Rock Hall, Moses Gate Country Park, 6th March 2022

Bit of a short one this one. We were last here in September 2021, seems like an age ago now, and we were rescuing an innocent young orchard from the evil clutches of wicked old bramble, see here if you don’t remember.

The job was continued, and largely finished, by the Wildlife Trust and the Rock Hall volunteers so today we were just finishing off by cutting back over hanging branches from the surrounding trees, digging up the bramble roots so that the dreaded menace will never return again, building a dead hedge barrier around the orchard, and planting a few new fruit trees. One of these trees was descended from the cheeky beast that allegedly dropped an apple on Sir Isaac Newton’s head, inspiring him to both write up his theory of gravity, and also to not to eat his lunch underneath trees ever again.

Thanks to all involved.

Disclaimer: no fruits were bruised, or scientific discoveries made, during the course of this task. Any similarities between this and other tasks are co-incidental, and gravity will continue to work whether you believe in it or not.

Banana Enterprises’ Restoration of Rock Hall, Moses Gate Country Park

Updated 29th September Skip to updated task report

Rock Hall was built in 1807 by Bolton’s premier industrialist’s the Cromptons whose paper mill, one of the earliest in Lancashire, already stood on the site. The paper mill closed in 1883 and reopened in 1894 as a bleach and dye works but was soon abandoned. The mill was demolished in 1972 and the site was turned over to recreation. Rock Hall itself was used for many years as the base for the Croal Irwell Ranger Service until cut backs forced it to close in 2014. Since then the Hall has fallen into disrepair.

In January 2021 Bolton Council gave Banana Enterprises the key to Rock Hall to renovate and expand it for use by the local community and as a training centre. Click the link to find out more about Banana Enterprises and the work they do. Bolton Conservation Volunteers have signed up to Banana Enterprises to improve the site for wildlife and nature. BCV’s journey on this project will be documented on this post over the coming months.

Tasks

26th September 2021 – How Do You Like Them Apples, Adam?
Our fairy tale romance with Banana Enterprises continues with the restoration of an orchard. The orchard had become overgrown with brambles to the point were you would expect to find Sleeping Beauty’s castle in the middle of it. Anyway, ridicule being nothing to be scared of our Prince Charmings started a-hackin’ and a-slashin’ while our Princess Charmings shook their heads at their silliness before showing the chaps how to do it without the song and dance. The orchard was planted many years ago with heritage varieties of apple and pear, then abandoned. The restoration will take several sessions and involve BCV, the Rock Hall Volunteers, and the Wildlife Trust. Subtle conservation follows, must be something outside.

Skip to photos if you don’t want to read about previous task.

1st August 2021 – Flower Terrace
Our final group task with Banana Enterprises and the Rock Hall volunteers was to restore the flower beds to the side od Rock Hall. These beds are arranged in terraces and in their prime would have looked magnificent, but today all we have is grass. So, today’s task was to dig out the grass and plant up the terraces. Thanks to Paul T for today’s photos.

Sadly in August 2021, days after the above task, Rock Hall was vandalised by idiots with no appreciation of their local history or the needs of their local community. Hopefully Banana Enterprises good work will continue and the Rock Hall Project will rise above the small minded irresponsibility of a handful of morons, and continue to benefit the real people of Bolton. Best wishes to Jayne and the Rock Hall volunteers.

Skip to photos if you don’t want to read about previous task.

11th July 2021 – Banana Balsam Bash
The Victorians loved exotic species, they loved them so much that they brought many of them back home from all corners of the Empire. The problem was that many of these species had no natural controls and if they escaped in to the wild would spread uncontrolled. One of these species was Impatiens balsamifera or Himalayan Balsam. Balsam will grow anywhere damp, out competing and shading out many native species, attracting bees and other pollinators to itself in preference to other flowers.

As it is edible the perfect solution would be to eat it out of existence, or persuade herds of goats to do the job for us, but instead we have volunteers to beat it with weed whackers and pull it up by hand. Ideally it needs to be cut just above the root, below the first node, or pulled up an hung out to dry, get it wrong and the balsam turns zombie and comes back to life. We have managed to clear other sites of balsam but it is a long job.. so we may be here a while. On the plus you get plenty of exercise.

Skip to photos if you don’t want to read about previous task.

23rd & 30th May 2021 – Banana Flower Beds
Our first job at Rock Hall was to clear out the old flower beds that had become overgrown with weeds and bramble. The job was done by both BCV and Rock Hall volunteers, including Banana Enterprises founder Jayne Allman. The week after the team returned to plant up the beds with a mix of wild flowers. When in bloom they’ll provide a nectar source for a range of pollinating species from bees to moths.

Photos

Sunday 25th July 2021, Doffcocker Lodge LNR, Bolton – Access Work

Doffcocker Lodge was built in 1874 as a water source for local mills, as the mills disappeared the lodge fell into disuse until it was renovated in 1980. In 1992 the lodge became Bolton’s first Local Nature Reserved and remained as it’s only LNR until 2000.

The site has hosted a wide range of bird species over the years including water rail, kingfisher, oystercatcher, common tern, tawny owl, and an occasional stop over by bittern. Historically the site has also had water vole, palmate newt, pipistrelle bats, and various damselflies.

BCV has worked on the site for around 30 years and was responsible for the planting of the first reed beds. We’ve also carried out out coppicing work, tree planting and created nesting habitat for tern, swans, and kingfisher. Recently we were given access to the site’s management plan and authorisation to carry out any work that the site requires. One of those jobs is keeping the paths clear of vegetation.

Balsam and bramble were making some on the paths impassable so our team of expert volunteers spent the day cutting back vegetation by about a metre on either side of the path. Although not proper conservation it does allow people to get around the the site and enjoy it. If people enjoy visiting then they may want to help look after it and keep it healthy which will benefit both wildlife and visitors.

Thanks to Paul T for the photos.

Prestolee 25th October 2020

Updated 19/02/21

Prestolee Pocket Park, or Stoneclough Community Woodland to its friends, is a small patch of land between a housing estate, Trinity Church, and Prestolee Primary School that had been forgotten and ignored for years. That was until the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Society (MBBCS) decided to do something with it.

Their goal was to create a green space for use by the local community, school, church and groups for events, community food growing, and other great stuff.

Raising additional cash from Kearsley Area Forum, Bolton at Home, Prestolee Academy Trust and central government funding the MBBCS approached numerous volunteer to groups to help with the heavy lifting.

In 2019 BCV began the work of constructing dead hedges and removing brash and trash from the site, this year we continue with some new plantings.

This task was supposed to have been part of our Halloween fun task but nobody (dead or alive) wore their hats. Maybe the hats were socially distancing. See the Halloween Hall of Horrors for how things used to be including Tom’s team at Moses Gate this year.

22nd November 2020

This is our last visit to Prestolee Pocket Park for this year. Autumn and winter are the best times for tidying up woodlands as birds have finished nesting and most of the leaves are off the trees. Most of today’s work involved cutting branches that were overhanging the footpath or were unsafe. We also cleared the paths of fallen leaves and trimmed back the hedges to improve access.

Although not the best of conservation tasks it was still good to get out and do something positive. 12 photos below, the last 6 are from today.