Bollin Valley Partnership - What is Happening in the Bollin Valley
December 2019
Last events of the year
December saw our last two events for 2019 with Christmas crafts at Riverside Park and Meet the Longhorns at Oakwood farm in Styal.
At the craft event we made natural wreaths from plants found at the Park as well as willow napkin holders and some wooden reindeer (pictured left).
Attendees on the Meet the Longhorns events were treated to a close up encounter with our friendly Longhorn cattle who are housed at Styal over the winter while the grassland recovers on all our sites.
November 2019
Orchard planting
Winter is the time to plant trees and this year we have added to our small orchard down at Macclesfield Riverside Park with some heritage varieties of apple and pear trees. Helping us out were volunteers from the CVS families together group, who also took the opportunity to taste the fruit from the existing trees! These trees are for being planted both to feed the birds and to be picked by members of the public (if they are lucky enough to find them before the birds!).
October 2019
Schools Week
October saw the return of the hugely popular Bollin valley Partnership schools week. For one week every year we organise school based workshops so that schools don't have to worry about the logistics and cost of transport out to countryside sites. Bollin Valley rangers were joined by other groups such as the National Trust to provide a number of workshops all over the catchment area. This year we added rainbow sculptures, bush craft skills and river schools to our range of workshops on offer. Pictured here is a group of children enjoying showing off their recycled craft creations.
September 2019
Countryside crafts event
Pictured here are the proud creators of some baskets made from brambles. This prickly material was sourced and made into baskets on site at Newgate Nature reserve during our countryside crafts event. We also made some platters from materials found on site such as Willow and Dogwood.
August 2019
Family litter pick in Macclesfield
This August saw the Partnership teaming up with Community and Voluntary services Cheshire East (CVS) on a project to get families volunteering together. Pictured are families from the Macclesfield area taking part in a litter pick around the town centre. Unfortunately, it was mainly plastic items and cigarette butts which people don't perceive to be litter. After a couple of hours hard work, the volunteers were then treated to a picnic on the lawns of St.Michael's church.
June 2019
Lots of events in the Bollin Valley
At this time of year, there is lots happening in the valley with people making the most of the sunny weather. Pictured here is an intrepid balsam basher in the river at the Carrs and some river dippers during our annual Bioblitz event at Macclesfield Riverside park.
June 2019
Balsam Bashing season begins
By June the invasive plant Himalayan Balsam is the perfect height for us to tackle so we organise a series of events with community groups to try and control it along the river valley.
Pictured here are cub scouts from 3rd Macclesfield Upton Priory Troop doing a great job at Macclesfield Riverside Park. Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers group together annually in June making a real impact on the amount of Balsam in the Park.
May 2019
An abundance of spring flowers
May is the time of year when our woodlands and meadows look at their best with a myriad of different spring flowers all coming out at once. While out and about doing maintenance and survey work on the footpaths we get to enjoy the spring show!
April 2019
Invasive species control
The Bollin Valley Partnership, alongside other partner organisations, has been controlling invasive non native plant species for a number of years now. As a part of this project each year we dig up Giant Hogweed plants in early spring then follow this up with herbicide when the plants get a little larger. We have seen a vast reduction to the amount of Giant Hogweed in the valley over the past couple of years as we've been involved with a big push to rid the area of this harmful weed.
March 2019
Bollin Valley Way surveying
Following improvements to the Trafford section of the Bollin Valley Way, using volunteers, we have been out surveying the whole path to check the signage, kissing gates and way marking. We are hoping to pronounce the 23 mile long distance trail 'stile free' and complete our improvements by the summer months.
January 2019
Path Improvements, Rossmill
The section of path joining the lower and upper paths at Rossmill could become quite slippy in wet weather. The work to install two flights of steps at the steepest sections has finally been completed. In between the two flights of steps the path has been widened to make it easier to use.
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