Author: Colin

Moses Gate Country Park: Flowering Future

Wildflower Meadow Management 10th August 2025

Yellow rattle seeds
Yellow rattle seeds

According to Natural England wildflower meadows and species-rich grasslands, , like many of our natural habitats, have declined dramatically over the last century. Only 2% of meadows that existed in the 1930s are still in existence today; around 7.5 million acres of wildflower meadow have been lost, and 75% of what remains is fragmented and vulnerable. Since the 1940s 97% of lowland meadows alone have been lost. Only 1% of the UK’s land area can now support species-rich grassland; only 2% of the grassland we have are species-rich.

Meadows provide habitat for wildflowers, fungi, bees, flies, beetles, spiders, moths, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, bats and birds; they are also important for carbon storage, water retention to prevent flooding, and habitat for crop pollinators. In addition they also have cultural, historical and archaeological significance.

Over the last few years BCV have been working at a number of sites to try to improve the quality of some of the meadows around Bolton: Ousels Nest Quarry, Chew Moor Meadow, and Moses Gate Country Park are three. Today’s task was at Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton. The work we have done here over the last 2 years is already showing an improvement with a reduction in the growth of brambles, docks and thistles.

The process begins with a reciprocating mower cutting down the vegetation. The cuttings are then raked up and transported to the edge of the site. This process of cutting and removing vegetation helps to reduce the nutrient levels in the soil, low nutrient soils are preferred by wildflowers. During the work we found many frogs and toads, and even a newt, which we moved to a safer area before continuing.

Another thing we did this time was to spread yellow rattle seeds. Yellow rattle is a hemi-parasitic plant, it binds to the roots of grasses and feeds on the nutrients the grass has worked so hard to get. The result is the grass doesn’t grow as vigorously, less grass means better conditions for wild flowers.

It will probably take a few years but eventually we will start to see wildflowers appearing at this site. It won’t replace the millions of acres that have been lost across the UK but will help to support local wildlife and make this part of the World a little bit brighter.

See more meadow stories on this link

Anderton Centre: Summer Resi

Friday 11th to Sunday 13th July 2025

Anderton Outdoor Centre
Anderton Outdoor Centre

The Anderton Centre was built in 1990 on the site of Anderton New Hall. Anderton New Hall was built in the 1870s to replace Lady Hall which itself was demolished when Lower Rivington Reservoir was constructed in the 1850s, Anderton New hall survived until the 1930 when the derelict building was demolished. Lady Hall, which may have been built in the 1600s was located near what is now the A673 at the bottom end of Lower Rivington Reservoir. The Lady Hall was built to replace Anderton Old Hall which was present on a site near Old Hall Farm not far from Crown Lane, Horwich. The Old Hall dated back to around 1281 and may have been demolished around the time of the Civil War.

The areas around the Anderton Centre are largely man made: farms, reservoirs, tree plantations, fields and ponds, but they have become home to wide range of wild species from crows to cormorants, from rabbits to roe deer. BCV’s involvement at the Anderton Centre began in January 2007, at the time the site was dominated by rhododendron. It took us 4 years to clear the terraced grounds which are now used for outdoor activities such as archery and climbing.

It’s 2025 and we’re back at Anderton again for our usual summer tasks of balsam eradication and dry stone walling, with a little bit of hedge trimming for variety. Balsam bashing on the hottest days of the year is hard, tiring work, the heat and humidity draining your energy without mercy. But bit by bit we are getting the balsam under control; this year there was less that last year, next year there should be even less. Find out more about balsam in this handy beginners guide.

For walling we moved to the south side for a change where sections of walls had been knocked down by either people or cattle. With Rivington Reservoir being very low it was easier to find stone for building than usual. We repaired several sections but there’s still plenty left to fix.

And finally, James is 21 this year and we celebrated with a cake and various gifts from socks to books. Happy birthday, James.

That’s done for another year, we would like thank the Anderton Centre management and staff for having us back; Tom, and Caroline for organising; Lynn and Trish for cooking; finally thanks to all who turned out to help out. Other resi’s are available here.

Dunscar Wood: Balsam Bash

Sunday 1st June 2025

Dunscar Wood is a relatively new woodland near Egerton, Bolton. The wood occupies 5.7 hectares of what was formerly green fields which were bought by the Woodland Trust in 1998 as part of their millennial Woodlands on Your Doorstep project. Old maps do show a small patch of woods in the area but not of any great size or significance. You can find other posts about the work we’ve done at Dunscar here and here.

Today’s task was a different aspect of woodland management form planting and thinning. Instead of managing the trees themselves we were managing what grows between them, in this case Himalayan balsam. You can find out more about balsam and why we spend so much time getting rid of it on yet another post (sorry) here.

For the last couple of years we have been trying to reduce the presence of balsam, and it looks like we are actually succeeding to some extent; the areas that last year were thick with balsam are now a bit more sparse, but work still needs to continue. This session, however, was cut short by heavy rain.

Thanks to Caroline and Tom for organising, and for all of the other work they but into running the group. Also thanks to everyone who turned.

Jumbles: Pond Restoration

Pond Restoration 4th May 2025

As well as a big reservoir Jumbles Country Park also has some smaller water bodies that are less well known. In May 2022 we began a restoration project, back then the ponds had become overgrown and shaded out by vegetation. The ponds were dredged to remove leaf litter and silt and oxygenating plants were introduced to the ponds. Brash and branches were cut back and used to create linear habitat piles, Himalayan balsam was pulled up or cut down.

In May 2023 we came back and the areas around the ponds had transformed from a lunar landscape to a carpet of flowers, the work continued with cutting back invasive vegetation, and planting marginal plants.. and a bit of pond dipping. Today’s task involved cutting back willow from around the pond to let in more light. We used the chipper to process most of the brash and spread the resulting chips along the path, the rest of the brash was used to create a linear habitat pile. Want to know more about ponds? Then have a read of this.

In 2023 we found toad tadpoles, this year we had alder fly larvae and baby newts. The ponds should continue to attract frogs and toads as well as insects such as dragonflies. Thanks to everyone involved and big thanks to Tom and Caroline for organising and keeping the group going.

Easter Task

20th April 2025 – Grimeford Village, Dry Stone Walling

This years hard boiled Easter task was actually on the day itself – Easter Sunday. Because it’s a popular day for family stuff etc our numbers were a bit down on usual task numbers, but we did get half a dozen or so egg-ceptional wallers turning up to continue the wall along side Lower Rivington Reservoir.

For those who don’t know much about walling it’s a bit like a 3D jigsaw, or Tetris, and involves putting one stone on top of another to build a stable non-wobbly wall. First we took down anything unstable and made lines (or piles) of stones of similar size, then we started building. The wall has two tapering outer skins, with big stones generally at the bottom, smaller ones as you build up. Every so often adding a through stone which acts as a wall tie, any gaps are filled with smaller bits which is called hearting. The top of the wall is finished with coping stone.

With it being Easter we had the traditional BCV Egg Hunt, 14 mini eggs were hidden by Craig, and just after lunch time we we all set out to find them.

Thanks to Caroline and Tom for organising, Jane for shelling out for the eggs, and everyone you made it a cracking task.

Happy Easter from BCV

Moses Gate: Tree Planting

6th April 2025 Moses Gate Tree Planting

Our first task of April and we’re back at Moses Gate Country Park planting trees. We’ve planted nearby areas on Halloween 2022 and Easter 2023 and today’s session extends the planted area and also replaces some of the previously planted trees that have failed.

There’s no mystery to planting trees: you dig a hole, put the tree in it, put in a small stake for support and a tree shelter to stop deer and shrews nibbling it to death. Trees are planted a few feet apart and then grow as nature intended. There’s a bit more about tree planting on a previous post which you can read on this link.

Thanks to Tom and Caroline for organising (thank you for your leadership, as they say) and every one else who turned up.