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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
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