
  
   (Vanellus vanellus)
• Eurasian Curlew
  Eurasian Curlew
  The Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia...
  
   (Numenius arquata)
• Common Redshank
  Common Redshank
  The Common Redshank or simply Redshank is an Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae.- Description and systematics :...
  
   (Tringa totanus)

Other birds seen at the reservoir include:

• Linnet
  Linnet
  The Linnet is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.The Linnet derives its scientific name from its fondness for hemp and its English name from its liking for seeds of flax, from which linen is made.- Description :...
  
   (Carduelis cannabina)
• Common Stonechat
  Common Stonechat
  Common Stonechat is the name used for the Saxicola species Saxicola torquatus when this is treated in its broad sense.It is however now more widely considered to be a superspecies consisting of several related but distinct species, which are outwardly fairly similar but genetically distinct and...
  
   (Saxicola torquatus)
• Skylark
  Skylark
  The Skylark is a small passerine bird species. This lark breeds across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations are more migratory, moving further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range,...
  
   (Alauda arvensis)
• Common Sandpiper
  Common Sandpiper
  The Common Sandpiper is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the Spotted Sandpiper , make up the genus Actitis. They are parapatric and replace each other geographically; stray birds of either species may settle down with breeders of the other and hybridize...
  
   (Actitis hypoleucos)
• Reed Bunting
  Reed Bunting
  The Reed Bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae....
  
  (Emberiza schoeniclus)