Bollin Valley Partnership - What is Happening in the Bollin Valley 2015
18th December 2015
Volunteer Day Carrying out Path Improvements at Bowdon
A team of volunteers along with Cheshire East Ranger Ed Pilkington helped Bollin Valley Rangers Roger Brereton and Emma Houghton progress the path improvement works at Bowdon. A new path and steps have been built to replace a section that was washed away by the river.
This project has also seen sections of the path being stoned and the reinstatement of a ditch to drain the formerly flooded area near the A56 Bowdon Road.
Pictured left is work experience placement Greg Roberts with the steps he helped build.
25th October 2015
>Halloween Happening at Riverside Park Macclesfield
Rangers Emma and Euan ran a Halloween craft and activities event at Riverside Park. The event was fully booked and 15 children and accompanying adults enjoyed carving pumpkin, making witches broomsticks and hunting for 'witches' in the park.
6th September 2015
Dabble with Dowsing at Wilmslow Park
Eleven people joined Ranger Euan Murray at Wilmslow Park for a demonstration of the basic techniques involved in dowsing with a forked stick, metal rods and a pendulum. He also explain how to interpret the responses to allow divining for water. Participants then got to have a go at this ancient art them selves.
12th and 19th August 2015
Summer Craft Events
Macclesfield Riverside Park and Newgate Nature Reserve
Two Summer Crafts events were a great success with all those that attended them. The photo to the left shows an image made from found items. Other creations were journey sticks, willow fish, meadow crowns, pine cone animals and rafts that were floated down the river.
3rd July 2015
Silaging at Norcliffe Farm
Ranger Euan Murray is busy making the most of the good weather bringing in the first of this years silage crop from Norcliffe Farm in Styal. The mown grass is wrapped in plastic to 'pickle' it ready to feed to our Longhorn cattle over the winter months. As soon as the silage is off the fields we can open them up and let the cows graze the unmown edges whilst the grass grows back.
10th June 2015
Countryside Taster Day at Beech Hall School's Playing Fields
Wonderful weather helped make this years 'Countryside Taster Day' a great success. Over 400 people from over 20 organizations attended and tried their hand at the many events on offer including the animal 'petting' area shown in the photograph to the left.
We would once again like to thank the forty plus volunteers that made this event happen on the day and our hosts, Beech Hall School. The volunteers provided events such as archery, pony trap rides and pond dipping.
May 2015
Redbrook Bridge Reopens
Repairs and improvements to the bridleway bridge over Redbrook near Partington have now finished. This removes the need for the diversion at the western end of the Bollin Valley Way. The works have been carried out by the land owner Peel Holdings.
19th April 2015
Bollin Buzzard at Rossmill
Local chainsaw carver Ed Pilkington spent the day at Rossmill working on the latest of his sculptures. The 'Bollin Buzzard' now sits on its perch overlooking the lower meadow whilst its living cousins fly overhead. Visitors to the park were fascinated to see the creative process in action and admired the skills demonstrated with the chainsaw.
The tree used had been removed due to the angle it was growing at and to allow mowing up to the edge of the wildflower meadow.
8th April 2015
Easter Craft Event at Macclesfield Riverside Park
Once again the Easter Craft Event at Macclesfield Riverside Park was fully booked. The weather was fantastic and the fifteen children had a great time testing their skills at nest building, seeing if they could match up to the birds busily building their new homes throughout the valley. They also built 'journey sticks' from objects found on a walk around the park (pictured to the left).
30th March 2015
First Calf of the Year Born at Oakwood Farm
Proud mother Bollin Jenna keeps a close eye on her new calf Bollin Pascal. The majority of our cows will calf over the next tow or three months and this year we are choosing names beginning with 'P'. If you have any good ideas for names please let us know and we will use the best names on future calves.
3rd March 2015
Last call for bird box spring clean at
Newgate Nature Reserve
Birds are now looking for nest sites for the coming year so this is out last chance to get our bird boxes in order for their new occupants. Old nests are cleared out and damaged boxes are repaired. The picture to the left shows a damaged bird box and its replacement front at Newgate Nature Reserve. The damage was caused by a woodpecker enlarging the hole so that it could eat the eggs or young in the bird box. The replacement front has a metal protective guard and should help prevent an opportune lunch for woodpeckers this year!
5th February 2015
Coppicing Large Willow stool at Macclesfield Riverside Park
The large willow tree besides the seating area near the first river bridge at Macclesfield Riverside Park was coppiced today. The work was carried out as bracket fungi at the base of the tree indicated that the tree was decaying. In the photo to the left each trunk shows three clear bands of colouration. The narrow band of pale wood to the edge of the trunks is the remaining sound wood, the next band of slightly darker wood is decaying wood and the dark brown wood to the centre is decayed wood. The amount of decay visible shows that coppicing the tree was very much the right decision from a safety point of view. Trees in higher risk areas are checked monthly for signs of potential problems.
13th January 2015
Art Day at Adlington Primary School
Community Project Officer Emma Houghton ran an art workshop with children from Adlington school as a follow from sustainability week. The children were asked to bring in their used Christmas wrapping paper to create a colour sculpture.
They first made a colour wheel then decorated hoops, twigs and cardboard tubes with their colours to create a large permanent sculpture for the classroom. Pictured is part of the sculpture and the artist Lorna Fellas who worked with the children. Magpie, a Macclesfield based arts group paid for the artist for the day
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