Mersey Basin Campaign Blog

The Cheshire Floating Garden Festival comes to Congleton Borough!!!

The British Waterways heritage boat Lindsay, will be florally decorated in an Alice in Wonderland theme using the talents of Chris Harrop a Bollington based floral designer and hanging baskets and tubs donated by local clubs and societies. It will depart from Bollington on 8^th June to arrive in Congleton on Monday 9^th June.

Come and join us at the first stop on the journey at the Queens Head Hotel in Congleton (Park Lane) on Tuesday 10^th June for an evening of folk music, CAMRA Award Winning Cask Ales and locally sourced guest beers, from 7pm onwards. Everyone is invited and encouraged to come down to this traditional English pub to soak up the atmosphere, visit the florally dressed boat, listen to the music and sample up to 7 quality cask ales.

The boat will then head down to Rode Heath for the fun filled Odd Rode Festival on Wednesday 11^th June from 4pm onwards. Activities to be confirmed are a bouncy castle, a brass band, refreshments, a tea party, dance troupes, stalls, music with much more in the pipeline.

For more details about the event and various events enroute from Audlem, Bollington, Sale and Trafford please see www.visitcheshire.com/floatinggardenfestival.

Saturn's Schedule

   

Plans for Cheshire's Floating Garden Festival (8th-15th June) are well under way, and historic boat 'Saturn' has a full schedule of events for her trip from Audlem to the Folk and Boat Festival at Middlewich.

Several local schools will have the opportunity to visit Saturn during the week and learn about her history, as well as participating in garden-themed activities.

There is a full programme of events at the launch weekend in Audlem on 7th & 8th June, including boat-horse harnessing, canal painting, rag-rug making and many other displays.  There will also be performances from The Crofters and Day Star Theatre - see the Floating Gardens website for more details.

En route to Middlewich, Saturn will be stopping at Nantwich, and then moving on to Barbridge where there are two evening events that are open to all.  On Tuesday 10th June, there will be a waterways talk and live band at The Jolly Tar Inn - be there from 6.30 pm onwards.  Then get your brain limbered up for a waterways-themed pub quiz at The Olde Barbridge Inn on Wednesday 11th June.  Watch this space for more details.

More details will appear here nearer the time, so do come back and find out more about how to get involved

If you go down to the woods...

Action Upper Weaver has submitted a funding application to landfill tax distributor WREN, in the hope that Quakers Coppice can be made more accessible, and that information can be provided about the vast range of wildlife that uses this green haven on the edge of Crewe.

We won't know whether we've been successful until June, but in the meantime if you'd like to be involved in the project or be kept informed on its progress, please feel free to leave a comment below or email [email protected]

Cheshire's Floating Garden Festival

Preparations are well under way for the Floating Garden Festival, a celebration of two of the county's best assets - its canals and its gardens.  Four historic ex-working boats will be setting off from the four corners of Cheshire and meeting at Middlewich for the Boat and Folk festival on 14th and 15th of June.

The Mersey Basin Campaign is supporting two of the routes, with a range of World Environment Day activities on the Rochdale Canal on 5th June, and a launch event at Audlem on the Shropshire Union on 8th June.

All four boats will be on display at the Boat and Folk Festival, with displays and activities to get involved with.

To find out more, visit the Floating Garden Festival web page or contact Izzy at Action Upper Weaver on 01270 537071 or [email protected]

Planting by the Upper Weaver

Sunday was a good day for native plant species in Nantwich, as volunteers planted oak trees, snowdrops and bluebells.

One of the highlights of 2006's MWH Mersey Basin Week in the Upper Weaver was a BBC Breathing Spaces seed hunt, where people gathered native tree seeds at Nantwich Riverside and planted them in biodegradable pots.  On Sunday some of these seed hunters returned to Nantwich and planted out the - mainly oak - seedlings on a local allotment, to be cared for until this time next year, when they will be planted in their final positions by the River Weaver. 

As well as the trees, over 2000 native bluebell and snowdrop bulbs were planted along the path by the Weaver so visitors should be able to enjoy an impressive splash of colour in the spring.  The bulbs were paid for by Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council (CNBC), and the day was organised by CNBC's Riverside Officer James Thompson and Action Upper Weaver

Get the lowdown on Crewe

Bloggers can now get all the latest gossip and inside information about what's going on in and around Crewe on the fantastic Crewe blog - an "Ongoing photo diary of life in Crewe, the people, places and its politics, including the railway, town centre redevelopment, Crewe Alexandra and more..."

Updated by the mysterious 'creweblog', whose identity is a closely guarded secret, the site has photos, information and plenty of comments about all sorts of projects, events and places in Crewe.  Some of Action Upper Weaver's projects are featured, including Valley Park, the dipping pond at Crewe Business Park and recently, plenty about the Queens Park Lake.

Take a look here or use the link at the side of this page

'Putt'-ing an end to Himalayan Balsam

Players from Crewe Golf Club have been helping to rid their golf course of the invasive non-native weed Himalayan Balsam.  Brian Cornelius from the club contacted Action Upper Weaver about the problem, which is spreading from the banks of Valley Brook up into the woodlands throughout the course.

Not wishing to see an extra obstacle to a round of 18 holes, the players took the initiative and have so far organised two Balsam Bashes, the last one being just in time to pull it up before it set seed.

We all know that this is a huge problem on our waterways, but it is easy to organise your own Balsam Bashing activity.  The season is almost over for this year, but you can find out more by contacting Izzy at Action Upper Weaver on 01270 537071 or [email protected].  You can also find out more about Himalayan Balsam and other invasive plants from the Environment Agency website - click here

Trip to a bog turns out to be a highlight!

Delegates who attended the Cheshire Waters Forum on 5th July were given the opportunity to join a site visit to Wybunbury Moss, a Natural England National Nature Reserve.  The moss is a rare example of "Schwingmoor" (floating bog) which consists of a raft of peat, floating on a lake 13 metres deep.  It was formed during the last ice age, and is deeper than many other floating bogs because of a collapse beneath the peat, caused by subsidence of the underlying salt-bearing rocks. 

Highlights included jumping up and down to make the earth literally move beneath our feet (including rocking the trees), and stopping next to an innocuous looking willow bush, which hosts 75 percent of the UK's population of a certain beetle which only likes small willow bushes that haven't been coppiced, on south-facing sheltered sites!

Tim Coleshaw from Natural England looks after the site, and provided a fascinating tour of the Moss, which isn't normally open to the public because it is dangerous to those who don't know their way round, and because it is so environmentally sensitive.

Despite the relentless rain, we all really enjoyed this rare opportunity to see and learn about such an unusual habitat.  Thanks to all involved.

Good sign for the Valley Brook

Volunteers from Wistaston Conservation Group had an unexpected reward whilst out Balsam Bashing yesterday.  They were clearing Himalayan Balsam from the Joey the Swan area of Valley Brook Nature Park, and were lucky enough to spot a kingfisher following the course of the Valley Brook.  This is a great sign as it indicates that the water quality in the Brook is good.  Malcolm Bellis from Wistaston Conservation Group said that it made the hours of Balsam Bashing worthwile.

 

Come 'on the pull' with us on the Upper Weaver

Action Uper Weaver is working on a strategy to control Invasive non-native weeds in the Upper Weaver catchment, focussing in particular on the old favourite Himalayan Balsam.  In the long-run we hope to tackle the problem on a grand scale, but this year we are concentrating on three sites in particular.

Come and do your bit by helping us to pull up the Himalayan Balsam at any or all of these events:

Tuesday 5th June (World Environment Day) - two events.
9.30 am-12 noon - Valley Brook Nature Park, Crewe.  Meet in the car park on Wistaston Green Road
1.30-4pm - Nantwich Riverside.  Meet in the car park on Shrewbridge Road

Friday 8th June (final day of Volunteers Week)
12-3pm - Crewe Business Park.  Meet outside Natural England's office on Electra Way.  Park on the road.

For each of these activities you will need to wear suitable clothing and footwear.

For more information or to let us know you are coming please telephone Izzy Gascoigne on 01270 537071 or email [email protected]