Cuerden Valley Park


     
 

Newsletter

October 2010

Welcome to the October newsletter, and as I write this the rain is pouring down.  It has been difficult for Jim and the rangers to carry out maintenance in the Park due to the poor weather, but eventually things get done.

I am Pat Ryan and I was elected Chairman of the Friends at the AGM in March, after the excellent 3 year Chairmanship of David Beattie, and I am in the Park most days walking my dogs Paddy and Jazz. 

It has been a very busy six months for the Friends trying to organise fund raising events and getting more Friends to sign up to support our beautiful Park.

The Park does need our support in several ways, 

Financially, this summer the Friends have funded a bridge being replaced, a new roof to be fitted to the ranger’s workshop and towards wild flowers being planted in the meadows. Every penny of your membership goes towards supporting the Park.

Physically, lots of Friends and Conservation Volunteers give their time and energy to help the Rangers keep our Park looking good, and the setting up of the Farmers’ Market couldn’t be done without Friends and volunteers.

And finally, Politically, as the more Friends we have signed up the more weight we have when we have meetings with MPs to lobby their support for our Park.

So if you are reading this and you are not yet a Friend of CVP, don’t panic if you are asked to become a Friend, we are just after your money but if you want to become involved we will welcome you with open arms as we all need more Friends in our lives.

I enclose a membership form so that each Friend can ask a friend to become a Friend of Cuerden Valley Park, that’s the challenge this year, can we double our membership?  The Friends have just changed their bank account and are now able to accept standing orders so you can now pay monthly and spread the cost.  Due to recent rule changes the Friends can now claim Gift Aid on membership provided you are a taxpayer and tick the relevant box.  This will be rolled out to all current members at renewal.

The Friends committee is always looking at ideas to raise funds which all go to maintain the Park, do you have any ideas? Are you in an Am Dram group who would like to perform a play in the Walled Orchard? Do you belong to a musical group? Concerts in the park work elsewhere, what about Cuerden?

We also have for 2011 some beautiful calendars which show views of the Park and its wildlife, they are £4.00 each and available from the Park Office.  How about buying one for yourself and one for a Christmas present?  All profits from the calendars will go to the Park. Many thanks.

Pat Ryan, Chairman of the Friends

Funding

As some of you may remember from the last newsletter the Trust was seeking to get the Government to look again at the original funding package for the Park.  The Trust believes it was inadequate for the long term future of the Park and in determining the size of the endowment did not follow its own guidelines.  An initial report was commissioned by the previous government which was completed.  We then had a change of government and the report is still sat on the Ministers desk.  We have had a commitment from Bob Neill MP the new Under Secretary of State Communities and Local Government to meet with the Trust once the Comprehensive Spending Review has been completed and its implications for the Department are known.

Work in the Valley

Maintenance work to keep the Park in good condition continues.  In the early summer staff and volunteers were busy renewing agricultural fences in a number of locations.  The first fence to be tackled was behind Black Banks Wood which was about as awkward a fence line as you could get with only short straight runs, banks steep slopes and very boggy patches.

This fence had been in a poor state for a number of years but we had been waiting for a drier period of weather to get on the land without losing vehicles in the wet patches.  Once complete it was followed by fencing near the cycleway at the south end of the Park.  The farmer at Lower Woodend had moved out of dairy farming to raise beef cattle.  Unfortunately young cattle are more adventurous and soon found a weakness in the old fence which was in such poor condition that it needed replacement rather than repair.

Then just as we were about to start on cutting and baling the grasslands in the public areas the rain arrived and it rained and rained.  Instead of hay making we were busy clearing out drains and repairing sections of washed out paths.  A feeling of déjà vous crept in, yet another wash out summer.  Eventually we did get most of the meadows cut and baled but it wasn’t until the back end of August, over a month late.

In between rain showers, clearing drains and other jobs maintenance work has been ongoing on the stone wall alongside the A49.  The pointing was in poor condition and we had had a number of attempted thefts of the coping stones from the top.  This is a long slow job of raking out the old mortar, cleaning down the wall before replacing with new.  The stretch between Wigan Road car park and the M6 flyover has been completed.  There is now some walling work required by Factory Lane at Whittle le Woods before returning to the A49.

We have also continued our attack on the Himalayan Balsam.  Whilst we are seeing some signs of success in the areas that were hit hard last year with reduced numbers of plants this year in other areas it has continued to expand into the Park.  If anyone fancies giving a hand next year with controlling this weed please let us know.  The plant is an annual that is very easy to pull up and the seeds remain viable for a relatively short period of 7 years in the ground.

Other work has included the replacement of one of the bridges at the south end of the Park over the river Lostock.  The wooden bridge was constructed over a concrete beam and so was a relatively straightforward (and cheap) job to replace the handrails and deck.  At the same time the footpath leading to it on both sides for a length of 60m or so was rebuilt.

We have also replaces the fence around the pond in the Pinetum. It still had the remains of a temporary site fence, put up when the pond was re-established a number of years ago. A fence is needed around this pond as it has a liner which could be damaged by dogs running up and down the banks. This pond is now becoming well established with Great Crested Newts starting to use it as a breeding pond.

Following the successful application for a grant from Natural England we have now managed to repair Dovecote Barn.  This sits on part of the agricultural estate but has been in a poor state for many years with one end propped up with scaffolding to prevent it collapsing.  Repairs are nearly complete with new foundations and walls rebuilt at one end and attention to the roof timbers and slates.  Hopefully the barn should now last another 100 years without major works.

Jim Longbottom, Park Manager

Watch

The Watch/Wex group continues to enjoy a variety of activities on the Park. June saw us using our new sweep nets, pooters and microscope as we searched for butterflies and different bugs, both in the grassland and on the bushes.                                          

We had a break in the summer and started again in September. Hibernation was our first theme and we buried some buckets containing 70% woodchip and 30% soil in a private area of the Park. We will dig them up in March 2012 to see if any bugs, particularly stag beetles have taken up residence. We also made butterfly hibernation boxes and hedgehog homes. Late September I took two of our new leaders to an RSPB training weekend in Sheffield. We do plan to have our group going for several years to come. October we learned more about re-cycling and made creatures from (clean) litter.

David Beattie, Watch Leader

Wildlife

The usual plethora of warblers, swifts, swallows, house and sand martins, enjoyed the sunny early summer. The most exciting summer visitor was noted when two of our rangers heard the unmistakable “cuckoo, cuckoo” on the 26th of May. The bird moved northwards through the Park over a period of about four hours. Our regular Great Spotted Woodpecker nested in its usual place and the great crested grebes made an unsuccessful attempt at breeding. We also had a record of a fallow deer in the nature reserve and a hobby in August.

St Swithin’s Day brought rain and restricted our ability to record butterflies and dragonflies. We did have a great year though for Banded Demoiselle. I was doing some litter picking in the river and noted 40 male and 12 females in a 12 metre stretch.

Another first time visitor to the Park was Bill Oddie who opened the Lancashire Bioblitz. The idea is for a mammoth 24 hour wildlife survey.  About 70 experts in plants, fungi, birds, insects etc descended onto the Park.  A public session started at 10am with the official launch and finished at 10pm with a bat walk.  Some of the experts stayed overnight and were up early the following morning to complete the session.  We did record over 1,000 different birds, flowers, insects, fish and mammals throughout the day but received nearly 2,000 records for the 24hrs. I am still sifting through all these. I wish to thank all those Friends who regularly report their sightings to the office.

David Beattie, Wildlife Recorder

Friends of Cuerden

The Friends have been very busy over the summer months with the Farmers Markets which have proved to be very successful events.  There are usually 35-45 stalls selling a wide range of foods as well as crafts.  These bring in much needed income averaging about £1,200 per market through pitch fees for the stalls and donations on the gate.  They are now in the early stages of organising a Beer Festival which will be running from the 6th – 8th May 2011.  There will be 40 different beers and ciders available and if anyone would like to sponsor a barrel please get in touch with the office.  Another date for your diary is the Cuerden Valley Fair which will be held on the 21st May.

Membership of the Friends continues to grow and now exceeds 200 however we would still like to increase membership further.  We are looking for volunteers that will man a stand occasionally in different parts of the Park as well as local venues such as supermarkets to provide information about the Park and the Friends.  If you can help again please get in touch with the office.

Conservation Volunteers

Balsam bashing was the order of the day for the Conservation Volunteers during the summer months.  The main areas for attack were Black Banks Wood and Ice House Wood both of which have seen reduced numbers of balsam over the last couple of years.  September saw them removing grass from the orchid meadow at the south end of the Park and October was the return to the old motorbike scramble track for woodland thinning.  This was a task that had been started the previous year and will keep them going for a little while yet.

Health Walks

The Trust in partnership with Active Nation which runs Clayton Green Sports Centre is starting to run a series of Health Walks.  These are aimed at less active people to encourage them to get out and enjoy the Park, meet new people and get some gentle exercise.  The walks are no more than an hour long and finish with tea and coffee.  The programme is launched with a walk from the Barn on Thurs 28th October at 10am and then will run on the 2nd Tuesday of the month from Clayton Green Sports Centre and the 4th Thursday from the Barn.

Take a Bird of Prey for a Walk

Alternatively if you fancy a walk that’s a bit different why not take a bird of prey for a walk, makes a change from the dog.  Cuerden Birds of Prey have offered to run a number of walks with the proceeds going to the Trust.  Come and handle Maverick and Goose, 2 male Harris Hawks then take them for a walk through the Park while they follow on through the trees before flying to your gloved hand for their reward.  The experience costs £10 per person, will last about 1½ hours, and will be a small group of 4-6 people.  Please contact the office for bookings and details of dates available.

Jim Longbottom, Park Manager

October 2010

 
     

     
 

Park Office, The Barn, Berkeley Drive, Bamber Bridge, Preston PR5 6BY.  Telephone 01772 324436

Cuerden Valley Park Trust is a registered Charity (number 1002888) and a Company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (number 1994107)

 Registered office: 4 Southport Road, Chorley, Lancs. PR7 1LD.

VAT number 636 2831 36

 
     


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