Mersey Basin Campaign Blog

Manchester's Peregrine Falcons are back!

 

Remember the RSPB's team visiting Exchange Square last year to help us keep track of the city's nesting Peregrine Falcons? Well, they're back again! I was eating lunch down there yesterday, and the telescope was attracting a huge audience. This year the RSPB and BBC Manchester have a WEBCAM linked to the big screen so that everyone can keep track of the goings on in Manchester's most exclusive penthouse residence.

Back in the summer of 2007, I interviewed one of the RSPB's information assistants, Sarah Williams about the peregrine falcon project for SourceNW magazine. Download High_rise_heroes. There are similar projects going on in other parts of the country - for example, the first eggs have just hatched over at the Derby Cathedral peregrines' next. Click here to read their blog.

If you'd like to keep track of the peregrines, and much more, you could always follow the RSPB on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/natures_voice

We'll keep an eye out for more news from the Manchester falcons.....watch this space.....

 

MWH Mersey Basin Week 2009 - register now!

 

MWH Mersey Basin Week 2009 is taking place from Friday 2nd - Sunday 11th October, and registration is open NOW for you to enter your events.

Every year during Mersey Basin Week, thousands of local people get involved with practical activities and events on our watercourses. In 2008 nearly 5000 people took part in over 300 events - a figure we'd love to beat this time around!

If you'd like to organise an event (and it can be anything from a towpath tidy to a craft event, a guided walk to a wildlife survey), CLICK HERE to visit our website and download a registration form. You can also access some handy resources to help you plan your activity, and see the highlights of last year's week to get you inspired.

The closing date for registration is Monday 14th September 2009.

If you've got any questions, leave us a comment here, or email our Community Support Coordinator, Bev Mitchell.

Good luck.

Oooh, early preparations for Environment 09!

Just been looking at the design for the Environment 09 packs! Makes it all seem real. They're very smart, anyway :-)

HearManchester.com nominated twice for Big Chip Awards!

 

Hearmanchester.com, a series of audio portraits along the Rochdale Canal in Manchester city centre that we worked on last summer has been nominated TWICE in the forthcoming Big Chip 11 Awards! The project, which was a partnership between Marketing Manchester, the Mersey Basin Campaign, British Waterways, Cityco and Manchester City Council, was developed by our friends at Stardotstar, who are very excited about the project being nominated in both the Best Public Sector and Best Use of Visual Design categories (and so am l!). The ten audio portraits are presented by punk legend John Robb, who meets everyone from councillors to body-poppers, and psychogeographers to pop stars as he makes his way along the towpath. You can even download a handy map for each portrait, giving you the heads up on related destinations around town.

The Rochdale Canal is a bit of hidden gem in the city centre, so even if you thought you were the uber-Manc, we bet you'll discover something new from the trails. Who knows, it could be just the nugget of Mancunian insider knowledge that you'll need to impress your mates down the pub next time you're watching a predictable Federico Macheda wonder-goal on TV.......

http://www.bigchipawards.com/

http://www.hearmanchester.com

ENVIRONMENT 09 is go!

 

Plans for our 2009 mega-conference, Environment 09 are now well underway, and you can help to shape the agenda by submitting a question for the panel. Click on 'comments' below, and leave your question as a comment. We will even print your question off for you if you'd like, so that you can ask it in person on 22nd September.

ENVIRONMENT 09 takes place on 22nd September 2009 at the Arena & Conference Centre, Liverpool.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE