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.

Gravel Pits South: Disappearing Ponds

De-shading ponds April 7th 2024

The last time we were at this site was in 2018. Back then it was a fairly uneventful task- we came, we saw, we conquered, we went home. This year was a bit different.

Tom’s Land Rover, our version of Thunderbird 2, had a breakdown en route leaving us not only locked out of the site’s car park but also bereft of tools. As you can’t save the planet without tools it was a bit of a problem. Luckily Chris went and found our broken ‘bird and collected as many essentials as he could; Nathan collected the keys to the barrier as well so we did finally get started albeit a bit later than planned.

Setting off with the tools and other kit we journeyed into the wilds of Gravel Pits South, part of Moses Gate Country Park, next door to Darcy Lever Gravel pits. The plan was to de-shade the ponds by removing the surrounding trees, this would let more light get to the pond. But first we had to find the ponds. In the years since our last visit the trees had grown, like they do, hiding them from view. We trudged in the mud looking for ponds, walking past them once or twice before finally finding them totally obscured.

With 19 volunteers we began the job of de-shading. There was a lot of new growth and re-growth which was easy to get through as the stems were quite thin. Everything that was cut down was used to make a dead hedge around the site to deter intruders and off-road motor bikes.

While we were there Rick did a quick pond survey and found great crested newt eggs. If you want to find out more about ponds see ‘Do Ponds Succeed’ and the ponds category.

Thanks to everyone for doing a great job.

Easter Task

Rhododendron removal – Winter Hill 24th March 2024

Easter – the time when we celebrate the invention of chocolate and the four day bank holiday. It’s also the time for the annual BCV Easter Egg Hunt and the traditional ‘losing’ of at least one egg on the task site as an offering to the Easter bunny. But before we get to that bit we had some work to do.

There was a whole lot of hopping going on on Winter Hill, BCV and members of the British Mountaineering Council were back removing rhododendron. For more info on why we hate rhodys read an earlier post through this link.

It was a long hard walk up the hill, carrying mattocks, spades and loppers to boot, but it was a good view once we got to the top, or it would have been if not for the rhododendron scattered everywhere. But that’s why we were there.

As the task was classified as HARD we had no expectations that the day was going to be pleasant jaunt in the hills, no this was one of the the most demanding tasks we’ve done for a while. One volunteer quit the field with a back injury, and one took an hour to make the journey to the work site. The survivors managed to take down a good number of the magenta menace, but still plenty left.

As it’s Easter we had our traditional Easter Egg Hunt, not quite the way we usually do though. Because of the treacherous terrain and lack of anywhere to hide eggs we did a lazy egg hunt. The lazy egg hunt was basically putting the eggs in a pile and making the best of it. Many thanks to Jane for supplying the eggs.

Happy Easter from BCV

Doffcocker: Reeds and Trees

Doffcocker LNR 11th March 2024 – Reedbed Management

Redbeds have been one of the UK’s fastest declining habitats. Historically reeds were used for thatching, which because it was a widespread practice helped to maintain the health and extent of reedbeds, but as slate and other materials replaced reeds the maintenance of the beds lapsed and they began to decline. Some beds are still managed for thatch but it is only on a small scale.

In recent years reedbeds have had a renaissance for both commercial and conservation purposes. Reedbeds are excellent water filters and can be used in sewage treatment, but they only have a lifespan of 5-15 years depending on the effluent load that flows through them. For us the value in reedbeds lies in their importance to conservation.

Reedbeds support around 700 species of invertebrate plus many species of bird, amphibian, mammal and fish; bittern, water rail, reed bunting, reed warbler, water shrew, otter, to name a few. Not all of these are found in Bolton but Doffcocker does have a fine collection of warblers and has been visited by bittern.

Forty years ago BCV planted a few square metres of phragmites rhizomes, today we have one of the largest reedbeds in Greater Manchester, but reedbeds need to be managed to continue to thrive. At Doffcocker willow has been encroaching on the edges of the reedbed. Trees damage reedbeds in a number of ways, they can dry out the boggy areas reeds grow in by sucking up the moisture, and also silt up water bodies by depositing leaf litter. Over time the reeds are driven back and the reedbeds become dominated by willow.

Bolton Conservation Volunteers spent this Sunday removing willow trees to stop the decline of one of Bolton’s most wildlife rich habitats.

For more information on reedbeds and how to create them read the downloadable file below.

Reedbed-creation Download

Anderton Centre: Winter Resi

26-28th January 2024

When we first came to the Anderton Centre on Lower Rivington Reservoir in January 2007 the site was dominated by rhododendron. It took us 4 years to bring Ragnarok to this poison sea of green, using bow saws, mattocks, winches and brute muscle power. Over several years we returned to do other work to help both improve the site for wildlife and as an outdoor education centre by planting trees and hedges, repairing walls, building footpaths and habitat management. This year we returned again for our Winter residential, or resi as we call it. Our work this season would involve repairing dry stone walls, laying hedges, planting hedges, and felling dangerous trees.

The trees we were removing had died through disease and had become brittle and unstable. As the site is used by visitors to the centre they posed a danger to safety and so need to be cut down. Tom used a chain saw to fell the trees which were then cut up stacked on habitat piles out of the way.

The wallers repaired several sections of wall along the front of the reservoir. Why the walls had collapsed is anyone’s guess: livestock rubbing against them, people climbing over them, tree and root growth, land movement, or a combination of factors.

The hedge layers were a bit stuck for work but managed to do a few bits. Any gaps in the hedge were filled in by new plantings.

Well that’s the work bit done, but the other reason people go on resi’s is the social angle. For those staying over-night there was plenty of time to fill, and most of that time was filled with beer, banter and being silly. After work on the Saturday we hurried through the cold and dark to The Bay Horse. Like Hobbits at the Prancing Pony we sampled the ales and then had to change rooms, not because of hooded figures with pointy swords but because the room had been pre-booked by another party. After much merriment we rushed back for Lynn’s evening meal. Meaties and veggies both being catered for with Quorn and ham, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, carrots, fruit crumble and custard, cake, flapjacks and more beer. After food there was fun. Jenga, card games, weird impersonations, more beer, and running from sleep. Eventually sleep caught up and said, ‘Your it, close your eyes and count till dawn.’ Which we did.

The morning came and kicked everybody out of bed into the kitchen for breakfast and second breakfast. Between breakfast and dinner, or lunch if you prefer, we finished off the walling and planting. Then cleaned up, packed up and made or merry way home.

Many thanks to Rick, Tom, and Caroline for organising, the Anderton centre staff for having us back and to everyone who attended the weekend. Special thanks to Lynn for catering, doing a great job as always.