BCV: The Show Goes On

Three Tasks in June 2024

Between Rick Parker’s passing and his funeral we had three tasks. Although we no longer have Rick leading the group our work continues; nature doesn’t stop and neither do we.

2nd June – Moses Gate Country Park
After a 30 second silence in memory of Rick (chosen because 30 seconds is the longest he could go without talking), we got to work clearing Himalayan balsam from the woods around Rock Hall. I won’t go into details about balsam bashing but if you want to know more about it follow this link to the beginners guide.

16th June – Grimeford Village
Our second task of the month was just down the road from the Anderton Centre and involved dry stone walling for United Utilities. The wall wasn’t just in disrepair it was a pile of rubble. We re-built a good stretch of it but still plenty left. Walls have both landscape value and wildlife value; they are a part of the character of the countryside plus they provide corridors and refuges for invertebrates, amphibians, small mammals, and even small birds.

30th June – Dunscar Woods
The Woodland Trusts millennium woodland has a balsam problem. Last year we cleared vast areas of woodland of this invasive non-native plant but this year it’s back again. It will take a few more years before we exhaust the seed bank and start to see the benefits of our work.

Conservation is not a ‘quick fix and move on’ operation, it’s a long term campaign to improve and maintain habitats, something Rick knew very well and always had in mind when planning tasks. It’s not about this year or next year, or even the next decade, environmental protection needs to seen in terms of centuries until what has been lost has been restored. BCV is proud to be a part of that legacy, we may not get to see the end results of our work but we work towards that end just the same.

Thanks to Tom and Caroline for organising, to everyone who turned out on the tasks above, to all BCV members past, present and future, and to conservationists everywhere working to make a better world.

Rick Parker – A Force of Nature

Updated 09/07/24

On 27th May 2024 Bolton, and the nation as a whole, lost one of it’s legendary sons.

Born on 9th September 1950 Richard ‘Rick’ Parker became interested in conservation after watching a pond being destroyed by a bulldozer when he was a child. After studying at University he went on to work for the Bolton Hospital’s pathology lab to make a living, but his real passion was wildlife and in the 1980’s he joined the fledgling Bolton Conservation Volunteers, becoming the group’s co-ordinator/chairman in 1985/1986, a role he held until his passing. For anyone to lead a volunteer group for 38 years is an outstanding achievement, but to do it with the same commitment and passion throughout that time is extraordinary, and is what made Rick such a legendary figure.

Rick took BCV to new heights of success creating hundreds of ponds, establishing reed beds, and planting tens of thousands of trees throughout his leadership. Along the way both Rick and BCV won multiple awards, Bolton Councils Golden Elephant Award, Certificate of Merit from Britain in Bloom, Bolton News Green Hero Award (twice), The Cabinet Office’s Points of Light Award, to name a few. Rick was an acknowledge expert on amphibians and dragonflies and not only has gave lectures to the great and learned he also appeared on the radio, wand wrote chapters for books. Rick was a great communicator and could talk conservation all day to people of all ages and backgrounds, inspiring new generations of conservationists who themselves have gone on to their own successful careers.

After retiring from the hospital’s path lab he started a new career as a freelance hedge layer and in 2008 was the first National Hedge Laying Society Accredited hedge layer in Greater Manchester. But the work he was most proud of and enjoyed the most was teaching Bolton’s school kids about nature and wildlife. Even while in hospital he said he was looking forward to getting back to teaching the year 4 kids.

Over the last few months Rick hadn’t been in the best of health and on 24th May was admitted to hospital for tests. Throughout the 25th several of our volunteers spoke to him and he appeared to be in good health and good spirits, asking about the swans on Doffcocker Lodge, cygnets at Eatock lodge and upcoming tasks. That evening he went to sleep and during the night suffered a catastrophic stroke, he remained unconscious until he passed away peacefully on Monday 27th May.

To say Rick will be missed is an understatement, our world will never be the same. Rick was the bedrock of Bolton Conservation Volunteers, he was the cornerstone of Bolton’s conservation community. Rick was a force of nature, and a force for nature. We’ll miss his old jokes, his tall stories, and his ‘Rickisms’, most of all we’ll miss his energy and enthusiasm. Although he’s gone BCV will continue his legacy, and his immortal spirit will remain at the heart of BCVs goals and aspirations.

Rick was laid to rest at West Pennine Remembrance Park on a fine and sunny 8th July 2024, the service was attended by nearly 100 people many wearing BCV T-shirts. The attendees included Rick’s family, friends, BCV members from the early years to the present, members of The Wildlife Trust, Rick’s friends from the allotments, and many others all came to pay tribute. The were 7 tributes read out by Rick’s family and friends, including the poem below written by Carol’s son, read by Carol

Perspective Of An Element
I am a tree, as an acorn I fell onto the floor of an unknown forest, I sprouted.
I grew and grew, over the ages, over time immemorial. I am now a mighty oak,
A testament to my resilience and longevity. Birds nest in my branches, squirrels live in my trunk.
I am a giver of life, part of the cycle, and there I will remain for evermore.

Richard J. Astley

After the service we all retired to the Strawbury Duck to tell tales of Rick’s life and remember everything he was and everything he gave us . Rest in peace, Rick, and thank you for everything. Thank you to everyone who attended to celebrate Rick’s life, and his passion for wildlife.

Please feel free to leave comments, comments go through a moderation process so won’t appear instantly, I’ll try to approve in the mornings and evenings. If you don’t have access please email comments to bcv.queries@hotmail.com and I’ll add them. May thanks in advance.

In addition to photos and messages on this page the Bolton and Bury Swifts group have also posted a tribute. and the Friends of Eatock also posted this. Thanks everyone.

BCV News

May 27th 2026 – Rick in hospital

As some of you know Rick Parker has been unwell for the last few months and recently has been experiencing tiredness and anaemia and was admitted to Bolton Hospital for tests on 25th May. On 26th May Rick passed away following a stroke, Rick’s family was by his side. More information can be found HERE

February 2024 – Neil Harris

Some sad news for 2024; Neil Harris has passed away after a long fight with cancer. Many of our current members won’t know Neil, but he was responsible for planning and leading many of the great and memorable walks we had when the BCV waling group was still running. Neil was the devoted partner of long time BCV volunteer Trish Calderbank, and was always there for her for many years. All our love and best wishes to Trish along with our heartfelt condolences; your loss is our loss.

August 2022 – 20+ Not Out

Well done to Rick, Francis, Claire, Neil, Carol, Lynn, Colin, Elaine, and John on being recognised for 20+ years of volunteering with BCV. The achievement was marked by a bit of a do on the 13th August at the Sweet Green Tavern in Bolton attended by around 50 friends and well wishers. The awards for the troops were handed out by Rick and Rick’s award being handed out by Francis. There was a buffet, drinks, and karaoke (for those who like that kind of thing), bunting and other stuff. Many thanks to Francis for sorting out the awards themselves (a picture of one attached but with the name removed to avoid favouritism), Caroline for organising the food, Tom for ferrying stuff, and to everyone who attended. A special thanks to our Officer for Fun, Jane, for putting it all together. Two thumbs up.

April 2022 – Community Hero 2022

Congratulations to Rick on winning the Bolton News Community Heroes award’s environment category. This is not the first award Rick has won, over the years he has been awarded Bolton Council’s Golden Elephant Award, Bolton News Green Hero Award, and The Cabinet Office’s Points of Light Award. Find out more at Community Heroes 2022.

June 2021 – Fan Pit Cottages

We had an email from Anne at Fan Pit Cottages, I’ve shortened it slightly but the full version has been sent to Rick.

Just wanted to update you about my little project to attract more wildlife to our area. You might remember laying a hedge and clearing some of the land adjacent to our house at Fan Pit cottages. We were fighting a battle with Japanese Knotweed, which we have almost won!

In 2015 you created a pond for us, which has been very successful, attracting newts and toads almost immediately. Unfortunately this year a pair of mallards have decided to trash it, ripping weed out and feeding on the occupants of the pond, so I have covered it. I would love to create more ponds! We have planted a variety of trees, wild cherry and Rowan, with a few others. Sadly some of our mature trees have been affected by ash die back, so I did quite a lot of research to find trees that were suited to our clay soil and resistant to diseases.

We have a lot of marsh orchids this year and I am slowly adding more wild plants that survive the conditions. We still have hares living near the big pond, at the bottom of the field and deer have been spotted there too. Please pass on our good wishes to Rick and all the volunteers who remember coming to us. I can’t thank you enough for all your help and wish you could come again. Kindest Regards, Anne.

Doffcocker Lodge: The Magic Pond

Pond Restoration 19/05/24

Ponds are magical places, places where the mortal and spirit worlds meet, where strange things happen and nature can see its own dark reflection mirrored the water’s shifting surface. But even with all this supernatural power we still couldn’t get water to run up hill.

Our task was to re-fill a pond by digging a channel from a nearby stream but it it didn’t quite go according to plan. We dug the channel and it filled with water and flowed towards the intended pond but halfway there it decided it had better things to do and went towards a different pond. There was only a slight difference in height between the ponds but it was enough to make a difference. Anyway, it wasn’t the only job we did today, we also cut back some branches, made a linear habitat pile and took down some balsam.

You canna break the laws of physics, Captain.

And now some photos with obscure captions. More pond stories here.

Moses Gate: Parting The Waters

23rd May 2021 – 5th May 2024 Reedbed Management

Reedbeds are a disappearing habitat in the UK, there are only 900 sites around the country and only around 50 are greater than 20 hectares. Many reedbeds have been lost to agriculture either through drainage or pollution, and climate change is now posing a threat to coastal sites as sea levels rise. But all is not lost, there has been a resurgence of interest in reedbeds in recent years as sources of biofuel, water treatment, and as an alternative source of compost.

BCV has been planting reedbeds since its early years, and for us it’s about wildlife. Reedbeds can support over 700 species from invertebrates to bittern, many of these species can be found nowhere else and are dependent on reedbeds for their survival. While urban environments don’t make ideal sites for large reedbeds small ones can still be very valuable to birds such as reed warbler and reed bunting.

23rd May – Today’s task was to continue the work started last year when we diverted a stream to re-wet an area to the north of the park, see the Hidden in the Reeds post for more info. Before we can plant any reeds we first need to create an area of open water, this we did by clearing the willow and creating a dam. The line of the dam was marked out by stakes and tree trunks, other trunks were cut into logs and driven down into the mud to create a palisade, gaps were filled in with mud. Once the dam was built we dug a channel to redirect the pooled water to another area. It was a bit of a learning experience and we were making it up as we went along but it turned out to be pretty effective. Additional dams will be needed to further manage water levels, then we can start planting. More info on creating phragmites reedbeds can be found in the download below (click the link to view or button to download), photos of today’s work can be found below that. Today’s task was funded by Bolton Council’s Climate Change Fund.

30th May – A week later we returned to the reedbed. The dam was still working, although the overall water levels has dropped a bit it was still retaining water as planned. The next step was to establish the reedbed itself. After moving some of the previous week’s brash out of the way we tried 2 techniques of reedbed creation. The first was to dig up some of the reed’s rhizomes from another area and plant them in the soft mud behind the dam. This is usually the most successful way of creating a new reedbed. The second technique was to use cuttings which we gathered from an established reedbed and push them into the mud. Although a bit early in the year for trying this it was worth a try, if the weather stays warm it has a good chance of working. More info on reedbed creation can be found in the download further down the page.

5th May 2024 – Moving on a couple of years and were back again, May 5th 2024. The dam continues to work but not as well as it could, even though last year we cut numerous channels to move water to other parts of the site. So this year we continued that work. We cut additional channels to re-wet the areas further away from the dam and used the mud to shore up the the dam itself and make it water tight. By the time we left it pond behind the dam was pooling up nicely. Well done to everyone; special thanks to Jayne from Banana Enterprises and Rock Halls Volunteers.

Photos below are from this task and also the initial 2021 task.

Reedbeds on a Shoestring Download

Eatock Lodge: Home from Home

Sunday 21st April 2024 – Habitat Management

Before Eatock was a Local Nature reserve it was just an abandoned industrial lodge, that lodge belonged to a colliery, before the colliery there was a farm, and before the farm there were open fields. The first record of the name Eatock in Westhoughton was in 1739, this and architectural evidence, place the building of Eatock’s Farm’s farm house at around the same time. The farm passed through several hands and was originally larger than it was in its final years, however, in 1862 some of the farm’s land was leased by Wigan Coal and Iron and in 1882 construction began on a new colliery. In 1890 Eatock Colliery started producing coal from its 1000 foot deep shafts, the mine continued to operate until 1936 when it finally closed and was then demolished. The closure was partly due to The Coalfields Act 1930 forcing the merger of collieries into larger amalgamated concerns, but also Eatock’s history of flooding and the fractured nature of its coal seams made it too expensive to continue.

At this time Eatock Farm was owned by John Gregory, who also owned nearby Hoskers Farm. In 1944, John Mather Snr, a former shunter driver at Eatock Colliery, purchased the farm from him. With his wife, Annie, their children, John and Jessie, and Annie’s sister Emily, John Snr. ran the farm for dairy, eggs and apples, serving the people of Daisy Hill and Westhoughton until 1973. Over this time the Mather family acted as stewards to the lodge and pit shafts keeping them safe from intruders. But in 1973 Eatock Farm closed after being served with a Compulsory Purchase Order by Manchester Council which had plans to develop the site. Once vacated the buildings were immediately demolished and the land left vacant until 1978, the area was then landscaped and the shafts filled in with the material from the spoil tips. The site was then left again until housing development began in the 1990s.

But the story didn’t end there. Just before the housing development began a team of ecologists, including BCV’s Rick Parker, did a torch-light search for amphibians and found over 1000 breeding toads on the site. This unprecedented find resulted in Eatock Lodge being designated a Site of Biological Importance Grade ‘B’ in 2000, and as a Local Nature Reserve in 2004. Eatock Lodge LNR is now home to toads, swans, heron, hedgehogs, and emperor dragonfly.

John and Annie’s daughter, daughter in-law, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren now live in London, Weymouth, Leigh, Bolton, and Westhoughton, and one even works with BCV. I’ll give you a guess who that is.

Today’s task at Eatock, with members of the Friends of Eatock Lodge group, involved digging drainage channels from the path. The recent wet weather has resulted the paths becoming muddy and difficult to negotiate. Hopefully the channels will help aleviate this. In the afternoon we created a dead hedge to stop people trespassing near the swan’s nest, disturbing the swans and damaging their eggs.

Thanks to Chris and the Friends of Eatock Lodge crew for having over.