Mersey Basin Campaign Blog

Sunny Lancashire's Partners Day Success!

Lancashire Partners Day at the new Brockholes Nature Reserve was a resounding success and the sun even shined for us.  Who’d have thought 19 degrees full sun for the day? We hadn’t bargained for that (sun cream crossed off the risk assessment)!  We had a great turnout from partners across the county and made a huge difference to the habitat for wildlife at Brockholes Nature Reserve. 

 

Organisations involved include BTCV, Lancashire County Council, North West Development Agency, Save The Ribble, Sefton Borough Council, South Ribble Borough Council, Lancashire & Blackpool Tourist Board, Care Ltd and The Wildlife Trust.

 

All the volunteers were most keen to get on with their tasks and attacked the unwanted trees and overgrown scrub with gusto despite the unusually warm working conditions.  There was a great deal of networking between partners involved and everyone there felt a great sense of collective achievement looking at the site when we had finished work.  A big thank you to all the volunteers and staff involved – a most satisfying day out for all. 

Here are a couple of photos from today.

Whilst work was going on:

After encroaching trees and shrub had been removed:

 

I asked several groups of volunteers if they’d like to give a comment for the BLOG – answers ranged from ‘what a fantastic day’ and ‘this place has such huge potential’ to ‘I want to get on with this’ and ‘I’m coming back next week’ (which has been happening quite regularly). 

 

Here’s a specific quote from Lancashire & Blackpool Tourist Board staff Diane Blakemore and Tim Dixon  ‘Our aim as an organization is to promote destinations in Lancashire and we want to see this site develop and to be a part of its future.  Anything we can do to help. We will.’

Now we can look forward to the coming weekend of activity and hope to post and share more comments from participants at other events. 

Until then, enjoy your MWH Mersey Basin Week 2007!

Addendum - November 2007 Since partners day, groups of volunteers have been back again at least twice and are helping the Wildlife Trust in its programme of regular volunteer days.

Unilever Staff out in the Wetland!

Tuesday 02/10/07

 

As part of the MWH Mersey Basin Week, staff from Unilever's Port Sunlight factory 'got down and dirty' to protect the important wetlands at Dibbinsdale Local Nature Reserve. The Volunteers, some attending for the 5th year in succession, were involved in a number of important tasks, which included, clearing invasive scrub from the reed-beds, removing trees from an area of floodplain and marking out areas for the next phase on habitat creation, which begins next week.

Peter Miller the  site ranger stated that "All of the excellent work done today, by the Unilever Staff is vital in the on-going restoration and management of this Site and events such as MWH Mersey Basin Week, have provided us with the opportunity to develop this and other partnerships with local business".

I would like to thank the Unilever Staff for attending and working well above and beyond what was asked of them. A good day that was enjoyed by all.

Paul Corner, Action Wirral Rivers, Project Co-ordinator.

Get Dirty in Elmers Clough

The third 'Get Dirty' clean up took place in Elmers Clough, Skelmersdale and proved to be the biggest in terms of how much rubbish we removed from the stream....over 20 tonnes in 2 days!

 

We had lots of help from West Lancashire District Council's Street Scene Team who removed to very hard to reach rubbish by using a winch.

Pupils from St Johns and Hillside Primary schools donned high vis vests and got stuck in litter picking the banks.

We also had help from Groundwork Lancs West & Wigan, Birch Green Residents Association, Asda, Skelmersdale Sea Cadets, local residents and Lancashire Constabulary.

As well as making a big impact with rubbish removal, Groundwork's Green Team spent a day repairing bridges and boardwalks making it a safer place to walk through.

Gaggles of Geese

WWT Martin Mere currently has 18,000 Pink-footed Geese on the Mere, almost 10 times as many as this time last year.  (This time last year there were only 1,900 of the Pink-foots on the site).

Maybe they have decided to fly in earlier this year to celebrate Mersey Basin Week!

However, it’s more likely that cold weather coming down from the Arctic Circle may be driving the birds south early. They are remaining on site most of the day creating a birdwatching spectacle at dawn and dusk (after 7pm) when the geese fly over the mere and create a mesmerising sound.

Pink-footed Geese migrate from Iceland to winter in the UK and they should soon be travelling further south; so the next couple of weeks may be the only time to see such a huge flock of geese at Martin Mere this winter.

MWH Mersey Basin Week 2007

MWH Mersey Basin Week 2007 is now officially underway - and for the first time, you can access a full list of events on our website. Click here to visit the events guide and see what's going on in your local area.

There's something for everyone this year, from litter-picking in Lancashire to conservation in Cheshire, and mask-making on Merseyside. So get out and about and enjoy your local water environments.

Check back on the blog later in the week to see how some of the events went.

MWH Mersey Basin Week 2007

It's that time of year again when we start to think of plans for MWH Mersey Basin Week - a week-long celebration that aims to get people in the Northwest involved in practical activities and events on and around the Mersey and Ribble basins. MWH Mersey Basin Week 2006 was a great success, and we're hoping that this year's event will be better still. If you're interested in getting involved, or would like to register an event, visit the MWH Mersey Basin Week webpage for more details.

Keep checking back to the this blog, as we'll post about planned events for the week, and will report on how everything turns out.

Of course, we'd love to hear comments from you if you're planning an event. Use the blog to appeal for volunteers, show us pictures of what you're up to, or just to publicise your event.