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.

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

The Last Task Before Christmas

Chew Moor, Lostock and Jumbles Country Park- Hedge Work

‘Twas the last tasks before Christmas, and across the woods,
A chainsaw was growling, but doing some good,
The hedges need laying to make them look neat,
In hopes that when done it would all look awreet.
The pleaches were cut, they didn’t look bad,
In months to come it would make wildlife glad.
The brash we collected and placed in a pile,
But some of our workers at it did not smile.
So, we re-made a dead hedge all neat and ti-dy,
And soon all were happy and feeling joll-y.
No snow had fallen to blanket the ground,
Yet cold as it was but we didn’t slow down,
In hats like old Santa’s, and Grinch headgear, too,
We worked the day long, we worked the day through.
At lunch time we rested, with hot tea and food,
Exchanges of cards, put us in Christmas mood.
Then back to the work for the BCV crew,
Till the sun dropped down low and temperatures too.
The task day now over, the work was all done,
Away tools were packed, we were ready to run.
But one last stop before a Christmas blest,
The Crofters pub, for a drink and a rest.
Then home we did go, to warmth and dry feet,
It would again be a while before we next meet.
And so ends the year along with this verse,
It wasn’t too bad and it could have been worse.
Merry Christmas to all, we hope you had fun,
And from January onwards we’ll look forward to the sun.

Chew Moor: A Crusade of Flowers

Meadow and Hedge Management, Chew Moor, Lostock – September 10th 2023

Bolton’s history didn’t start and end with the Industrial Revolution, the meadow at Chew Moor is a good example of the area’s forgotten history.

In the 1990’s the meadow next to St. John’s Wood, Lostock, was to be turned into a car park until it was designated as a Site of Biological Importance because of the presence of autumn crocus. Autumn crocus (Crocus nudiflorus smith) is native to the Middle-East so how did it end up in Lostock? The answer goes back to around 1100 AD when the land was owned by the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, better known as the Knights Hospitallers. A stretch of road in Chew Moor village is even called St. John’s Road. This religious order also owned land that included what is now the Smithills Estate and did so up until 1200 AD, at this time, being a Catholic religious order, they were suppressed by Henry VIII and their lands confiscated during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

The Hospitallers shouldn’t be confused with the Knights Templar who were more dedicated to martial skills and protecting the lands and wealth of the Catholic Church; the purpose of the Hospitallers was to aid pilgrims in the Holy Land, tend to the sick, and protect Christians under their care. The Hospitallers set up hospitals and hospices across Europe and to each they brought crocuses, the saffron they produced being used as a food additive and high quality dye and pigment; according to research by the late Fred Lovell clothing dyed with saffron was thought to provide protection against plague, the dye deterred fleas and their bites, something that would have been useful while tending the infected. But saffron was also a very lucrative cash crop that was, and still is, literally worth more than it’s weight in gold. In the Middle-Ages it was such an important commodity that saffron fraudsters would be burnt at the stake for their crimes, and in Germany they were buried alive.

The Hospitallers are still in existence and are responsible for establishing the St. John’s Ambulance Foundation which still carries the Cross of St. John as their emblem. Although the Hospitaller’s lodge at Lostock has long since vanished the crocus they introduced is still present and it is for this that the meadow is important. In the past BCV has helped the Chew Moor Conservation Group look after the site, more recently they were sponsored by Barton Grange Garden Centre. They have planted other species such as ragged robin to supplement existing species such as ladies smock and the late Fred’s famous yellow rattle.

Now that the Chew Moor group is unable to continue the work BCV has taken over the management of the site entirely. At the end of August the meadow was mown by farmer Stan and the cuttings removed to reduce the build up of nutrient, this will benefit wild flowers as they prefer nutrient poor soils. We also trimmed the hedge, this will help nesting birds. Our goal is to maintain the species richness that there is and build on it, to make this meadow the best wild flower meadow it can be and protect it for the future, continuing our crusade for wildlife.

Another job we did today was to cut back a few trees and re-install a fence post.

The crocus bloom around the end of September and at the time of writing were in evidence all across the meadow, although some have been stepped on or had been damaged by rain and wind. The fact that so many were in bloom last year is testament to the mowing regime, care and effort that has gone into our management of this site. So, if you visit be careful where you put your feet, you are walking through once and future history.

Find this and other posts about meadows here.

Bolton Green Umbrella Festival 2023

Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Sunday 23rd July 2023

Bolton Green Umbrella was formed in 2016 to bring together all of Bolton’s green groups, individuals and businesses in a network to further their mutual goals of protecting green spaces, encouraging wildlife, and improving the environment in and around Bolton.

To celebrate the group’s success a grand green festival was organised with different groups showcasing the work they do in the areas where they work at numerous sites around Bolton. Bolton Conservation Volunteers chose to highlight the work done at Moses Gate Country Park. Our bit of the festival would include pond dipping and a treasure hunt. People following the treasure hunt would have a map that showed the locations of 6 letters to collect to make the name of an animal when put together. The six letters were located at sites where we have planted trees, managed ponds, created reedbeds, managed wild flower meadows, and various other projects. The problem was nobody told the weather that we wanted sunshine, and what we got was rain.

The wet weather highlights one of the reasons BCV and Green Umbrella do what they do: climate change. One of the predicted results of increased global temperatures was indeed wetter UK summers, which is what we have while the rest of Europe is literally burning. The wider consequences of global warming go beyond ‘rain stopped play’ and include crop failures, flooding, famine, melting ice sheets and glaciers, sea level rise, loss of productive land, habitat loss, and species loss to give you the short version. For wildlife our new ‘normal’ affects hibernation, migration, species viability, water quality and oxygen saturation, and habitat stability. Wildlife is facing more competition for survival, both against other species and against humanity as habitats are lost through climate change and human expansion. As more land becomes uninhabitable human migration and movement is likely to increase, pressuring wildlife even more.

Global warming isn’t a hoax, it isn’t a conspiracy of scientists it is very real and we are seeing the results NOW. The use of fossil fuels is having a very significant impact on our planet. Anyone who still believes climate change isn’t a problem should read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2021 Summary for Policy Makers, at 40 pages this is the short version of the full report and still makes scary reading. The beginning of the report states:

“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.”

“Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts,
and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened since AR5″. AR5 was the IPCC’s 2013 report.

These are the reasons why Bolton Conservation Volunteers, Bolton Green Umbrella, and all of its member groups, do what they do. What we need is for everybody else to also take a stand, to do everything possible to reduce human impact on our local and global environments: drive less, fly less, be less wasteful, make do and mend, reduce-reuse-recycle, and be less selfish, sharing the world with all species.

But this article isn’t meant to be a thesis on climate change causes and consequences, so back to the festival day. Although we did have a green gazebo an actual green umbrella would have been very useful, but having said that many brave souls came out on the day to fight the BCV corner. As well as volunteers we had several families that liked taking walks in the rain and walked around our treasure hunt route to spell out BADGER and win a meat free hot dog.

Many thanks to Barb and Trev and Bolton Green Umbrella for co-ordinating the festival, Tom and Caroline for organising BCV’s bit, Lynn and Gill for looking after the food tent, the meet and greet team, Rick for pond dipping, and everyone who turned out to lend a hand or take part.

You can read the IPCC report through this link. PDF 3mb