Friends of Chorlton Meadows

Drip, Drip, Drip ... The Destruction of local Biodiversity

2012-02-08T15:37:00.007Z

If you’ve been down to Jackson’s Boat recently you will see that this, once tranquil and popular, beauty spot is being transformed forever. Soon a large bridge will span the river and Metrolink trams will regularly thunder (sorry, ‘glide’ completely soundlessly) across it.

Contractors working for Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) have carved a great swathe through the Lower Hardy Farm Site of Biological Importance (SBI). To be quite honest this breaks my heart. I have
been fascinated by this little patch of ground for nearly 40 years now and I am convinced that, because of its unique plant life, it should have been one of the most important SBIs in the Mersey Valley. There has been little focus on what has been destroyed on the other side of the river – but I expect the damage to be severe.

TfGM have a ‘Wildlife and Tree Replacement Policy’ (http://www.tfgm.com/) within which they state:

“In carrying out its development programmes TfGM recognises an obligation to conserve, protect, and where possible, enhance the natural environment and to mitigate the impact on biodiversity and therefore to protect important wildlife habitats and to take full account of new developments on
wildlife itself. In addition management and after-care arrangements should be put in place for new habitats to ensure they remain safe, attractive and good for wildlife in the longer term, balanced with the need to provide sustainable public transport.” Note the caveats!

So far I see little evidence that TfGM, or, more importantly, their contractors could care less about wildlife. We’ve seen a couple of ponds constructed, using cheap pond liners, and some, shockingly
inept, tree planting ... and that’s about it (lots of careless destruction though!) Presumably all that TfGM feel that they have to do now is to tick a couple of boxes and to rate themselves “Excellent” on the BREEAM scale (don’t ask!)

Recently, I was talking to Marc Hudson of the Manchester Climate Review (http://manchesterclimatemonthly.net/). Marc informed me that he was intending to interview Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, and invited me to suggest a question to put to Sir Richard on the subject of biodiversity. Here’s the result:

“Biodiversity – a questions from Dave Bishop, who helps run Friends of Chorlton Meadows; “Given that developers and their developments have now ‘concreted over’ so many of our remaining green spaces, where is all the wildlife going to live?”

First of all, developers haven’t concreted over so many of our green spaces. Sorry Dave, we are going to build Metrolink to Wythenshawe and the Airport, and it does mean crossing the Mersey Valley(my
italics). Of course, there is a whole history of railways and similar developments protecting wildlife rather than destroying it – creating wildlife corridors because nobody goes on them. I know someone’s found rare orchids on the railway at Crumpsall. So those aren’t necessarily blots for diversity. If you look at what we’re working on for designs for new housing areas and so on, we are increasingly taking the best practice – mainly from Northern Europe – in terms of how we increase green, water management… increasingly within green spaces it won’t all be sculptured lawns and so. We have a greater use of tree
planting species that will encourage insects and birds and so on. I think there is an awful lot going on, including the recently revised Biodiversity Strategy, which is maximising the use of the green space we have, and also recognises that wildlife doesn’t always behave the way we think it ought to. Urban foxes –
are there more of them or not. Lots of people say it’s just about the same as it’s always been, it’s just that we see them more.

But no, we’re not concreting over everything, and we are planting – particularly trees – vast amounts of the city on a year-by-year basis.”

First, I have to thank Sir Richard for taking the time to answer my question. Second, I can’t help feeling that I must have done something right for Sir Richard to actually know who I am and what I stand for!

But I also can’t help but note that Sir Richard’s answer contains quite a bit of ‘hand waving’. Yes, railway lines can act as wildlife refuges – but old abandoned railway lines are even better – and we’ve now lost those to Metrolink! He may not be aware, though, that the whole ‘wildlife corridor’ hypothesis has recently been called into question (but I’ll leave that for another blog post).

More worryingly there’s the usual over-reliance on tree planting as some sort of ‘universal panacea’ for biodiversity loss. Way back in 1986 Dr Oliver Rackham, one of our greatest experts on the British countryside, wrote: Too much attention, and too much money, goes into the unintelligent planting of trees. Tree-planting is not synonymous with conservation; it is an admission that conservation has failed.” (‘The History of the Countryside’, p. 29).

I also disagree with Sir Richard when he states that, “... developers haven’t concreted over so many of our green spaces.” Sorry, Sir Richard, but they have; the amount of open space we’ve lost in Chorlton alone, since I moved here in the 1970s, is shocking! And I’m not the only one who thinks like this. In his book, ‘The Butterflies of Greater Manchester’ (1998) one of our finest local amateur naturalists, Peter Hardy wrote: “The pattern of events in the Mersey Valley is typical of many parts of Greater Manchester. The continuing trend towards private transport results in more and more schemes for building new roads and widening existing ones, and development of new industrial sites and shopping precincts, sometimes in what had appeared to be sacrosanct “green belt” locations ... [An] ever- ncreasing trend towards “market testing” and privatisation, result in every scrap of land being looked at with calculation of how much profit it could generate if put to commercial use."

No doubt Peter and I will be told that Metrolink is designed to take cars off the roads. But, for now, that’s yet another un-tested hypothesis; in the meantime we’ve lost even more of our biodiverse spaces.

The problem with biodiversity loss is that it is gradual but cumulative –‘piece by piece’ as the Guardian newspaper expressed it in 2010 – and it is happening on global, national and local scales. Recently the following startling statements and estimates have come out of Brussels:

“A silent crisis of biodiversity loss is costing the European Union 450 billion euros (US$590 billion) a year, adding to the stress of the ongoing financial crisis, the European Parliament heard on Tuesday. The loss estimate was presented in a draft report to the Environment Committee by Dutch MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Special Rapporteur on Biodiversity of the European Parliament. He represents the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, ALDE, the third largest political group in the European Parliament.

"A quarter of the plants and animals in Europe are in danger of extinction," Gerbrandy told the committee. "This destruction of nature will cost about three percent annual economic growth - equivalent to that which Europe needs at present to rescue the Euro. Biodiversity loss, though, continues year after year."” Environmental News Service, 26.01.2012.

As I was writing this a article, copy of the Manchester Evening News (08.02.2012) came through the door. The lead article states that 250 new homes are to be built in Chorlton, Gorton and
Wythenshawe. Given the present ‘housing shortage’ (plus shortage of profits for developers?) it’s hard to argue against this scheme – but it does definitely and irrefutably mean more land being concreted over and less habitat for wildlife. Piece by piece, drip, drip, drip, the ‘road-to-Hell’ is being concreted over with good intentions?

Dave Bishop, February, 2012

Small Nettle Re-visited

2012-01-26T11:11:00.007Z

Back in July 2009 I wrote about some new plant finds - one of which was Small Nettle (Urtica urens). In that blog entry I wrote:

"This is a smaller, more delicate, annual relative of the Common ‘Stinging’ Nettle (it also stings, by the way!). It is generally considered to be an ‘archeophyte’ – that is a plant introduced into this country, from elsewhere in the world (in this case continental Europe), before the wholly arbitrary date of 1500 AD. Like most archeophytes the seed probably arrived as a contaminant of
the crop seeds which were traded between European countries for millennia."

Since then I have found a few more examples - but it's still quite uncommon round here. Perhaps the most unusual site that I found for it was beside a bus stop opposite Stretford Mall!

As I mentioned in my last posting here, over the Christmas holiday period I stayed with my brother in his new house in North Norfolk (not far from Sandringham - now there's posh!). The countryside in that part of the world is sublime and I spent many happy hours wandering the local heaths, fields and lanes and getting pleasantly lost.

At one point I was ambling along a field boundary, trying to suppress the mild panic arising from the fact that I was fairly thoroughly lost by that point (obviously I managed to find my way back eventually - other-wise I wouldn't be writing this!). I suddenly realised that to my left was a grassy verge full of Common Nettle (U. dioica) and to my right a fallow, ploughed field full of Small Nettle. In spite of the fact that some members of these two populations were literally only inches apart there was no overlap. It just goes to show how precise that habitat requirements of some plants are and why, in South Manchester, Small Nettle is now confined to small areas of disturbed ground such as allotments and 'scuffed up' bits of ground beside bus stops!

Dave Bishop, January 2012

Hawthorn in Flower in January

2012-01-25T10:01:00.006Z

I thought I'd seen it all when I visited my brother in North Norfolk over the Christmas holidays and found a clump of Snowdrops in flower on Boxing Day.; all a bit awkward really as these could not be described as 'the first Snowdrops of 2012', but rather 'the last Snowdrops of 2011'!

Then on the 13th of this month I took a walk along the river bank, from Chorlton to Didsbury, and found eight species of plant in flower. This was a bit unusual - but I told myself that several of these species can be a bit precocious some years.

Then, the day before yesterday (23.01.2012), I found several Hawthorn bushes in flower in a copse, just above the Mersey, near Kingsway. One of the old names for Hawthorn - 'May Blossom' provides a bit of a clue about when Hawthorn should flower.

I could, of course, go on and on and on about 'global warming' (the evidence for which seems pretty convincing to me and will, no doubt, have dire consequences) but I'll spare you and content myself with noting that something very unusual appears to be going on.

Dave Bishop, January 2012

Checking the Nest Boxes on Chorlton Ees and Ivy Green

2012-01-19T12:47:00.005Z

Last year (2011) FoCM obtained a Council grant which allowed us to put up 20 bird boxes on the Chorlton Ees and Ivy Green Local Nature Reserve (see John Agar’s blog entry for March 2011). We put up 10 boxes on the Ivy Green side of Chorlton Brook and 10 on the Chorlton Ees side.

Last Sunday (15.01.2012) four of us: Dave Bishop, John Agar, John’s son Mark and Mark’s wife Julie set out to see if any of the boxes had been used over the previous nesting season, and to clean out those with old nests in. John brought his extensible, aluminium ladders and Mark his battery powered, electric screw-driver.

On the Ivy Green side of the brook we were dismayed to see that the first two boxes we checked were lying on the ground at the foot of their trees. At first we suspected vandalism but then we noted that the screws holding the boxes to the trees had snapped and the boxes themselves had left indentations in the bark of the trees. We had fixed the boxes to the trees too tightly and the expansion of the tree bark, in the course of the year, had exerted enough pressure to snap the screws! Nevertheless, both of these boxes contained nests. The very first nest had a single tiny egg in it which had obviously failed to hatch (see the rather blurred photograph above).

Of the next seven boxes, one had fallen - but all seven contained nests. As well as the old nest the third fallen box contained cherry stones with small holes gnawed in them. Such holed stones are a sign of mice – probably Wood Mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) – which had taken advantage of the fallen box for their own purposes.

We then moved across the brook to Chorlton Ees. It was a bit depressing to find that four of these boxes had gone missing. One had obviously been stolen because the thief had screwed the screw back into the tree (!) but there was no sign of the other three. We suspect that their screws had snapped and
the fallen boxes had been picked up and taken home to install in someone’s garden (at least, we hope that they’re being used). The remaining six boxes all had nests in them, although it looked as if one of the boxes had been abandoned part way through nest construction because wasps had taken up residence. You can see the remains of the wasps’ nest in the bottom photograph.

The nests we found seemed to be of two general types i.e. constructed almost entirely of moss or fibrous nests on platforms of grass stalks. The fibres used to construct the second type could have been synthetic, because some were green and others red. I suspect, though, that some of the fibres used
could have been dog hairs. Some of the old nests, mainly of the second type, were heavily contaminated with droppings and we suspect that birds had used them for shelter during bad weather.

All of the old nests were removed and discarded. The boxes then were cleaned out and returned to their trees, but this time the screws were not screwed in so tightly to allow for bark expansion.

John Agar’s conclusions on the significance of our findings are given below:

The likeliest species to have bred in our boxes are:

The Great Tit (Parus major) which is the largest and commonest European tit. This species breeds
in late April-June in deciduous woods, hedgerows, parks and increasingly in gardens. They nest in a hole of some kind, usually 3ft to 15ft above the ground, and often in tree stumps or walls, nest boxes and various other artificial sites such as drainpipes flower pots etc.

The Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus) which is the only native bird with blue and yellow plumage. Its breeding habits are similar to those of the Great Tit.

The Coal Tit (Parus ater) which is the smallest European tit being slightly smaller than the Blue Tit. This species breeds in coniferous woodlands but is increasing seen in deciduous woodlands and gardens.

Nests

All three species are remarkably similar in their choice of nesting material. Both sexes carry dry grass and
moss into the hole and lining it with hair, down or wool.

Eggs

All three species lay large clutches of eggs: Great Tits 8 -15, Blue Tits 9-12 and Coal Tits 7-12. There is
a remarkable similarity in the colouring i.e. white with red or reddish brown markings. The egg of the Great Tit is the largest but Coal Tit eggs are larger than those of the Blue Tit - even though it is the smaller bird.

In all three species the eggs are incubated by the female for between 14-18 days, during which time she is fed by the male bird. Hatchlings are fed by both parents and leave the nest after 2-3 weeks,

Remarkably all of our nest boxes had been occupied, although it`s not possible to know if all were successful. However, there was no evidence of dead nestlings in any of the boxes. Ideally the boxes
should have been cleaned out in the autumn when the nesting material would not have been so wet and degraded. I think it reasonable to assume that a good number of nestlings had fledged.

Given that the nesting material of the three species is so similar it is not possible say what number of each were present. It would require observation to be carried out when feeding was in progress. We’ll try to make these observations this year. I would expect that Great/Blue were in the majority with just two three pairs Coal Tits.

Finally, if anyone reading this has ‘rescued ‘any of the four missing boxes from Chorlton Ees, please, please, please make sure that you clean them out before the nesting season starts in a couple of months time!

Dave Bishop and John Agar, January 2012

Trees and Winter Gales

2012-01-07T18:23:00.003Z

I suppose that if you live around Chorlton Green, or have visited it in the last couple of days, you will have noticed that one of the Lime trees that grow around the edge of the Green has been blown over.

I think that this happened either late on the night of Wednesday 4^th January
or early the next morning.

This tree grew at the north-west corner of the Green and I suspect that that night’s gales were channelled and amplified as they blew down Albemarle Road - making a tree on that particular corner very vulnerable.

In spite of this loss we have escaped very lightly compared to the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh (where the recent gales have been much stronger than those that we have experienced in South Manchester). A report (see ref. below) on the damage to the gardens states that:

“... it will take much longer to replace more than 40 trees blown over in the storms. They include some specimens which were hundreds of years old, and others which were important in the history of the collection.”

The report continues:

“Dr Edwards (a spokesman for the Gardens) [showed the reporter] a huge native oak which had stood more than 15m (45ft) tall, but had been felled by the winds.

"It's a lovely big specimen tree. Or it was. It's now lying sadly on its side," he said.

"But even though this is a big tree the roots don't go down very deep. They actually only go down about two metres (6ft) into the ground. That's often surprising for people."

But the collapse of the tree has allowed experts to see, for the first time ever, what has been going on in the very uppermost branches of these trees.

"This is very exciting for me", Dr Edwards explained.

"These branches are absolutely covered in lichen. And it's not just one species of lichen. There's a whole variety - some of them growing quite luxuriantly."

That matters because lichens are highly sensitive to environmental pollution.

"The fact that there are so many lichens growing here, and they're looking so healthy, is evidence that Edinburgh has got cleaner over the past few decades."

Dr Edwards said the loss of such a tree was "a tragedy" for RBGE.

But, he added: "In some of the more natural woodland areas, this could be seen as nature's way of pruning out diseased and damaged branches and trees.” ”

With this report in mind I went to have a look at the fallen tree on the Green. Sure enough the roots were surprisingly shallow and the upper branches were adorned with lichens (and mosses and, what I assume, is some sort algae). I suspect that the lichen flora on our felled Lime is not as diverse as that on the Edinburgh Oak – but I don’t know enough about lichens to be sure.

Perhaps the saddest thing about this particular loss is that the tree’s twigs bore abundant buds – just waiting to burst forth in the coming spring; this, of course, will never happen now.

During previous winter gales we have lost several trees on Chorlton Ees. The trees there are particularly prone to wind blow after prolonged rains - which soften the ground. I don’t suppose that I need to remind anyone that we’ve had lots and lots of rain recently and the ground is
very soft indeed.

After I’d examined and photographed the fallen tree on the Green, I walked over to the Ees to inspect any damage there. To my great surprise I couldn’t find a single fallen tree (apart, that is, from those blown over in previous years). It could be that the winds were not as strong this winter as they have been in previous years; but another possibility occurred to me:

The trees on Chorlton Ees were planted around 40 years ago. They were planted too close together, have rarely been thinned and, as a result, have tended to grow tall and spindly. In addition, because they are planted trees they have, almost by definition, weakened roots (digging up a tree and re-planting it tends to damage its roots). When these trees reached an optimum
height they became vulnerable to wind blow. But successive winter gales, over the last few years, have now winnowed out the weakest and most vulnerable trees.

From now on fewer will blow down and those that remain may even have stronger
roots (I suspect that the bending and flexing that goes on during gales may
strengthen the roots in such a way that they are more able to withstand the
prevailing winds). I should stress that this is just a hypothesis and don’t be
surprised if we lose more trees if we get more gales this winter or in
subsequent years.

In a spindly plantation, such as that on Chorlton Ees, the loss of
a few trees to gales is no big deal and tends to add to the biodiversity of the
site by letting in more light. In addition, as the fallen trunks rot they form
a habitat for various invertebrates, fungi, mosses and ferns.

Dave Bishop, January, 2012

Reference: 'Worst ever' storm damage at Edinburgh botanic
garden By Huw Williams BBC Scotland reporter, BBC News, Edinburgh, Fife & East
Scotland, 05.01.2012 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-16427921)

Get fit in the outdoors - THIS SUNDAY (8th)

2012-01-06T12:02:00.003Z

Blast awat those January blues and get the blood pumping while helping nature at the same time. Join the Friends of Chorlton Meadows as we help the ground flora of Ivy Green by removing some of the sapling regeneration along a strip of woodland between the nature reserve and the allotments.

Meet: Ivy Green Car Park, Brookburn Road, opposite the Bowling Green pub

Time: 10.30am

If you're late just follow the path to the right hand side of the reserve, if entering from Brookburn Road, and you'll see us.

Young naturalists Wildlife Watch - 7th January

2012-01-03T09:39:00.005Z

Image: Tom Marshall, CWT

What's the event? Cheshire Wildlife Watch forms the junior branch of Cheshire Wildlife Trust - nationwide, Watch is the leading club for young budding environmentalists. It is run by trained and CRB checked volunteers and consists of environmental activities for children aged 5 - 15.

Activities are varied and could include bug hunts, butterfly spotting, pond dipping, arts and crafts and games for all ages. It’s FREE but we encourage attendees to join Wildlife Watch to get all the benefits of being a junior member, as well as supporting the work of Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Bring wellies and waterproofs in case it’s wet!

When is it? Every 1st Saturday of the month, 2-3.30pm. Next one: 7th January
Where is it? Chorlton Water Park, Visitor Centre, Maitland Road, M21 7JJ

For more details contact: caroline.milson@hotmail.co.uk or checkout the Facebook page 'Chorlton Wildlife Watch'

Winter Bird Walk - wigeon and willow tit star

2011-11-27T15:20:00.005Z

A blustery but bright morning at Sale Water park saw six novice bird watchers assemble and set off on a walk where we saw 31 different species of bird. Not bad for the local patch. Our first look at the bird feeders outside the centre revealed a surprise. Two willow tits and a woodpecker on the feeders. I get so used to seeing blue, great and even coal tits on the feeders that the dusky pinkish flanks and the bullish head of willow tit stood out from the crowd. We rambled on ticking off some of the usual suspects such as the greedy blackbirds gobbling hawthorn berries. The bright orange chest of a bullfinch was spotted by about half of us before darting for cover.

After a little detour we arrived at Sale Water Park which was lower than normal raising promise of seeing more wading birds and wildfowl than usual. Unfortunately, no waders but lots of teal, coots, black headed gulls and most exciting of all, a small flock of wigeon were preening themselves at the west end of the lake. We even saw two wagtails; the grey and the pied (one of our number evocatively described the pied wagtail as a 'midget magpie').

The view from Broad Ees Dole didn't disappoint either. Nine herons lined the bank on one side with scruffy and spikey splendour. Three shoveler ducks pirouetted their way round the pools filtering for microscopic life in the water and a gang of teal looked resplendent in the sun. No winter thrushes though which we all put down to the mild start to winter. All in all a great morning's birdwatching in the Mersey Valley.

Blackbird
Black-headed gull
Blue tit
Bullfinch
Canada goose
Carrion crow
Chaffinch
Coot
Cormorant
Goldfinch
Great crested grebe
Great spotted woodpecker
Great tit
Grey wagtail
Heron
Jay
Kestrel
Little grebe
Long-tailed tit
Magpie
Mallard
Moorhen
Mute swan
Pied wagtail
Robin
Shoveler
Sparrowhawk
Teal
Wigeon
Willow tit
Wood pigeon

Event tomorrow Sun 27th Nov. - Winter Bird Walk

2011-11-26T16:03:00.002Z

What? Winter bird walk led by FoCM members: Richard Gardner and Julian Robinson
Where? meet at Sale Water Park Visitor Centre
When? 10.30am. Sunday 27th November 2011

Bring binoculars if you have them. Hopefully, we'll see winter migrants recently arrived from Scandinavia and Russia and also some wildfowl on the watery bits of the Mersey Valley.

Wildlife Watch - every 1st Saturday of the month

2011-11-21T08:24:00.003Z

What's the event? Cheshire Wildlife Watch forms the junior branch of Cheshire Wildlife Trust - nationwide, Watch is the leading club for young budding environmentalists. It is run by trained and CRB checked volunteers and consists of environmental activities for children aged 5 - 15.

Activities are varied and could include bug hunts, butterfly spotting, pond dipping, arts and crafts and games for all ages. It’s FREE but we encourage attendees to join Wildlife Watch to get all the benefits of being a junior member, as well as supporting the work of Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Bring wellies and waterproofs in case it’s wet!

When is it? Every 1st Saturday of the month, 2-3.30pm. Next one: 3rd December
Where is it? Chorlton Water Park, Visitor Centre, Maitland Road, M21 7JJ

For more details contact: caroline.milson@hotmail.co.uk or checkout the Facebook page 'Chorlton Wildlife Watch'

Metrolink and Biodiversity - Business as Usual

2011-10-13T20:28:00.004+01:00

Earlier this summer, because of the ground disturbance in the vicinity of Metrolink’s St Werburgh’s Road tram stop, hundreds of arable 'weeds' appeared on the newly created embankments. The seeds of such plants can remain buried but viable for decades (perhaps even for a century or more) and disturbance, and subsequent exposure to sunlight, caused them to germinate. Many of these 'weeds' (not a scientific term!) would have been familiar to the old Chorlton farmers and their farm workers (they probably cursed such plants - but they were trying to maximise crop yields). There were Poppies, Wild Pansies, Wild Radish, Fumitories and many more. Many of these plants were recorded in the local floras from the mid-19th century and in the local collection in Manchester Museum Herbarium. And it was not just me that appreciated these profusely flowering plants - they were also covered in bees, butterflies and other invertebrates. Nevertheless, when I returned to the same spot, a couple of weeks later, to see if anything else had appeared, I found that the whole bank had been sprayed with herbicide.

A recent paper (ref.1) from researchers at Hull University highlights the importance of such plants for biodiversity. Dr Evans and his team discovered that:
Weeds, which are widely deemed as a nuisance plant, are vital to the existence of many farmland species.

Since many weeds produce flowers and seed, they are an integral part of our ecosystem and together with other crop and non-crop seeds found on farms, they provide food for over 330 species of insects, birds and animals.
The team examined the distribution of berries and soil-surface seeds collected over an entire year. They built up the first picture of its kind showing which farmland habitats are the most important seed producers and how the seed resources change in different seasons.

Dr Evans said: "We understand a lot about farmland birds and mammals, but little about the plants and insects that underpin them. In this study, we discovered not only the importance of weed and non-crop species for many farmland animals but that the vast majority of seed-feeding animals on farms are insects, which are often overlooked by conservationists."

The team of researchers converted seed counts into mass and energy estimates; they found that shed seeds and berries available on a single organic farm can produce a staggering 560 gigajoules of energy.

Dr Evans added: "We show that an increase in farm management intensity can lead to a decline of up to 19% in overall seed biomass and energy, which is presumably why agricultural intensification causes many farmland birds to suffer a 'hunger-gap' in mid-winter. Non-farmed habitats such as woodlands and hedgerows are important for seed resources, but we also show that some farmed areas are too".
The team predicted that increased farming intensity can have large cascading effects throughout an entire ecosystem, which can indirectly affect animals associated with the seeds.

The scientists conclude that farmers can maintain or enhance biodiversity by appropriately managing uncultivated, semi-natural habitats such as hedgerows and woodlands but that even small changes to cropped areas, such as allowing some weed species to grow, could have a huge impact on the quantity and variety of seeds available on the farm and the animals that feed on them. They suggest that rather than focussing limited conservation resources on a small number of charismatic species such as birds, an alternative approach is to understand and manage the complex network of species interactions on farms and to explore ways of incorporating this into policy.

I wrote to Dr Evans and asked him if he thought that his findings might also apply in an urban setting. He did not reject my suggestion out of hand but informed me that he thought that it could merit further investigation. My guess is, though, that all of the Metrolink embankments taken together are comparable in size to an average organic farm.

Besides depriving local invertebrates of sources of summer pollen and nectar, and invertebrates, birds and small mammals of sources of winter food, the destruction of the St Werburgh’s Road population of native annuals and archaeophytes with herbicide had a further consequence. A few weeks after spraying I noted that the bank was now dominated by a plant called Hoary Mustard (Hirschfieldia incana); this is a recently introduced species (an ‘alien neophyte’) originally from the Mediterranean. I suspect that it may be more resistant to herbicides than the plants originally present – and hence, given the opportunity, it became dominant. There are signs that this plant is spreading, with ecological consequences which are, as yet, unknown. It is certainly much more common, both locally and nationally, than it used to be. A recent report (ref. 2) records “massed occurrences” of it in South Hertfordshire – especially by the M25 and the A1M. Referring to the M25 population the author of the report estimates that “tens of millions of plants must have been involved”.

On the day that I discovered the St Werburgh’s Road ‘weed’ bank a passer-by asked what I was looking at. When I told him he said, “Oh, they’ll spray them with herbicide soon!” And, of course, he was right. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has made specific public promises to protect biodiversity. For example their ‘Wildlife and Tree Replacement Policy’ (ref. 3) states that:

“The development of transport infrastructure must ensure the protection and enhancement of protected landscapes, habitats and sites; and take opportunities to protect and enhance biodiversity, ...”

I submit that the thoughtless and routine spraying of herbicide at this particular site suggests that TfGM and their contractors are not really interested in protecting and enhancing biodiversity and in reality consider local wildlife to be worthless and expendable; in short: “wildlife policies are for cissies - business as usual!”

Dave Bishop, October 2011

References:

1. D.M. Evans, M.J.O. Pocock, J. Brooks, J. Memmot, ‘Seeds in farmland food-webs: Resource importance, distribution and the impact of farm management.’ Biological Conservation, Sept 2011.

2. T.J. James, ‘Massed occurrence of Hirschfieldia incana (Hoary Mustard) in south Hertfordshire (v.c. 20)’, BSBI News, No. 118, Sept. 2011.

3. http://www.tfgm.com/corporate/environment_policy_documents.cfm

Wildlife Watch - this Saturday

2011-09-14T12:52:00.002+01:00

What's the event? Cheshire Wildlife Watch forms the junior branch of Cheshire Wildlife Trust - nationwide, Watch is the leading club for young budding environmentalists. It is run by trained and CRB checked volunteers and consists of environmental activities for children aged 5 - 15.

Activities are varied and could include bug hunts, butterfly spotting, pond dipping, arts and crafts and games for all ages. It’s FREE but we encourage attendees to join Wildlife Watch to get all the benefits of being a junior member, as well as supporting the work of Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Bring wellies and waterproofs in case it’s wet!

When is it? This Saturday 17th September, 2-3.30pm

Where is it? Chorlton Park, Visitor Centre, Maitland Road, M21 7JJ

For more details contact: caroline.milson@hotmail.co.uk

Hawk-moths of the Mersey Valley

2011-08-08T15:30:00.009+01:00

An encounter with these spectacular insects is always memorable. With wingspans of up to 10cm, and brightly coloured markings, they are far from the image of the typical moth as a small, dowdy, brown insect. There are four common resident species here in Manchester, plus one uncommon resident, and a number of migrant species of varying rarity.

Elephant Hawk-moth
Of the four common resident species, this is arguably the most spectacular with its stunning pink and green colouration. Up to a 6cm wingspan and found from May to July, the caterpillars feed on Rose-bay Willow-herb in late summer. There is a smaller close relative, the Small Elephant Hawk-moth, which has a a wingspan of about 4cm, and is far less common.

Poplar Hawk-moth
Probably the commonest of the hawk-moths, and one of the largest with up to a 9cm wingspan, this moth adopts a unique posture with its hingwings held higher than the forewings. This covers a reddish patch on the hindwings which can then be quickly revealed to deter predators. The moth can be seen in June and July.

Eyed Hawk-moth
Another spectacular species with huge blue “eyes” on pink hindwings, which are revealed if the moth is disturbed. Up to 8cm long and flying from May to July, the caterpillars feed on apple and sallow, as well as some other trees.

Lime Hawk-moth
A pink and green tinged moth, more subtle than the colouration of the Elephant Hawk-moth, and with distinctive scallop edged forewings, this moth has a wingspan of up to 7cm. This species flies in May and June. The caterpillars feed on lime, elm, alder, cherry or birch.

All the above are night-fliers but may occasionally be encountered in the day resting on fences, tree trunks etc. They are strongly attracted to light and hopefully some of them will be attending the moth night at Sale Water Park on 30th July!

Hummingbird Hawk-moth
This is a day-flying hawk-moth which may, if you are lucky, be seen hovering and probing its proboscis deep within flowers such as honeysuckle. It is a migratory species which sometimes arrives here in quite good numbers.

More photos of the above species, and of the rare migrant Hawk-moths, can be seen on the UKMoths website at: http://ukmoths.org.uk/index.php

Ben Smart, 2011

Report on Insects of the Mersey Valley Walk, 03/07/2011

2011-07-21T11:45:00.009+01:00

Glorious weather was met with a super turnout, one of the best I can recall for a FoCM event.

The numbers were boosted thanks to the joining of a group of MAD walkers, who tagged on as part of their programme.

Richard and I had chosen a variety of habitats and techniques to try. Indeed, when planning the walk, it was apparent that within not much more than a stone’s throw you could step from meadow, to scrub, to woodland and wetland habitat, all of which have their particular specialist ‘minibeasts’ in residence.

Our first challenge was to survey the ground level dwellers of grassland and scrub, our choice of location the old orchard by Jackson’s Boat Bridge, now well broken into and pedestrianised with footpaths.

A few days earlier we’d secreted around the orchard a few pit traps. These are fairly simple devices, comprising two plastic cups, the kind found on any water cooler, sunk into the ground. The reason for two is so that the inner cup can be removed from the ground smoothly without caving in the hole, which can then be reused for any longer term survey. We poured into each cup a small amount of an alcohol solution so as to quickly drown any fallers-in. Though seeming sound unkind, there is a sound reason for doing this, as in order to get a representative sample it is necessary to quickly stun or kill what happens to fall in. Without this, it is likely that all you’d be left with in the trap would be one fairly fat ground beetle: the top insect predator of the undergrowth, who would have happily fed on any lesser equipped species. Not that it was necessary as the days leading up to the walk were all very sunny, but we placed a piece of plexiglas over the top of the trap, secured into place with tent pegs and tilted at a angle to drain away any rain water from flooding the cup.

We quickly found all 6 traps hidden around the orchard and tipped out their contents into white plastic trays to better observe what we’d caught. All the traps contained some specimens, with most a spattering of small-sized representatives from the arachnids and springtails – two of the more common families which play an important dietary component to larger species. Equally enjoyable during this was the joining of our group of two or three unexpected insect guests, namely a common grasshopper and froghopper, both obligingly seated onto people’s coats, and in the case of the froghopper, onto the rim of the tray, making them easy to be caught in viewing pots.

One of the more impressive specimens, and something we’d hoped to catch, was a species of large ground beetle. The ground beetles are a numerous family, possibly containing many hundreds of species, their individual types only often separated through close observation of such things as the number hairs on their legs. One notable feature of the two we found is that they were all black, including their legs. Other species I’m familiar with, often from turning over logs or old carpet!, exhibit violet or black colourations to their legs or flanks – so, if anyone has any more exact information on the all black species we caught, please let us know.

The next stopping off point was the boggy drainage channel which connects the Mersey to Sale Water Park. This slow moving water is often left undisturbed, the sluice gates connecting it to the Mersey only rarely opened when the water levels get particularly high. As consequence, it’s a rich habitat for many invertebrates. Some of the star groups are the damsel and dragon flies that live out their lifecycles here – and sure enough, we observed in the reeds and grass around the channel a few examples of damsel flies, one of the most attractive a male banded demoiselle, replete with it dark thumb print on its wings.

We then took some scoops out of the channel using pond nets and tipped the contents into our trays. This is always an exciting process as it’s not everyday you come into contact with the invertebrate life of ponds, and when you do I’m always struck by the impressive size and alien shapes that thrive. Species which were observed ranged from leeches, molluscs, including a small fresh waster muscle, pond skaters and water boatmen. However, the best capture was arguably a large, silvery species of diving beetle – seen up close fierce and otherworldly looking.

We rounded off the walk with an exploration of the woodland habitat close to the visitor’s centre at Sale Water Park. Here we all got involved by turning over logs and seeing what we could see living among the dead wood. Slugs were particularly common, with one particularly large example of a leopard slug being particularly impressive. We also found woodlice, lots or millipedes and beetles, all of which play an important role in the breaking down and recycling organic material back into the soil.

Julian Robinson

Stonecrops

2011-07-19T12:46:00.004+01:00

Here’s one for all you fans of the counter-intuitive!

Stonecrops (Sedum sp.) are plants with hairless, succulent, fleshy leaves. These leaves act as water storage organs, hence Stonecrops are adapted for life in dry, sharply-drained environments (sand dunes, rocks, walls etc.). So the odd thing is that three of the Mersey Valley species grow on the river bank, almost at the water’s edge.

The explanation for this, superficially odd, circumstance is that the dry habitats, free from the competition that these small plants would have difficulty coping with, are at the river’s edge.

In some places sandy silt has built up to form miniature sand banks and in others the river banks have been shored up with concrete strips and rafts. These represent almost ideal habitats for Stonecrops, with one small snag, which you may be able to guess – but more of that later.

The three species are as follows:

Biting Stonecrop (Sedum acre) – Top Photo

This yellow flowered species is native to the UK. It is the first of the three species under discussion to flower (May to July). The leaves have a peppery, ‘biting’ taste – hence the name (it’s probably not wise to consume any more than the absolute minimum if you decide to test this out).
Biting Stonecrop is relatively common in the UK – usually on walls, rocks or sand dunes. Nevertheless, it is now rare in the Mersey Valley. The plants in the picture were photographed, just below the Princess Road Bridge, on a sandy layer deposited by the river on a concrete raft.

This species used to grow at the base of the brick walls that line the old sewage works channel that runs parallel to the river bank at the edge of Chorlton Ees. Sadly this population was destroyed a few years ago in a ‘tidying-up’ operation. When I complained I was told that it was, “only a garden escape”. This may or may not be true but garden escapes which become naturalised in the wild (and are not invasive) are intrinsically interesting and should not be carelessly destroyed – particularly not for reasons of tidiness!

I can’t find any old records, for this species, from Chorlton and adjacent areas but, in the mid-19th century, the species was certainly present in the Altrincham/Bowdon area.

White Stonecrop (Sedum album) – Middle Photo

This species is also native to the UK, but is restricted in its distribution as a truly native plant. Nevertheless, it is not infrequently encountered as a naturalised garden escape. It flowers from June to August.

White Stonecrop is now, by far, the commonest Stonecrop on the narrow strips and rafts of concrete at the river’s edge. A couple of weeks ago its massed flowers made a spectacular display at the base of the northern river bank about quarter of a mile west of Crossford Bridge - which carries the A56 over the river near Stretford. I noted some small butterflies feeding on the flowers. There’s one of these butterflies in the photograph. I think that it’s probably a Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) – but feel free to disagree with me!

Rock Stonecrop (Sedum forsterianum) – Bottom Photo

Rock Stonecrop is another native plant which also frequently occurs as a garden escape. It’s much less common than White Stonecrop and much more sporadic in its occurrence, but grows in much the same places. It flowers from June to August.
It is generally larger, has much longer slimmer, pointed leaves which are flattened on their upper surfaces.

The snag for these plants is, of course, that periodically they have to endure flooding. You’ve probably seen the Mersey in spate – a rushing, raging torrent which can rise right up to the upper flood banks, completely inundating the Stonecrops’ habitat. It’s amazing that they don’t get washed away – they must have amazingly strong root systems!

What I suspect actually happens that many leaves do break off and are washed downstream. Then, if luck prevails, they will end up on another bit of concrete where they can produce roots and another Stonecrop colony.

Dave Bishop, July 2011

A Rose by Another Name

2011-07-02T11:29:00.003+01:00

Sorry about the title - it's supposed to be a joke. I'm not sure that it works (?) Still. Never mind. Onwards!

In the last article I talked about trying to find the Roses on the list that Leo Grindon published, for the Manchester area, in the mid-19th century. Well, I think that I might have found one of them, and possibly a second - plus one that isn't even on the list.

The one that appears to be more or less definite is the Field Rose (Rosa arvensis). This corresponds to the picture above (although it could be some sort of hybrid, of course). Ironically this plant is on Hardy Farm and I pass it quite regularly (you never know what could be 'hiding in plain sight'!). A couple of key characteristics of this plant are that it has creamy white flowers and the style (the female part in the middle of the flower) is on a short column. An important question is: was it planted in the spot where it grows (as many trees and shrubs were in the 1970/80s) or did arrive of its own accord - perhaps bird seeded? I suppose we'll never know.

Last week I also found, in a hedge in the Albemarle allotments in Withington, a plant with straight prickles - which could be Soft Downy-rose (R. mollis) - but, for various reasons, I'm not sure.

Finally, I've recently found a plant which nearly keys out as Round-leaved Dog-rose (R. obtusifolia). Everything fits (flower colour, sepals, prickles, presence of small, reddish glands on the leaf edges etc.) except that it's supposed to have hairy leaves - and the two specimens that I've found have completely smooth and hairless leaves - baffling!

Dave Bishop, July 2011

Wild Roses

2011-06-23T19:20:00.004+01:00

Roses are some of our most beautiful wild flowers and June is the month in which they bloom. The sight of them always lifts my spirits and when I come across them in some neglected corner of the Mersey Valley I reflect on how something of beauty managed to survive the brutal destruction of our local landscapes, mostly in the second half of the 20th century, and the largely insensitive, and often crass, interventions which followed.

These flowers may be beautiful but in terms of their classification (taxonomy) they are very complex. There are 20 or 21 species (depending on which authority you consult) of Rose growing wild in Britain – some of which are introductions (about 8 species). They exhibit variations within species and the species often hybridise with one another (there are more than 80 different hybrids).

Species and hybrids are distinguished from each other by examining details of their growth habit, leaves, prickles, fruits (‘hips’) and flowers.

How many species are native in present day South Manchester and the Mersey Valley is difficult to tell, and the picture has been complicated by the fact that many Roses (often of uncertain origin) were introduced in the 1970s and 80s. In his ‘Manchester Flora’ (1), published in 1859, Leo Grindon listed four species: Common Dog-rose (Rosa canina), White Dog-rose (R. arvensis), Hairy-fruited Dog-rose (R. villosa) and Downy-leaved Dog-rose (R. tomentosa). Modern authorities (2, 3) now call these respectively: Dog-rose (R. canina), Field-rose (R. arvensis), Soft Downy-rose (R. mollis – the name R.villosa now being obsolete) and Harsh Downy-rose (R. tomentosa). I’m not sure that I’ve sorted these four species out yet and I still need to do more work in order to state, with any confidence, that they are all still present.

In what follows I will describe the Dog-rose – which is still reasonably common around here – and two other British species which can be found in the present day Mersey Valley but which are probably not native in this area and were probably introduced in the 1970s and 80s.

Dog Rose (Rosa canina) – see top photo

This is a plant of hedgerows and scrub and is often an early coloniser of derelict sites around towns and cities.
Apart from its vicious, hooked prickles this is a common shrub of great beauty, elegance and (seeming) simplicity. In fact it is anything but simple! Experts have noted that this species is very variable and can be divided into four groups with a continuous range of variation between them (2,3). There are also a number of hybrids between Dog Rose and other species (ref. 2. lists ten and a more recent book, ref.3. lists eight).

Sweet-briar or Eglantine (R. rubiginosa) – see middle photo

This plant usually occurs on calcareous soils and although it can grow in hedgerows it is particularly characteristic of open scrub of chalk or limestone. Hence, it doesn’t really belong in the Mersey Valley at all! Nevertheless, it is now quite common at the western (i.e. Trafford) end of the Valley where it was probably planted around 30 – 35 years ago.

An important characteristic of Sweet-briar is the little, stalked glands on its flower stalks and leaves. When these glands are gently rubbed or pressed between fingers they release a very pleasant, sweet apple-like scent (hence the common name).

There’s something romantic and quintessentially English about this plant (although it’s probably not confined to England). Whenever I smell that sweet scent I imagine a pretty maiden emerging from a Helen Allingham, ‘chocolate-box’ thatched cottage on a dewy June morning, pausing to sniff the Eglantine growing around the door-frame before hurrying off to milk her cows – all accompanied by Vaughan Williams's, ‘The Lark Ascending’ of course!

Many-flowered Rose (R. multiflora) – see bottom photo

This is one of the introduced species now naturalised in Britain. It is a Chinese species, originally introduced as a root-stock for ornamental rambling roses. Gardeners sometimes throw these out, when they are past their best, and they end up on rubbish tips. A good place to see this spectacular species is on Hardy Farm near Jackson’s Boat Bridge. It’s no coincidence, of course, that Hardy Farm was once a Council tip.

Although the flowers of wild Roses may be beautiful, the hips are more diagnostic. These fruits are present from July to, at least, mid September – so I’ve got a bit more time this year to do a bit more sorting out.

References:

1. The Manchester Flora, by Leo H. Grindon, William White, 1859.

2. Roses of Great Britain and Ireland - BSBI Handbook No. 7, by G.G. Graham and A.L. Primavesi, Botanical Society of the British Isles, 1993.

3. New Flora of the British Isles, 3rd Edition, by Clive A. Stace, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Dave Bishop, June 2011

Guided Bee Walk, Sunday 12th June 2011 by Carl Ashcroft

2011-06-17T20:38:00.004+01:00

Many thanks to all of the Friends of Chorlton Meadows who in a collective act of optimism braved the torrential rain to take part in the guided bee walk on Sunday 12th June 2011.

While unfortunately not a bee was seen on the walk due to the bad weather, a lively discussion took place covering many aspects of bees, including their anatomy and form, life-cycles and behaviour. As a result, walk attendees should now be able to answer the following questions:

1. Do bumblebees nest above or below ground?
2. How many common bumble species are there locally?
3. Do bumblebee colonies in Britain over-winter (generally speaking)?
4. How many bees might you find in a bumblebee nest?
5. What are the benefits of swarming to the honeybee?
6. What are the costs of swarming to the beekeeper?1
7. What is Varroa destructor?
8. What is propilis?
9. What three things do honeybees collect from plants and why?
10. How many species of bumblebee currently are to be found in Briain?

Some walk attendees asked about books on bees. The following, for me, are the ones which stand out as good, and would certainly provide answers to the above questions.

Benton, T., 2006, Bumblebees: the natural history and identification of the species found in Britain, Collins, London.

This is part of the Collins New Naturalist Series. It is probably the best book general book on bumblebees found in Britain that there is. As with all New Naturalist books, it is aimed at the informed amateur. It also includes robust and thorough taxonomic keys for males, workers and queens for all taxa. Not cheap, probably around £20 for the paperback, but worth it.

Goulson, D., 2003, Bumblebees: behaviour and biology, Oxford University Press.

This is a 235 page literature review of scientific publications covering most aspects of bumblebee behaviour and biology compiled by the country’s leading bumblebee academic.

Hooper, T., 1997, Guide to Bees and Honey, 4th edition, Master House, Regent Publishing Services, China.

This for me is the beekeeper’s bible. If you want to be a beekeeper buy this. Otherwise, it is probably not for you. It is a technical manual.

Intenthron, M. & Gerrand, J, 1999., Making Nests for Bumblebees: a way to save an endangered species, International Bee Research Association, Cardiff.

A little pamphlet which shows you how to make nests for bumblebees.

Carl Ashcroft, June 2011

Postscript

We may not have seen any bees on the day of the walk but a couple of days later local resident, Mark Chamberlain, e-mailed me to report that he had spotted a swarm of honey bees in a Horse Chestnut tree on The Meade in Chorltonville. He asked me if I knew of a local bee expert - and, naturally, I thought of Carl and gave his e-mail address to Mark. Carl had had little experience of dealing with swarms himself but knew of an expert from North Manchester who came down and sorted it out. We don't know what happened next but perhaps the story will emerge in time (?) Mark took a photograph of the swarm the swarm (see lower picture above).

Ragged Robin

2011-06-05T23:27:00.004+01:00

One of my favourite wild flower sites is to the west of Chorlton. I’m not going to describe exactly where it is because ... well, it’s a secret!

I visit my secret site several times a year so that I can observe the succession of fine flowers which adorn it.

My most recent visit was last week when it was decorated with Marsh Orchids (Dactylorhiza spp.) and several magnificent stands of Ragged Robin (Silene flos-cuculi *).

According to one of my favourite wild flower books (1) Ragged Robin is a common perennial plant of wet meadows, marshes, fens and wet woodlands on mineral or peaty soils (I think that the soils on my site are quite complex because, like much of the Mersey Valley, it has been variously stripped and tipped on and generally messed about with). Ragged Robin flowers during late spring and early summer (about now, of course!) and is pollinated by a variety of butterflies and day-flying moths.

Although Ragged Robin is a striking plant, with its fair share of vernacular names, Geoffrey Grigson (2) tells us that it has “few associations”. He quotes the great Tudor herbalist, John Gerard who reported that: “These are not used either in medicine or in nourishment: but they serve for garlands and crowns, and to decke up gardens.” Nevertheless, in another passage Grigson discusses the ‘Robin’ name in the context of Herb Robert (Geranium sanguineum). He writes: “The name Robin, a diminutive of Robert by way of French, seems innocent in its attachment to flowers, but most of the Robin flowers appear to have been linked to goblin, robin and evil ... and snakes, death, the devil, fairies, sex, and cuckoos.” Therefore Grigson appears to have uncovered few recorded associations for Ragged Robin but suggests that the name implies that several sinister associations may once have existed. Mind you the fairies told me that everything would be fine as long as I paid the tithe ... anyone know where I can get a unicorn’s horn?

Richard Mabey (3) reports that Ragged Robin is a declining plant of wet meadows. Sadly, many British wild flowers could be said to be ‘declining’ but this one still occurs in a small number of Mersey Valley sites, including my secret site – which is probably the best of them (anyway, that’s what the fairies told me to say ...)

Dave Bishop, June 2011

References:
1. 'The Wild Flowers of the British Isles’, illustrated by Ian Garrard, text by David Streeter, Macmillan, 1983.

2. ‘The Englishman’s Flora’ by Geoffrey Grigson, Paladin, 1975 (first pub. 1958).

3. ‘Flora Britannica’ by Richard Mabey, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1996.

*This plant’s scientific name has changed recently from Lychnis flos-cuculi to Silene flos-cuculi (see Stace, 3rd edition, 2010).

Two FoCM Guided Walks in June and July

2011-06-03T21:17:00.002+01:00

For any readers of this blog who are not (probably as a result of my incompetence) on the FoCM e-mail list there are two guided walks coming up which you might be interested in:

1. An Introduction to Bees led by Carl Ashcroft (local bee keeper); Sunday 12th June, meet Chorlton Ees car park (end of cobbled road off Brookburn Road) at 10:30 am.

2. Insect Life of the Meadows led by Richard Gardner and Julian Robinson (FoCM Committee members); Sunday 3rd July, meet Jackson's Boat Bridge at 10:30 am.

Both events are free and no booking is required. Both walks may last 3 or 4 hours but there is no obligation to 'stay the course' (although please let walk leaders know if you decide to leave early so that they will know that they haven't lost anyone!).

More walks and task days are in the planning stage.

Dave Bishop, June 2011

Book Review by Andrew Simpson

2011-05-29T16:34:00.003+01:00

Andrew is a keen local historian and has just written an historical account of Chorlton in the period between 1800 and the mid-19th century. Andrew's book should be available in the autumn of this year.

The Book of the Farm by Henry Stephens (first pub. 1844) new edition abridged and edited by Alex Langlands, pub. Anova Books (Batsford Ltd.)2011, (ISBN 13: 9781906388911; ISBN 10: 1906388911), 304 pp., £25:00.

Recently I walked the meadows in the company of David Bishop, and Ingrid Burney. It was one of those conducted tours that Dave and Ingrid do so well. David provided a detailed description of the plant life we encountered and Ingrid retold old folk tales fitting them into our surroundings.

It is easy to take the meadows at face value and assume that what you see is what it always was. But the land has been altered, by land fill tipping and before that by the construction of a sewage works. In fact even before the start of the walk I fell across someone who remembered living in a house by the footbridge across the brook when his father worked at the sewage farm in the 1950s.

Go back another hundred years and the place was different again. Much of the land was pasture and meadow land and was farmed in small parcels by families like the Higginbotham’s who settled in the township in the 1840s and were still here in the 1960s.

Meadowland as David’s is wont to tell you are perhaps one of the finest examples of how to sympathetically use the land. It is a skilled task and involves regularly irrigating the fields so that they can produce early grass for pasture.

I was reminded of this by the republication of 'The Book of the Farm' by Henry Stephens. I first came across it while watching 'The Victorian Farm' on TV and quickly found that it could be downloaded from Google Books has now been reissued by Anova Books as well as being available on Kindle.

It was written in 1844, and ran to countless editions. It was the manual for anyone wanting to be a farmer. Everything is here from what crops to plant and when to how to make a well, as well as sound advice on hiring labourers, the construction of a water meadow, and the best location for the milk house and cheese room. I learned which materials were best for building a farm house and how much I could expect to pay for materials, as well as the most up to date scientific information on planting wurzels.

It was a practical book and so “the cost of digging a well in clay, eight feet in diameter and sixteen deep and building a ring three feet in diameter with dry rubble masonry is only L5 [£5] exclusive of carriage and the cost of pumps.”

He calculated that that two brood sows could produce 40 pigs between them and that retaining six for home use the remaining 34 could easily be sold at market. So many of the smaller farmers and market gardeners in the township might well keep at least one sow and use it to supplement their income. Nor should we forget that these animals were destined for the table and so the slaughter of pigs was best done around Martinmas in early November because “the flesh in the warm months is not sufficiently firm and is then liable to be fly born before it is cured” and doing so in early November had the added advantage that cured hams would be ready for Christmas.

To read Stephens is to step back into the world that was Chorlton in the 1850s and for that alone it is worth making the effort to get a copy.

Andrew Simpson, May 2011

The Red Tape Challenge - A Dire Threat to Our Environment!

2011-04-26T20:35:00.012+01:00

Our very wonderful Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, has decided that ‘too much Red Tape’ is bad for business. In other words Big Business, which can already do pretty well much as it likes, doesn’t want any restraints on its activities whatsoever. Mr Cameron has eagerly launched a ‘crusade’ to help them as much as he can. As you will see below the nasty, troublesome old Red Tape, which is up for review, includes some of our most important wildlife and environmental legislation. If Mr Cameron gets his way he will be able to stand there smiling his best posh PR Executive’s smile while his chums in Big Business strip mine the country and cover it with concrete! What follows was brought to my attention by FoCM’s moth expert, Ben Smart.

The message below is from Dr Martin Warren, CEO of Butterfly Conservation:

“A very worrying consultation has recently been announced by Government which is considering the scrapping of various environmental laws. I am emailing Branch committee members to ask you to express your opposition to this proposal which could do immeasurable damage to wildlife, including butterflies and moths. Please circulate this email to anyone else who might feel the same.”

Further information

“The Government has recently launched a consultation on the proposed scrapping of a whole range of regulations, known as the "Red Tape Challenge". This was launched by Vince Cable on 7 April 2011 in a bid to boost short-term economic growth. Amazingly this includes most of the wildlife legislation that we and our partners have worked so hard to get on the statute books in recent years.

In short, it seems Government is considering getting rid of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, the Climate Change Act, and 278 environment laws (among thousands of laws and regulations). These Acts are essential for protecting key wildlife sites and species from development and have been developed after long campaigns by wildlife NGOs. Scrapping them would results in immeasurable damage to species and habitats, including butterflies and moths.

Environmental regulations fall under "general regulations" on which the Government are inviting comments throughout the process. The Cabinet Office is 'crowdsourcing' proposals for which laws should be scrapped, with Ministers facing a basic presumption that laws and regulations listed in the Red Tape Challenge should be scrapped. Once the nation has had its say, Ministers will have three months to work out which regulations they want to keep and why.

The Government's website invites comments either as an individual or as an organisation, about the need to protect our environment. The website lists the 278 environmental regulations under scrutiny and your comments can be left under 7 broad headings.

My own contribution reads:

The Government has only just signed the new UN target set at Nagoya to halt biodiversity loss and restore ecosystems by 2020. It simply cannot honour this commitment if it scraps its own wildlife laws. Biodiversity is essential to life on earth and needs protection."

The RSPB is also on the case and you can read more here (you'll have to cut and paste this address into your browser because I can't get the active link to work at the moment - sorry!).:

campaigning.rspb.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=13&ea.campaign.id=10410

The RSPB website includes an opportunity to send your views to Vince Cable (please try to be polite!).

Dave Bishop, April 2011

Book Review

2011-04-11T10:47:00.005+01:00

'Here On Earth: A new beginning' by Tim Flannery, pub. Allen Lane, 2010, (ISBN: 978-1-846-14396-0), 316 pp., £14.99

The Sun, together with its attendant planets, including the Earth, condensed out of a cosmic cloud of gas and dust 4.5 billion years ago. Within a billion years, as the author of this book expresses it: “parts of [the Earth’s] crust had begun to organise into life”. Eventually there appeared microscopic plants and bacteria which split the CO2 rich atmosphere into oxygen and carbon. They also used toxic metals, dissolved in sea water, to speed up the chemical reactions which were essential to their existence. As they died and sank to the ocean floor the toxins were taken out of circulation and concentrated into the Earth’s crust. Hence living organisms modified the planet by making the atmosphere richer in energy (oxygen is a very reactive gas) and the oceans less toxic. The stage was set for life to become more complex.

Five or six million years ago several species of upright apes (hominids) began to appear in Africa. Two million years ago one of these hominids (Homo erectus) managed to migrate out of Africa and to colonise parts of Asia and Europe. Although H. erectus developed stone tools it had a smaller brain than modern humans and appears not to have possessed language; eventually, for reasons which are not clear, it became extinct. Fifty thousand years ago one of H. erectus’s smarter relatives (H. sapiens) also migrated out of Africa. These modern humans made their way around the shores of the Indian Ocean, eventually reaching as far as Australia. Some break-away groups then gradually colonised inland Asia, Europe and the Americas. Much of this story has only recently become clear as a result of genetic studies.

The impact of human beings on the rest of the world was catastrophic. Our fire and tool using, upright ape ancestors caused havoc, wiping out the megafauna (and much else) on five continents. In northern Eurasia, for example, there once existed a place called the Mammoth Steppe. This was a dry, frigid grassland populated by mammoth, woolly rhino, bison, musk ox, giant elk and horse. It took our species a while to adapt to this region’s harsh climate but once we had done so we wiped out all of these giant beasts - basically scoffing the lot! This mass extinction, particularly the loss of the mammoths, had a profound and devastating effect on the region’s ecology. Soon after, humans arrived in North America - which promptly lost 34 genera of large mammals, followed by South America which lost 50. Today we’re just mopping up what’s left - but we are waging this on-going war against Nature war with a ferocity that our ancestors could only have dreamed of. We have drenched the land with poisons and dug up the toxic heavy metals that the ancient bacteria had buried and spread them around again. Most dangerous of all we have extracted vast quantities of fossil carbon from the Earth’s crust and burned it to form CO2 - resulting in increasing climate instability.

In this book the Australian scientist, writer and explorer, Tim Flannery looks at this long and complex story from an evolutionary perspective. He reviews the life and work of Charles Darwin and his ‘Neo-Darwinist’ successor, Richard Dawkins - who reasoned, in his book ‘The Selfish Gene’ (1976), that we and other animals are mere ‘survival machines’ whose sole purpose is to ensure the perpetuation of the genes we carry. He goes on to suggest that the theories of Darwin and Dawkins are essentially reductionist and contrasts those theories with the more ‘holistic’ views of the co-discoverer (with Darwin) of the Theory of Evolution, Alfred Russell Wallace. Flannery tells us that while Darwin, “sought enlightenment by studying smaller and smaller pieces of life’s puzzle, Wallace took on the whole, trying to make sense of life at a planetary and universal scale.” He nominates the remarkable English chemist and planetary scientist, James Lovelock as Wallace’s modern-day successor. Lovelock, you may remember, formulated the ‘Gaia Hypothesis’ which suggests that the whole planet, from the core to the fringes of space, is one vast, self-regulating ‘organism’ and that continental plates, volcanoes, the ice caps, the oceans, the atmosphere and living things all play their part in maintaining an equilibrium which allows life to flourish. What humans are doing at the moment is the equivalent of sticking a large screwdriver into the delicate works of an antique clock and stirring it around. Lovelock believes that the coming climate catastrophe will kill 90% of us.

Flannery reminds us that, at this time in our history, we humans are not just ruled by our genes but also by, what he calls, ‘mnemes’ (Dawkins calls them ‘memes’) which are, basically, “ideas which have a living reality in our brains”. Science, religion and philanthropy are all examples of mnemes and they can act for good or for ill. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is another mneme, but so is the wilful mis-interpretation of the Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ concept which has often been mis-applied to human societies with disastrous consequences (Nazism or rampant, unregulated Capitalism, anyone?). Mnemes, of course, evolve far faster than genes.

Another concept which Flannery discusses is coevolution. This is natural selection triggered by interactions between living things. Throughout the history of life on Earth countless examples of coeveolution have arisen. Examples include microrrhizal fungi on the roots of trees and other plants and the relationship between the coral polyp and its algal partner. It’s an extraordinary fact that the cells which compose our bodies contain elements called mitochondria which actually power the cells. There is strong evidence that mitochondria were once free living bacteria which invaded the cells of our remote ancestors aeons ago. Incidentally, mitochondrial DNA is only transmitted through the female line and this fact was used to trace the paths that humans took out of Africa.

When considering the future of the planet and the living things (including us) which co-exist with it, Flannery invokes another duality – the competing possibilities of a ‘Medean’ future or a ‘Gaian’ one.
The palaeontologist Peter Ward has advanced the hypothesis that species will, if left unchecked, destroy themselves by exploiting their resources to the point of collapse; this is the Medea hypothesis. The other possibility is a Gaian one. Flannery suggests that our species has already evolved into a ‘superorganism’. If we survive the next couple of centuries we may possibly learn to restore the Earth. And then the planet, through her co-evolved human superorganism, would “be able to foresee malfunction, instability or other danger and act with precision.” My money is on a Medean outcome – but let’s hope that a Gaian future is not beyond the bounds of possibility and that this fine book will help to plant the Gaian mneme in the collective brain of humanity.

This is a remarkable book and if you are interested in the past, present and future of our planet and our species then I know of no finer summary of present knowledge.

Dave Bishop, April 2011

Chorlton Open Gardens

2011-04-05T17:34:00.003+01:00

Chorlton is full of talented and enthusiastic gardeners but their gardens are usually private places. Here's a rare opportunity to admire some of the best those gardens and, if you're an enthusiastic gardener yourself, to swap horticultural hints and tips.

It's also worth noting that gardens can be great places for wildlife - so who knows what birds, insects and other creatures you'll spot whilst visiting some of these little 'private paradises'?

For details of this scheme and how to book, see the flyer above.

Dave Bishop, April 2011

My Forthcoming Talk on South Manchester Plant Life

2011-03-31T11:42:00.002+01:00

I've been invited to do a talk on the Plant Life of the Mersey Valley and South Manchester. The talk is hosted by the Friends of Chorlton Water Park at The Albert Bowling and Tennis Club, 39/42 Old Lansdowne Road, West Didsbury, on 19th April starting at 7:30 pm (it should last about an hour). Entry is free.

Because I retired a few years ago I've had the leisure to explore local plant life in more detail than I have been able to do before. A summary of my talk is given below:

Living plants are the foundation of our local biodiversity and they may provide clues to many historical aspects of our local area, for example:

- Former landscapes and habitats

- Former land uses

- Former economic and cultural practices (e.g. herbal medicine and cottage gardening).

Botanists from South Lancashire and Manchester have played a very important role in the development of both British and European Botany.
Many of the plants that the old botanists knew are (with a few exceptions) still to be found locally.

Dave Bishop, March 2011

e-mail Addresses

2011-03-30T10:33:00.002+01:00

I've just e-mailed out a message to the membership (a message about the outcome of the litter picking event on Sunday and thanking all of the people who turned up). Every time that I send out one of these mass mailings I get quite a few 'undeliverable' messages bouncing back - mostly as a result of defunct e-mail addresses.

So, if you read this and haven't received any e-mails from me recently, and would like to receive e-mails from me, could you please send me (at davegbishop@aol.com) your most recent e-mail address. Please note the 'g' (my middle initial) in my address - if you miss this out your message will go to a long-suffering gentleman in West Virginia!

Dave Bishop, March 2011

Litter Picking on Ivy Green

2011-03-28T17:35:00.003+01:00

Yesterday afternoon (Sunday, 27th March) a litter picking event was held on the Ivy Green part of the Chorlton Ees and Ivy Green Local Nature Reserve (that's the part north of Chorlton Brook). The event had been organised by the Mersey Valley Countryside Warden Service in conjunction with FoCM.

We know that there's a lot of concern locally about litter but we were suprised, and very gratified, when 22 people turned up for this event! A fanatastic turn-out for what is not a very glamorous task.

In all between 45 to 50 black, plastic bin liners were filled with rubbish. Last month a smaller number of people filled 15 bags - so that's over 60 bags of assorted litter removed from the reserve in a month.

Mainly the litter consisted of:

- Plastic soft drinks bottles.

- Beer, cider and soft drinks cans.

- Beer and spirits bottles.

- Plastic bags - the most unpleasant of these being those containing dog faeces.

- Discarded clothing.

- Various scraps of wood, cloth and paper.

- Miscellaneous 'stuff' - the most surprising being a part of a steel exercise machine and a small safe which had been prised open!

Sadly, among all of the responsible people who enjoy our precious green spaces, there's a sizeable minority of anti-social people who spoil it for everyone else. No doubt, if challenged, those people would whinge about there not being enough litter bins - but they should bear in mind that it costs money to empty bins, and if there were a bin every few yards, I doubt that such selfish idiots would use them.

I must also add that looking at the types of litter picked up it's fairly obvious which types of users are the main culprits.

Over the last few years the local authorities have prioritised access to the Meadows over everything else. But they have to realise that giving priority to access is a 'two-edged sword'. On the one hand it is a good thing that more people are now enjoying the countryside on their doorstep. But every population contains anti-social elements and these people also now have increased access to our Meadows and are threatening to spoil things for the responsible majority. I think that the local authorities are themselves guilty of irresponsibility over this and they are now compounding the problem by cutting the Warden Service even further. FoCM are not happy at the prospect of having to do even more litter picking - that's not why we formed in the first place! If you are as concerned about litter as we are please ensure that you complain long and hard to the Council.

Dave Bishop, March 2011

-

A Glorious Spring Day!

2011-03-22T21:35:00.003Z

I woke to a beautiful spring morning today (Tuesday, 22nd March) so decided to go for a walk on Ivy Green and Chorlton Ees to see what I could see. This year the month of February felt like the longest February of my life (probably as a result of the harsh winter) and early March was like more of the same. So, to be out on a proper spring morning felt wonderful! True, we’ve had some ‘spring-ish’ days in the last week or so – but today felt like the real thing at last!

I spotted the following flowers, mainly along the banks of Chorlton Brook: Barren Strawberry, Lesser Celandine, Butterbur, Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage, Dandelions, Coltsfoot and Wavy Bittercress. Sections of the banks of Chorlton Brook were clothed in the fresh green leaves of Bistort. I had thought that this highly characteristic plant of this area was in decline, but since FoCM have made a concerted effort to remove Himalayan Balsam from the banks of the brook, in late summer, the Bistort seems to have taken on a new lease of life. It’s possible that the accumulated dead stalks of the Balsam had been inhibiting the Bistort from sprouting in the spring.

Virtually all of the local Willow trees were smothered in catkins. Willows are ‘dioecious’ with male and female catkins on separate trees. You can easily tell the difference between the two sexes as males have pollen bearing catkins, like yellow ‘bottle-brushes’ whilst female catkins are less ‘fuzzy’ and ‘flamboyant’ and are a fairly uniform green. Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera), with its gorgeous display of snowy-white flowers has been in flower for at least a week whilst its smaller, commoner relative, Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) is only just opening its smaller, but equally snowy-white, flowers (see top photograph above).

As I walked along a path towards the river I stopped to watch two Toads, one tightly clasping the other, slowly making their way across the path towards the taller vegetation at the side (see bottom photograph). Not to put too fine a point on it, these two Toads were mating. The smaller one was the male who was clasping the larger female in ‘amplexus’ (the technical term for it, I believe). They were probably making their way towards one of the ponds on Chorlton Ees where, having been ... ahem! ... impregnated, the female would lay her eggs. I suspect that these two were stragglers – and if I’d been in the same spot several hours earlier I might have seen many more.

As I moved on I heard a shrill ‘peee-oww!’ cry above my head. Circling above me was a Buzzard and there was another in a tree on the edge of a large open space near the river. I think that the circling, calling bird was the male whilst the one in the tree was the female (any ornithologists out there should not hesitate to correct me if I’m wrong). The male (if it was the male) was very distinctive with a sort of ‘notch’ in its wing (almost certainly the result of a missing feather or feathers). I have seen these birds before and think that they are probably nesting on the Ees – which is an interesting development. They are another addition to our local biodiversity, along with the Herons that, in recent years, have established a thriving heronry in one of the old, fenced off sewage beds near the river.

Several Bumble Bees buzzed among the dry foliage of last year and the new green shoots of this year. I think that they might have been queens looking for suitable nesting sites (again, if you know different, please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). I also spotted three different species of Butterfly: Peacock, Brimstone and Comma. At one pointed I watched, what appeared to be, an aggressive Comma chasing a Brimstone away from its territory.

In the course of my walk I had a look of the sites of our two (relatively) rare ferns: Adderstongue and Narrow Buckler Fern. With some help from the Warden Service, FoCM have been working to improve the habitats of these two ferns. When they finally emerge above ground, in a couple of months, we will be monitoring them and starting an on-going record which will, hopefully, help us to conserve them.

Dave Bishop, March 2011

Bat Boxes on Chorlton Ees

2011-03-17T15:47:00.004Z

You may have noticed some (slightly sinister looking!) black boxes on some of the trees on Chorlton Ees? These are bat boxes which we purchased with the money that we obtained from a council grant. The boxes are made of a substance called ‘woodcrete’ (literally a mixture of wood chippings and concrete). They are painted black to retain some heat from the sun.

The smaller boxes provide day-time roosting habitats for bats in our young woodlands which provide few natural roosting opportunities (i.e. the sorts of cracks, crevices and knot-holes which are found in old trees).

Four different designs of box are represented and we believe that these are suitable for the species of bat which have been recorded locally; these include Pipistrelles, Noctules and Daubenton’s bats. Although each box type is not specific to any particular bat species, those species listed above have been observed to show a preference for this range of box designs.

It is hoped that the larger boxes (particularly the flat ones) will accommodate female bats in maternity roosts. Such roosts can contain up to 40 bats plus young.

The boxes were erected by local members of the Bat Conservation Trust who are licensed to work with bats and are insured to climb trees; we are grateful to them for their help (I’m glad that it wasn’t me who had to climb the trees!). The Trust members are planning to re-visit in the autumn of this year to see if any bats have decided to take up residence (this may not happen immediately and we will have to be patient).

Traditionally bats have roosted in old buildings and old trees but these are both disappearing from our urban and urban fringe landscapes. Already this year various agencies have been savagely massacring what few old trees we have left. The construction of the new Metrolink lines, by contractors working for GMPTE, has seen the loss of many older trees with many more to come (their feeble and pathetic promises to plant trees to replace those they cut down are completely empty; a few ‘lollipops’ are no substitute for biodiverse old trees!). I am also getting reports that the Environment Agency has massacred around 20 mature trees on the river bank at West Didsbury – but I haven’t been to check this out yet. In addition the inhabitants of Whalley Range have managed to save some of their old trees from the Council but for how long, I don’t know; once they get an idea in their heads they won’t let a few voting, council taxpaying ‘tree huggers’, or concerns about wildlife, stand in their way.

Naturally we are grateful to the Council for supplying us with grants for things like bat boxes but we wish that they would also do much more for our local biodiversity. Taking wildlife more seriously would be a start as would ‘getting a grip’ on the various agencies who insist on getting their chainsaws and JCBs out every spring so that they can destroy everything in sight!

Dave Bishop & Richard Gardner, March 2011

The Wrong Kind of Trams by Ian Brown

2011-03-09T15:23:00.004Z

No doubt everyone has now noted the bulldozing of the Lower Hardy Farm SBI by GMPTE's contractors? I've been composing a piece about this but I asked my friend Ian Brown (formerly Chair of Manchester Wildlife) to comment on it first because he gave evidence at the Public Inquiry in 1995. Ian's piece is given below:

After successfully fighting off a plan, in the early 1990s, by U.M.I.S.T., the owners of Lower Hardy Farm, who wanted to fill the site with 23 ft of rubble, to make it level with the adjacent Upper Hardy Farm, for the extension of their playing fields, we were confronted by a plan to damage the site by an extension of Metrolink to the Airport.

In 1995, I attended the public inquiry into this proposed extension of Metrolink on behalf of Manchester Wildlife (a now defunct local conservation organisation). We were objecting on the grounds that the extension would destroy, or damage, a number of sites of importance to wildlife. The main points I made at the inquiry were:

a)That there was no need for a Metrolink extension, to the airport, as this was adequately covered by the new railway link. The airport was only a 15 minute train journey from the City centre; the Tram would take a lot longer than that.

b)That if there was a need for a Metrolink extension then it should be along a route with the best chance of picking up passengers. The planned route runs over several miles of unpopulated Mersey Valley. How much better would it be if it were to run along the Oxford Road/Wilmslow Road corridor. This would take it past the University, the Hospitals, Hollins College, Fallowfield, Withington, Didsbury and Northenden. A few more passengers to be found in those places! There would be less need for busses and the "tram" stops could be synchronised with the traffic lights to ease congestion. I was told that this was not practical as, in some of those places, there was not room for the platforms which the "trams" required and the "trams" were not designed for street running, except where it was absolutely necessary. This brought me to the point, which I was subtly making, that Manchester has the wrong kind of "tram". It should be better described as a light rail system. In most continental European, and some British, cities, Trams have access at pavement level. How typical of Manchester, with its love of White Elephants, to pick the wrong kind of "tram". It was at this point, in the inquiry, that I realised, what I had long suspected, that the people who are running things tend to veer towards the stupid side of stupid!

c)I also gave evidence on the wildlife and ecological importance of the sites which would be damaged, or destroyed, by the Metrolink extension. This included Lower Hardy Farm, which was a Site of Biological Importance. I suggested that, if the extension were to go ahead, the line should be taken along the Upper Hardy Farm side of the ditch, which separates the two "Farms". Then it could cross the ditch, at the last possible moment, in order to bridge the Mersey on the upstream side of the Jackson's Boat pub. This would have avoided the area where some of the more unusual plants, including orchids, were growing. I also mentioned the butterflies on the site. At the time, 13 species had been recorded. This may not sound a lot but, to put it into perspective, a survey at Rostherne Mere National Nature Reserve, at about the same time, found 14 species of butterfly. I, and others, have found that a good variety of butterflies is a sound, and easy, way to assess the ecological health of a habitat(See David Bishop about the importance of wild plants, in this respect). I knew not to put too much reliance on ecological evidence as, at the time, wildlife and wild habitats were not highly regarded by the planning system, particularly in Manchester.
For all I know, this may still be the case. I was relying more on the common sense arguments in a) and b). Common sense, when did that ever come into it?

I left the Inquiry with the feeling that the outcome was inevitable. Manchester wanted its prestige project (another White Elephant?) and was going to get it. Public Inquiry Inspectors are supposed to be independent but, as I attended a number of these farces, you will forgive me if I appear a little sceptical! Best of luck to you all.

Ian Brown, March 2011

New Nest Boxes on Chorlton Ees and Ivy Green

2011-03-01T23:12:00.003Z

Recently, with the aid of a grant from the City Council, FoCM were able to purchase a number of bat boxes and twenty bird nesting boxes.

Ten of the bird boxes have been sited on the Chorlton Ees side (south side) of Chorlton Brook and ten on the Ivy Green side (north side).
The boxes are located both within the woodland and on the woodland edge adjacent to paths and open grassland.

The boxes are positioned so that their entrances face north/north east and this orientation shields the entrances from direct sunlight and the prevailing westerly winds.

There are very few mature trees on Chorlton Meadows because, prior to landfill, they were part of the flood plain of the river Mersey and used for grazing cattle. What is to be seen today is plantation woodland, thirty to forty years old - and certainly no older than fifty years; these trees are too young to have developed natural nest holes. Given good management and a hundred years there will, perhaps, be no need of nest boxes.
In the wider countryside there are fewer old trees available, due, in part, to the modern practise of lopping branches or clear felling trees at the first sign of rot (Health and Safety) thus denying birds of natural nest holes in which to raise their young and provide refuge in the winter months.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and The British Trust for Ornithology give guidance on the size of aperture for boxes depending on what species it is hoped to attract 25mm for Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus) 32mm Great Tit (Parus major) But all our boxes are 32mm as we believe that this provides access to many woodland species. In the wild natural holes in trees do not appear in any particular shape or size.

The value of nest boxes as shelter in winter is illustrated by the fact that sixty Wrens (Troglodytes troglodytes) have been counted occupying a single box!

By installing these boxes we hope to attract a greater number of species which can only add, especially in spring, to the enjoyment of all who use our local green space. We will add more boxes as funds become available.

All of the boxes have been numbered and their exact locations measured using GPS. They will be monitored to determine which species use them. Sadly we seem to have lost one box already - we think that it has been stolen.

We would like to thank Mark Hackett and Mark Agar who did the hard work of putting up the boxes.

John Agar, March 2011

The Forest Sell Off Controversy continued

2011-02-26T16:22:00.003Z

After posting the last piece on John Leech and his speech on the Government's forest sell off proposals, I received an e-mail from FoCM member Ben Smart (some of you may recall that Ben is our local moth expert). I thought that Ben's comments were interesting and highly relevant and, in the interests of balance, I thought that, with Ben's permission, I would post our correspondence here (leaving out some of my more intemperate and sweary remarks - none of them directed at Ben, I hasten to add!)

Hi Dave

I know you said to contact John Leech re the speech, but I don’t really think it’s appropriate to have this speech on the FoCM website. The group should not be a mouthpiece for Con/Dem (sic) policies. If this policy was being proposed by a majority Tory administration alone, I suspect John Leech and the rest of the Liberal [Democrat] party, like the rest of us, would probably have opposed it (only guesswork, I know) and would probably have made much the same points that the opposition are putting.

The destruction of a good chunk of the [Lower Hardy Farm] SBI proceeds apace. Standing by the wooden fence on the north side of the Mersey, there is now a wide open track all the way through Lower Hardy Farm, towards Hardy Lane.

Best wishes,

Ben

Hi Ben,

Yes, I struggled with my conscience about this. But so many people spoke to me about it that I thought that I ought to ask John Leech myself. He wrote back to me and explained to me what actually occurred and what his thinking was. I decided that his reply was confidential between me and him (although he probably sent the same letter to all those of his constituents who wrote to him).

But the speech is in the public domain and I thought that it made a lot of sense - and although it is (unavoidably) political I think that it cuts through a lot of the general hysteria that has surrounded this issue. Whilst the sell-off was on the table I really couldn't make up my mind about what I thought about it. Although I believe privatisation, generally, to be ideologically driven madness I've also got little time for the Forestry Commission who have been responsible, in the past, for destroying huge tracts of our woodland.

Finally you mention Lower Hardy Farm. Please remember that it is a Labour Council that has allowed this to happen. They have utterly neglected our local environment and I suspect that they think that the environment, in general, is irrelevant (I've seen it reported that Gordon Brown himself considered the environment to be irrelevant). And in spite of the fact that they label themselves as 'Socialists' (when it suits them) I believe that Metrolink to the Airport is mainly about a toxic mixture of greed, vanity and airport expansion. I fear that they will eventually concrete over everything.

[At this point I expressed some of my own political views, which are not strictly relevant here and included some rude words which I would not like to inflict on our refined and genteel readership ...]

Anyway, I will try to avoid politics on the blog as much as possible ... but, I repeat, the environment is an intensely political subject (as the forestry furore showed).

Best Regards,

Dave

Hi Dave,

This is the actual question John Leech and his colleagues were voting on – I’d certainly have been with the motion rather than against on that one, despite any reservations towards the Forestry Commission. (I see 3 Conservatives and 4 Liberal Democrats voted with Labour).

That this House believes that the Government’s intention in the Public Bodies Bill to sell off up to 100 per cent. of England’s public forestry estate is fundamentally unsound; notes that over 225,000 people have signed a petition against such a sell-off; recognises the valuable role that the Forestry Commission and England’s forests have made to increasing woodland biodiversity and public access, with 40 million visits a year; further recognises that the total subsidy to the Forestry Commission has reduced from 35 per cent. of income in 2003-04 to 14 per cent. of income in 2010-11; further notes that the value of the ecosystems services provided by England’s public forest estate is estimated to be £680 million a year; notes that the value of such services could increase substantially in the future through the transition to a low carbon economy as a carbon market emerges; notes that the public forest estate has been retained in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; and calls on the Government to rethink its decision on the sale of England’s public forest estate in order to protect it for future generations.

As to the Metrolink, the system and the developments have been supported by Council, Government and John Leech. I am certain that much the same decisions would have been made whichever of the three parties were in power locally and nationally.
I’ve always, perhaps naively, thought that getting people out of cars and onto public transport must be a good thing, so am somewhat torn on the issue. Nevertheless it is incredibly depressing to be out looking at Lower Hardy Farm at the moment (and the sign telling us that the area has been surveyed for protected species and promising an increased number of trees seems to add insult to injury)!
I totally agree that politics and the environment era inextricably linked. I just don’t like seeing Liberal Democrat party speeches on the Friends of Chorlton Meadows blog, with no critical comment whatsoever. It might be worth at least printing the actual motion on the website so people can decide whether John Leech did the right thing.

Cheers,
Ben

I would just like to add a couple of footnotes to this correspondence:

(1) I am planning to post an article about Lower Hardy Farm and Metrolink very soon.

(2) It must be remembered that many people in South Manchester welcome Metrolink and many of them know nothing and care less about biodiversity. John Leech has a duty to listen to the views of all of his constituents and he has certainly listened, and actively supported, those of us who are pushing for the best mitigation for biodiversity loss possible.

Posted by Dave Bishop, February 2011

John Leech and That Vote on Forests

2011-02-24T10:18:00.003Z

I never intended to talk much about politics on this blog but the Environment is an intensely political topic - so it's unavoidable really.

Many people are under the impression that our local MP, Mr John Leech, MP for Manchester Withington, voted in Parliament recently to sell off UK forests. A lot of people have come up to me in the street and asked, "why did John Leech vote to sell off the forests?" (as though it were somehow my fault!). I actually wrote to Mr Leech and asked him why he voted the way that he did. I have now received a reply from him in which he explained that the vote that he participated in was not a vote to implement the proposals set out by Defra, but a vote of opposition brought forward by the Labour Party. Mr Leech spoke in this debate and I re-print his speech below without further comment. If you have any questions, please address them to Mr Leech:

John Leech’s Speech:

(For the Hansard transcript including all interventions please go to: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110202/debtext/110202-0003.htm)

I am glad to have the opportunity to take part in the debate. Although my constituency may not be the most directly affected by the proposals to sell off or lease woodland currently owned by the state, the issue has attracted considerable interest among hundreds of my constituents who are rightly concerned about the impact that such a sale might have. There is little doubt that there has been much speculation, and even scaremongering, about what may or may not happen to public forests. I have received hundreds of e-mails from constituents, some of whom have been led to believe that whole swathes of woodland will be razed to the ground to make way for housing developments, golf courses and leisure clubs.

Other constituents have sent e-mails suggesting that forests are going to be closed off to the public and surrounded by 10-foot fences, but that is clearly not the case. Unfortunately, the Labour party has been complicit in this misinformation and shameless in its attempts to scare people into believing that the future of our forests is under threat. Instead of participating constructively in the consultation on the future of our woodland, Labour Members simply choose to try to score cheap political points by tabling an Opposition day motion to grab the headlines. That is why I certainly will not be voting for Labour's motion and why I will support the Government's amendment, which exposes the disgraceful sell-off of thousands of acres of public woodland by the previous Labour Government without any of the protection being put in place and promised under the coalition Government's consultation. However, I wish to go on record as welcoming the measured comments made by the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) about staff at the Forestry Commission, which should be added to the consultation process.

I will never support the sell-off or leasing of woodland if I think that it will be detrimental to the long-term sustainability of the woodland and its biodiversity, and will threaten the access that people have enjoyed over a long period. What better safeguards will Minister's introduce to protect the land and access to it compared with those that we already have? These forests will outlive all of us in this Chamber today and the public want to know how long these safeguards will be in place. Can I be assured that, whichever organisation might take on the running of a public forest, these safeguards will remain in place for not only our lifetime, but centuries to come?

Guaranteeing the future of the woodland is important, but so, too, is the guardianship of that land in the meantime. There is a real fear that the trend to improve the forests will fade over time. What assurances can the Minister give that the woodland will not just be maintained as it is and that the new owners will be compelled to improve both access and the natural habitat? The public estate enjoys 40 million visits a year, a quarter of it is dedicated as a site of special scientific interest and it hosts a wealth of biodiversity. None of those things should be under threat, and they must flourish under this coalition Government.

One of the big unanswered questions is whether or not the private ownership or leasing of forest land will make the savings that the Government anticipate. I am not convinced that these proposals will save any money; they may end up leaving the Government with a bigger bill to maintain the forests, because the sale or lease of commercially attractive forests will mean that their revenue is no longer available to subsidise the running of heritage and other loss-making forests. That was the only sensible point made by the shadow Secretary of State.

I do not think we should be too precious about the model of ownership of our forests. The previous Government could not be trusted to safeguard the future of the public forests that have been sold off in the past 13 years. It is certainly not the case that the forests would be safer in Labour hands. Many might argue that the future of the forests would be more certain if they were run and managed by organisations such as the Woodland Trust or the National Trust. It is not the model of ownership that we should be precious about but the people, including the staff, and the organisations that might run the forests.

In my constituency, after the previous Labour Government closed my local hospital, Withington hospital, Paupers wood on that site was put up for sale. Like many others, I expressed grave concerns about what that might mean for the future of that relatively small piece of woodland. However, the sale of that land to one of my constituents, Mary, resulted in enormous benefit for the community. That area of woodland, which had not been maintained for years and had been inaccessible to local people, is now available for local community groups to enjoy and for schools to use for outdoor classrooms. The woodland is well managed and is now sustainable for the future. That would not have happened without that sale. It is not simply a case of public ownership being good and private ownership being bad. This debate should be about what is best for individual woodlands and communities and about securing the future of our forests for generations to come.

Posted by Dave Bishop, February 2011

Chorlton Shafted Again - No Village Green Status for Hardy Farm

2011-02-22T10:38:00.003Z

Last year six Chorlton residents applied for Village Green status for Hardy Farm. Some of you may remember that in 2009/10 this area was the subject of a fierce planning battle between the vast majority of Chorlton residents and the West Didsbury and Chorlton Football Club, who own the land and had applied for planning permission to convert it into a vast sporting complex with several grass pitches, an Astroturf pitch and floodlights. In this case the local residents won a famous victory and planning permission was refused. Nevertheless, the club keeps coming back for more and in 2010 received planning permission to install floodlights at their existing ground at the end of Brookburn Road – again in the face of fierce opposition. To many of us granting planning permission for this scheme and not for the earlier scheme made little sense. The application for Village Green status was a brave attempt to protect this much loved area of local green space from further damaging developments.

In order to proceed with the application it was necessary to show that the former owners of the land, UMIST, had, or had not, erected “permissive signs” on the land at some point in the past. This question was addressed at a ‘Non-statutory Public Enquiry’, held before Mr Vivian Chapman QC, at Chorlton Irish Club in January of this year. Mr Chapman concluded that UMIST had erected two signs in the 1970s and even though these signs had been grafittied over and had been illegible for a long time they still counted in Law and that the application for Village Green status should be rejected (please take this point up with lawyers and not with me!).
The matter was put before the City Council’s Licensing and Appeals Committee on Monday and the Committee accepted Mr Chapman’s conclusion and rejected the application. Chorlton Councillor Victor Chamberlain represented the applicants before the Committee and I have published his account verbatim below. Looking at the voting pattern shown below I can only conclude that we Chorlton residents have been the victims of petty political point scoring here. But having said that I’m not going to discuss politics any further in this forum and leave you to draw your own conclusions.
In what follows the term, “the Meadows” refers specifically to that part of Chorlton Meadows known as Hardy Farm.

I'm very sorry to report that the Licensing and Appeals Committee have accepted Mr Chapman's recommendation and have decided not to register the Meadows as a village green.

Mr Turley spoke first and said he had very little to add as the item had been considered by a QC and he supported the findings; he encouraged the Committee to support that recommendation.

Thanks to everyone who sent me comments to make at the Committee; I incorporated all of them into what I said. In summary I raised our objections about the lack of signs and their illegibility and abandonment. I challenged Mr Iredale's evidence and the photos from May 2008. I told the Committee that they have a duty to consider the substantive issue in detail. I asked the Committee to give more weight to the evidence of the Applicants and the public; and told the Committee that by accepting the recommendation they would be choosing to disbelieve the direct testimony of hundreds of Chorlton Residents. I urged them to reject the recommendation and reconsider the application with a mind to registering the Meadows as a village green.

Cllr Sheila Newman also spoke she said it would be a shame if the application fell at its first hurdle. She also said she wished the Committee was looking at the wider issue and not examining just one point in the application.

The Committee Members then deliberated.

Cllr Firth expressed concern that this application was being considered only on the signs. She asked what would happen if the Committee recommended further consideration.

The response from Mr Stoney was that there were strict conditions about what was classed as a village green; and because of the signs had existed the officers concluded that the Application was fatally flawed.

Cllr Helen Fisher said that she had lived in Chorltonville a number of years ago and used the Meadows regularly then. She said that in the whole time she lived there she did not see the signs and therefore understood and sympathised with Applicants' and Residents' accounts.

Cllr Chowdhury argued that WDCAFC took over the land in 2009 and so they had a duty of care to ensure the land had sufficient notices. He said that Chapman's report was based on the Balance of Probabilities and so there is an element of doubt which meant he would not be supporting he recommendation.

Cllr Burns asked what the normal way of providing Notices on the land was. He was informed there was no normal way and so the onus was on the Applicants to prove that there were not suitable Notices on the land throughout the period.

A number of Labour Councillors then spoke to say they supported the recommendation and that they do not consider the land meets the defined definition of a village green.

Mr Turley then responded to some of the points and said that it was private land that had been acquired to provide playing fields. He said there wasn't and won't be any attempt to prevent public access. He said the land would be 'improved' as the Club would protect it. He said that the Public will be able to use the fields as long as they don't damage them.

The Committee then voted.

Against the Recommendation (3): Firth (Liberal Democrat), H Fisher (Liberal Democrat), Chowdhury (Liberal Democrat)
Accept the Recommendation (5): Burns (Labour), Carmody (Labour), Longsden (Labour), O'Callaghan (Labour), Smith (Labour)

As I was leaving the Committee Room Mr Turley stopped me and told me to stop trying to 'perpetuate the myth that the land will be fenced off'. I said I had not done this and was against development of this meadow because I felt it was going to be restrictive to normal people being able to use the land and could be harmful to the local biodiversity and botany. He was clearly very bitter about past events.
We then had a chat and he made it quite clear that he is intending to create pitches on the land very soon. He reiterated that it is private land and the Club can do what it wants with the land; but he did express a wish to engage the Community and end the animosity. I said I would mention this to you all and muted that maybe it would be worth initiating regular meetings with the local community to discuss issues at the club. I said this because I attend a quarterly meeting the Chorlton Irish Club has with the local neighbours where they air their concerns, problems and complaints and the two sides work together to solve them. It works well because the Club listens to the local community and takes action based on what they say to reduce disturbance. Whilst past experience of WDCAFC suggests this may not work I would be interested to hear your opinion.

I'm afraid I don't know where we go from here; presumably we could challenge this decision with a Judicial Review. I would happy to meet up to discuss any potential options.

If you are a Chorlton resident and/or a user of Chorlton Meadows, and feel as strongly about this as I do, I urge you to write to both your local Councillor and to your MP. No matter how pessimistic you may feel there is no excuse for doing nothing!

Posted by Dave Bishop, February 2011

Flooding and Gulls at Fletcher Moss

2011-02-19T11:49:00.005Z

I took a walk along the river bank to Didsbury and Fletcher Moss park the other day. The sports fields on either side of Stenner Lane were still under water as a result of the heavy rain and flooding of a couple of weeks ago. I must say that the whole scene looked dramatic and spectacular but what added to the drama were huge flocks of gulls which had congregated on the fields. I think that they were mainly Black-headed Gulls - but I'm not too hot on gulls. They were extremely noisy and were occasionally 'spooked' by something and then took off in great wheeling clouds. I assume that they were feeding on worms and other invertebrates driven to the surface by the flood-waters.

Of course these fields were once water meadows and have been regularly inundated like this for centuries. Water meadows used to be among our most biodiverse habitats, but a few decades ago these particular meadows were converted into regularly mown sports fields - which are virtual wildlife deserts. I wouldn't mind but they don't even seem to get used much - perhaps a few hours a year by a few young men. After the recent floods they are bursting with life (i.e. bird life) again, for a few weeks, before going back to boring, lifeless mown grass.

But I believe that the Environment Agency have now got plans for massive engineering works to 'protect' these sports fields from flooding. Several of these fields are rugby fields and, like golfers, rugby players tend to be influential people - so their playgrounds need to be protected, at all costs, from the inconvenient 'forces of nature' (even though it could be argued that establishing a playground in a floodplain, and expecting it to remain flood-free, is arrogant and silly!).

I feel more sympathy for the allotment holders of the adjacent Stenner Lane Allotments whose plots were also flooded. At least growing vegetables on an allotment is a healthy and sustainable activity and allotments are also much richer in wildlife than sports fields. I believe, though, that the allotment holders have been told, by the EA, not to eat their carefully nurtured vegetables because they might be contaminated by sewage and heavy metals. And there was I thinking that the Mersey was now a clean and healthy river - silly me! Perhaps the EA should be expending more effort in stopping sewage and heavy metals getting into the river, rather protecting a few rarely used sports fields ... ?

Dave Bishop, February 2011

Wild Flower Meadows by Charlotte Abbas

2011-02-07T10:17:00.003Z

This is an article by Chorlton resident and FoCM member, Charlotte Abbas. Charlotte is also a member of The Friends of Hough End Clough and The Friends of the Fallowfield Loop. Like me she deplores the continuing destruction of our local biodiversity through over-development, mis-management, ignorance and neglect. I agree with every word of the following article - Ed.

In Britain we have lost enormous areas that used to be wildflower-rich grasslands. This was mainly because of intensive farming and the liberal use of herbicides. Have you noticed the uniformly green fields while driving or being driven around the countryside? Not a buttercup or dandelion in sight! There were also lots of pockets of underused land – often considered as 'derelict' around towns and cities that provided a home for a great variety of wildflowers. But much of this has disappeared under concrete for houses, roads, runways, supermarkets etc. or just been 'tidied' up e.g. landscaped with regularly cut grass or ornamental shrubs.

It is not just the wildflowers that we have lost but the whole biodiversity of these places – the flowers being just the most eye-catching and pleasing aspect. There was a host of insects (grasshoppers, bees, butterflies, moths, to name a few) that provided food for birds, bats, amphibians; other birds, field mice and voles ate the seeds of grasses and plants, and in turn fell prey to foxes, owls, kestrels.

What can be done to reverse this trend or at least mitigate for the loss? Last year I went to Germany in spring. In the cities you find housing estates with large apartment blocks. In between them are what would here be closely cut lawns but there the grass was left to grow and it was full of wildflowers: cowslips, celandine, lady's smock and so much more. Back here in Manchester on my way to town on the bus I passed Hulme along Princess Road. Lots of lovely meadow buttercups, and along came the lawnmowers and chopped off their heads. Why? Could we not enjoy the beauty of nature in our cities? I know, there are people who are used to short uniformly green lawns and find it disconcerting when nature makes a mess of this. But maybe if they realized how artificial this is, how barren and poor compared with a lawn full of flowers, bees buzzing, butterflies, they would change their minds? Let's try it out. Especially now that we are expecting cutbacks everywhere, saving on petrol alone would be good for the Council's coffers and the environment.

Creating or maintaining a meadow takes some effort. I will not go into the 'creation’ bit here.
Maintenance is basically mowing at the right time of year and removing the cuttings. The time to cut is when the seeds have ripened, the second half of August is usually okay. Mowing much later is not a good idea. In late summer the grasses will still grow, certain moths and butterflies lay their eggs on grasses or their caterpillars overwinter in amongst the plants, invertebrates and even small mammals like somewhere to hide in the winter. When the cuttings are left on the ground they will add nutrients to the soil which is not desirable because it will encourage tougher grasses and plants to dominate and squeeze out the more dainty ones.

I would love to see more wildflowers in our city landscape and with them greater biodiversity in general. Maybe the term 'meadow' is a bit ambitious but let's try to be less tidy, give nature a chance, even our gardens could be so much more interesting instead of fighting 'weeds' we learned to appreciate them for the little gems they really are. This also applies to municipal green spaces. Could we come up with a mowing regime in some parks where there are paths cut through the grass and then the grass is cut after the flowers have shed their seeds. I realise it takes a bit of an effort to get that right. There are some people of a certain age who might remember lying in long grass in those endless summers 'we used to have' surrounded by flowers and beautiful grasses buzzing with bees and butterflies. How many children can experience this simple pleasure now?

Charlotte Abbas, February 2011

Jackdaw City!

2011-02-05T12:11:00.002Z

My house is near to the Chorlton Ees and Ivy Green SBI and just outside of the the Chorltonville estate. I live on Brookburn Road - the extension of which becomes Claude Road in Chorltonville.

For some years there has been a flock of Jackdaws in this area and in previous years they have numbered between about 50 and 100 birds; but this winter (2010/11) the flock size seems to have exploded - and there now seem to be 100s of birds in the flock (perhaps as many as 1000). Every evening, about 4 or 5 pm, they start noisily congregating in tall trees along Brookburn/Claude Road and along Chorlton Brook which runs parallel to these roads behind the houses.

The Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) is the smallest member of the Crow Family (Corvidae). It is mainly black in colour with a grey nape to its neck. Its call is either a clipped, metallic ‘kow’ or ‘kyow’ sound or a softer ‘chack’ (which is probably the source of the common name). A big flock of these birds creates an amazing racket, which I find rather cheering – especially on a cold winter evening. Their flight and gait are much quicker and jerkier than other members of the Crow family.

Traditionally, Jackdaws have tended to prefer open and cultivated country with rocks, crags and old trees. They have also tended to be frequent on sea coasts and in towns and villages, especially around cathedrals, castles and ruins and to nest in holes in trees, rocks and buildings (ref. ‘The Birds of Britain and Europe’ by H. Heinzel, R. Fitter and J. Purslow, Collins, 3rd ed. 1974).

I have to say that none of this sounds much like Chorltonville – or much of South Manchester, for that matter. So I spoke to Judith Smith, County Bird Recorder for Greater Manchester who replied:

“Many thanks for this interesting record. There is no doubt that Jackdaw is a rapidly expanding species in Greater Manchester, utilising chimney pots as people have changed to gas/electricity from coal (but how they avoid getting carbon monoxide poisoning I don't know!). Not knowing the area particularly well, I can't really hazard a guess as to why the roost has suddenly increased so much ...”

Nevertheless, she also tells me that a local bird watcher is ‘on the case’. He believes that Brookburn Road/Claude Road is only a pre-roost site and he is trying to find out where the birds are going later in the evening. If I find out any more I will post it here.

Dave Bishop, February 2011

New Mersey Valley Plant Finds 2010 - Part 2

2011-02-01T09:42:00.006Z

Well, it’s the first day of February and in another few weeks spring will be here again and who knows what vegetable wonders and marvels I’ll find this year? Will it be a bumper year, like last year, or have I spotted all of the available wonders and marvels now? Somehow I doubt it.

Anyway, here are three more special finds from last year. This time I’ve chosen three introduced plants – what we botanists call ‘aliens’.
Although I would never, ever, advocate the deliberate introduction of plants into the wild I find it fascinating that some alien plants escape from cultivation and seek to establish themselves in the British countryside. A few of these aliens succeed only too well and become invasive, others are relatively well behaved and may actually add to our biodiversity, whilst a few just about hang on and remain as rare as ‘hen’s teeth’.

New Zealand Bitter-cress (Cardamine corymbosa) (Top photograph)

I live on Brookburn Road and at the bottom of this road is a pub called ‘The Bowling Green’. In front of the pub is a small paved area with wooden tables. This area is separated from the pavement by a brick-built, raised flower bed which is about waist high. One day last April I was walking down the road towards the pub and spotted, at the base of the raised flower bed, some tiny but brilliant white flowers. So vivid were these flowers that I actually spotted them from several yards away. As an inveterate weed spotter my heart began to race as I knew that this was something new!

These plants really were tiny – a maximum of a single brick-course high. Looking closer I saw that each flower had four petals and already there were long, semi-cylindrical fruits (i.e. seed pods) present. These features strongly suggested that this was a species of ‘crucifer’ and thus a member of the Cabbage family (Brassicaceae – formerly Crucifereae). But what genus and species was it? I confess that first I thought that it might be a species of Scurvy-grass (Cochlearia) – but that was a rather stupid guess because the leaves were completely wrong. Examining the bronzey coloured leaves I realised that they consisted of a few pairs of opposite leaflets and a single, larger, terminal leaflet. This is typical of the Bitter-cresses (Cardamine). Several native plants such as Lady’s Smock (C. pratensis), Large Bitter-cress (C. amara), Hairy Bitter-cress (C. hirsuta) and Wavy Bitter-cress (C. flexuosa) belong to this genus.

To determine the species there was nothing else for it but to key it out in Professor Clive Stace’s magisterial (but scary) ‘New Flora of the British Isles’ (3rd Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2010). After much swearing I decided that my plants were New Zealand Bitter-cress (which is really native to ... yes, you guessed it!). Stace tells us that it is: “Intr[oduce]d-nat[uralise]d but only in gardens; spread as horticultural contaminant to paths, rockeries and pavement cracks; scattered in Br[itain], Ir[eland] and [Isle of] Man, first recorded 1985”. So my specimens probably came from the flower bed above (and originally from a garden centre). I’m not sure, but my record could be the first Manchester record.

Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) (Middle photograph)

Last June FoCM Committee member, Julian Robinson led a guided walk around Sale Water Park. The focus of the walk was bird watching but here I have to confess that I’m a totally useless bird watcher. Someone spots a small, feathery dot in the distance and I point my binoculars in what I’m convinced is the right direction. Everyone else is ‘oohing and ahhing’ and commenting on the finer points of the feathery dot’s plumage ... and all I can see is a tree branch! By the time I’ve pointed the binos in the right direction the feathery dot has decided to fly away and to leave my newly acquired field of view!

After about half an hour of this I was skulking along at the back muttering balefully to myself (“Flipping birds! Why can’t they stay still and stop flapping about?”). By this time I must have reverted to my usual habit of scanning the ground because I suddenly stopped dead! There by the path was a plant around 500 cm tall and with purple, dandelion-like flowers. I knew instantly that it was a plant called Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius). This species originates from the Mediterranean region and has been cultivated in the past (and may still be cultivated) for its roots – which can be eaten as a vegetable.

I had never seen Salsify in the wild, in Britain, before – but about 20 years ago I did find one of its close relatives when I was on holiday in Macedonia.

By the time that I’d checked the identity of the plant in the book and photographed it the rest of the party had disappeared and no-one else saw it.

Everyone else thoroughly enjoyed Julian’s walk but I suspect that they were all more adept at using binoculars than I am!

If anyone grows Salsify as a root vegetable I would be interested to hear about it.

Sowbread (Cyclamen hederifolium) (Bottom photograph)

The species Cyclamen hederifolium has a wide Mediterranean distribution and is found from south-east France to south Turkey, including many Mediterranean islands but excluding Cyprus (‘The Genus Cyclamen’ by Christopher Grey-Wilson, Timber Press, 1988). According to Prof. Stace it has been introduced and naturalised in Britain and was first recorded from the wild, in East Kent, in 1778 (Stace, 2010). This is long enough for it to acquire the common name, ‘Sowbread’. It is also probably the most common species in cultivation and is often grown in gardens.

On the 8th March last year (I’m being very specific about the date for a reason) I walked along the north bank of the river from Chorlton to Fletcher Moss. Around the West Didsbury area I found about 20 or 30 Cyclamen leaves spilling down the upper flood-bank. I suspected that the species was probably C. hederifolium but needed to see the flowers to be sure. I had to be patient because the flowers don’t appear until September; as it happens I found the flowers, in the same spot, on the 8th September – exactly 6 months after I found the leaves.

I still can’t decide if the plants were deliberately planted in that spot, or the corms deposited there in some flood, or they were self-seeded from someone’s garden (this species certainly seeds itself around in my garden).

As it turned out there were also some plants closer to home. At the bottom of Brookburn Road there’s a lane which leads to Hardy Farm and the path to Jackson’s Boat. The lane is gated at the Brookburn Road end and just by the gate is a spot where some people dump garden waste. This year a Cyclamen corm flowered on this dump. This plant was also C. hederifolium but a variety with white flowers (forma album). This was almost certainly a garden throw-out.

Dave Bishop, February 2011

Book Review

2011-01-29T10:44:00.005Z

'Eradicating Ecocide' by Polly Higgins, pub. Shepheard-Walwyn, 2010 (ISBN-13: 978-85683-275-8), 202pp, £17.95

In last Sunday’s ‘Independent on Sunday’ newspaper (23.01.2011) it was reported that a group of Swiss environmentalists are planning to give a ‘Public Eye Award’ to “the most evil corporation of the year” - that is the company that has committed “the worst corporate offences against human rights and the environment” . According to the article there are six candidates for the award including British Petroleum (of recent Gulf of Mexico infamy).

Another candidate, AngloGold Ashanti, is alleged to have contaminated lands with poison and to have tortured people in its company buildings in Ghana (now that’s really evil!). Nevertheless, AngloGold Ashanti has defended itself as follows: “The company seeks always to operate in a socially and environmentally sensitive manner befitting a responsible corporate citizen.” I bet their PR department spent hours coming up with that! But wait ... what do they mean by the phrase, “responsible corporate citizen”? What it actually means is that if AngloGold Ashanti is found to be guilty, in a court of law, of the crimes that it is alleged to have committed, it is the company that will be fined, not the CEO or the Board of Directors. This is because, in law, a corporation is a ‘fictional person’ and it is that ersatz person who is punished – not the real people who run the company! Most big corporations merely absorb any fines and move on. BP, for example, having trashed the Gulf of Mexico, will now move on to the Russian Arctic and will probably pay the fines it has incurred in the Gulf out of the enormous profits that it makes there (God help the Russian Arctic!).

In this book Polly Higgins explains how this curious and often catastrophic situation came about. Ms Higgins is a barrister who has devoted herself to the study of environmental law; in her own words:

“Law can be employed creatively and constructively, effecting overnight change. Innovation can be nudged to suddenly flow in a very different direction, sometimes in unexpected areas. Law can close one door and open another. Law can inadvertently create a positive discrimination. Law can change our values and understanding. The inverse can also be true. Sometimes laws are put in place that directly or inadvertently cause damage and destruction. These are the laws that need to be rooted out and transformed.”

In this authoritative, compelling and very readable book she shows, in meticulous detail, how governments have connived with big corporations to create damaging laws and a legal framework within which the corporations can operate with few restraints; as a result, “... BP have the ‘right to kill’ the ocean with impunity.”
After exposing the truth behind the compromise laws and inadequate voluntary codes favoured by big corporations to protect their ‘right’ to rape and despoil the planet as they please, Polly Higgins advocates the creation of a new ‘Crime Against Peace’: Ecocide.
At the moment there are four International Crimes Against Peace: Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes and Crimes of Aggression. Ms Higgins suggests that Ecocide should be the fifth and that for the purpose of international law it should defined as:

The extensive destruction, damage to or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment of that territory has been severely diminished.

Those found guilty of International Crimes Against Peace can be tried before the International Criminal Court which operates according to principles established at Nuremburg, that is:

Crimes against international law are committed by men, not by abstract entities, and only by punishing individuals who commit crimes can the provisions of international law be enforced.

If that principle were to apply there would be no more hiding behind ‘fictional persons’ and it would be CEOs and Boards of Directors in the dock and under the threat of going to jail if they were to be found guilty of Ecocide.
This is a powerful idea and Polly Higgins portrays such an international law as nothing less than a bridge between a wrecked and eventually uninhabitable planet and one in which all life (including human life) is respected and valued.

This is undoubtedly the most important book that I read in 2010 – I urge you to read it too. You can buy a copy and learn more about Polly Higgins’s ideas through her website: www.thisisecocide.com.

What are you waiting for? Stop reading this and access the website now!

Dave Bishop, January 2011

Newsletter About Floodplain Meadows

2011-01-12T16:21:00.004Z

One of the reasons why some of us formed the Friends of Chorlton Meadows in the first place was because we wanted the 'Meadows' put back into 'Chorlton Meadows'. Note that the word 'Ees' in 'Chorlton Ees', 'Stretford Ees', 'Sale Ees' etc. is/was the local dialect word for flood meadow. Nevertheless, when the local authorities started the Mersey Valley project, back in the 1970s, they ignored all of that and proceeded as though the area was a blank space for arbitrarily planting arbitrary trees on - even though they should have known (or someone who did know should have told them) that 'unimproved' grassland is a much rarer habitat in Britain now than a few pointless tree plantations.

So that I could learn more about flood meadows I signed up for an organisation called, 'The Floodplain Meadows Partnership' who publish regular newsletters via the Internet.

The latest one: Issue No. 6, January 2011, is fascinating and contains information on flood meadows in Cambridgeshire, Oxforshire and South Yorkshire as well as an article about when to cut a meadow. You can read this newsletter at:

http://www.floodplainmeadows.org.uk/files/floodplain/Jan%202011%20hq.pdf

We're planning to look more closely at our remaining scraps of meadow (heavily damaged though they are) this year; details to follow.

Dave Bishop, January 2011

Book Review

2010-12-24T14:53:00.005Z

'Weeds' by Richard Mabey, pub. Profile Books, 2010 (ISBN: 978 1 84668 076 2), 324pp, £15.95.

Not far from where I live is a block of flats. Next to the block is a small car park which is separated from the pavement by a narrow verge. Whoever is responsible for managing this verge seems to have a ‘thing’ about weeds. For a few years the verge was regularly drenched in herbicide and consisted of bare earth with a few tufts of moss. But even this was not good enough for the manager who has recently covered the verge with an impermeable membrane and covered that with bark chippings. This seems an extreme reaction towards some of the, largely harmless, but occasionally inconvenient, organisms that we share the planet with.

In this fine new book Richard Mabey relates another, personal, anecdote about ‘weedophobia’. He and his partner live in a house in rural Norfolk. Outside of their house is a grassy verge which they are deemed to be responsible for. During the spring and summer months this verge produces a fine display of wild flowers, which the Mabeys allow to flourish. Nevertheless, one year some ‘busybody’ neighbours decided that the verge looked untidy and reported the Mabeys to the Parish Council. Mabey defended himself on biodiversity grounds – but when he and his partner went on holiday that year the ‘vigilante busybodies’ moved in and mowed the verge.

Apparently the situation is even worse in the US. In Houston, Texas, for example, it is actually illegal to allow weeds to grow on one’s land. And in Buffalo, New York, some poor soul is facing a bill in excess of $25,000 in fines and legal costs for defending his right to grow native wild flowers on his own front lawn!

Whenever I mention to anyone that I am interested in weeds they do two things: first they smirk and then they tell me that, “a weed is a plant in the wrong place.” But this is purely a human perspective and a weed usually grows in the ecological niche that we have created for it; as Mabey expresses it: “Weeds thrive in the company of humans. They aren’t parasites, because they can exist without us, but we are their natural ecological partners, the species alongside which they do best. They relish the things we do to the soil: clearing forests, digging, farming, dumping nutrient-rich rubbish. They flourish in arable fields, battlefields, parking lots, herbaceous borders ... Above all they use us when we stir the world up, disrupt its settled patterns.”

The word ‘weed’ is largely a pejorative term and the concept of a weed as a bad or troublesome thing probably has deep and ancient roots (excuse the pun!). Mabey discusses the Book of Genesis and notes that: “[its] denouement is exile from the carefree life of foraging to the toil of farming and the eternal curse of ‘thorns and thistles.’ Genesis formed a moral context for weeds, to stigmatise them as more than a simple physical nuisance.” Further, “the geographical references in Genesis -especially the proximity of Assyria and the Euphrates – suggest that its inspiration was some part of the area known as Mesopotamia, where agriculture had been developed 7,000 years before.” Yet, in spite of the antipathy that those ancient farmers had towards weeds (an antipathy inherited by their descendants) those weeds probably held the fragile soils of the Middle East together and prevented them from blowing away; a circumstance which would soon have brought an end to settled civilisation.

There is much more to this beautifully written book. Weeds are put into their botanical, biological, ecological and cultural contexts. We learn about what such important figures as Shakespeare, Ruskin, Clare, Jeffries, Thoreau, Manley Hopkins, Darwin, Salisbury et. al. thought and wrote about weeds and there are chapters on herbalism, weeds as foods and crops, weeds in the garden and agriculture and weeds as portrayed in the Arts. Of great relevance to today’s concerns about biodiversity there is much material on invasive alien weeds in various parts of the world, including the UK.

It has often been noted that modern humans have, largely, lost touch with Nature and are destroying it at an ever increasing rate. As a consequence our own civilisation is in as much danger as that of those early farmers in ancient Mesopotamia – the metaphorical and actual ‘soils’ on which we depend for our very existence will soon blow away. We need to stop examining our own navels start understanding the world around us - fast. Weeds, whether we like it or not (take that smirk off your face!), whether we choose to hate them or despise them or ignore them, are of fundamental importance, and because they are all around us making a study of them can considerably enhance that understanding. If you want to start that process, and go on that journey, you can’t do better than to start by reading this marvellous and timely book.

Dave Bishop, Christmas Eve, 2010

FoCM Task Days, 2011

2010-12-23T09:47:00.002Z

Dear Friends,

There are a couple of task days coming up early next year.

Sunday 9th January: Woodland work

Time: 10:30 am

Meet: Ivy Green Car Park on Brookburn Road (opposite Bowling Green pub).

Sunday 6th February: Woodland work

Time: 10:30 am

Meet: Chorlton Ees Car Park (end of cobbled road off Brookburn Road).

As usual I will point out that there are two car parks - please make a careful note of which one is specified for the particular task day.

And, as last year, whether or not these events take place depends very much on the weather (if Chorlton Ees and Ivy Green are under several feet of snow, on one or both of the days in question, it's probably not worth turning up!).

If in doubt e-mail me or give me a ring on 0161 881 6276.

Hotmail e-mail Addresses

I seem to be having problems in sending e-mails to people with Hotmail addresses; they continually bounce back as 'undeliverable' (or some such wording). I have absolutely no idea why this should be so - or what to do about it (if there is anything I can do about it). Nevertheless, if you have not heard from me recently, this may be why.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Dave Bishop

New Plant Finds in the Mersey Valley, 2010

2010-12-14T10:19:00.003Z

If anyone at all reads this blog regularly (is there anybody out there?) they may have noticed that I haven’t contributed as many articles to it this year, as I did last year – although there have been some excellent contributions from others.
The reason why I haven’t been so active here is because I’ve spent the Spring, Summer and Autumn botanising quite intensively and putting my records on to an electronic database (MapMate) so that I can share them with the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit and others. And what a year it’s been for remarkable finds! The other evening, members of the Manchester Field Club were invited to put together short presentations of around 20 photographs on subjects of their choice. Mine was entitled, ‘New Plant Finds, Mersey Valley, 2010’. It contained 23 or 24 photographs – but it could easily have contained twice as many! But in this article I’ll confine myself to my three best finds. All three of these plants are native species and they’re remarkable because, if you’d asked me about them last year, I would have said, off the top of my head, that all three were probably either extinct in the Mersey Valley or had not been recorded here before. So here are my accounts of the three plants:

Meadow Saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata) (Top photograph)

The word ‘Saxifrage’ means ‘stone breaker’. This is because most species in this genus are upland or alpine ones, which often grow out of cracks in rocks and cliff faces and give the impression that they are splitting the rock with their roots. In spite of this they are often very beautiful and delicate plants, much prized by alpine gardeners. I’ve seen some fabulous examples in the mountains of Eastern Europe. In Britain we’ve got about 17 or 18 species (including naturalised aliens) and some of the upland ones are among our rarest plants. Meadow Saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata), on the other hand, is atypical because it is often found in lowland meadows. Indeed it is now regarded as an indicator plant of unimproved grassland (now one of the rarest habitats in Britain).

In the mid 19th Century the great Manchester botanist, Leo Grindon reported in his book, ‘The Manchester Flora’ (1859) that Meadow Saxifrage was: “Plentiful about Mobberley, Ringway and Jackson’s Boat”, suggesting that it once grew in our local hay meadows. Nevertheless, Grindon’s contemporary, Richard Buxton, in his book, ‘A Botanical Guide’ (1849), has no local record for it – and as he didn’t appear to miss much, I can only conclude that Meadow Saxifrage was not common around here at that time.

Given this background and the fact that, in the contemporary Mersey Valley, anything vaguely resembling unimproved grassland has been reduced to a few tatty little scraps, I would have said that the chances of finding Meadow Saxifrage in 2010 were effectively zero (although I lived in hope). So imagine my amazement, one day last May, when I spotted two or three plants growing on the river bank on the Chorlton side of Princess Parkway! I don’t think my ‘flabber’ has ever been quite so ‘gasted’!

I thought that Grindon’s record was the last one before mine, but Dave Earle, who is the Botanical Society of the British Isles Vice County Recorder for South Lancashire (VC 59), tells me that there is a local record from 1950. But that still means that my record is probably the first for 60 years!

Common Broomrape (Orobanche minor) (Middle photograph)

Broomrapes are strange and sinister plants which are parasitic on other plants. Because they obtain all of their nutrients from their hosts they have no chlorophyll. There are 9 or 10 species in Britain, many of them rare or very rare. Most of these species are very host specific.

In Southern and Eastern Europe Broomrapes are much more common than they are here.

One species, Greater Broomrape (O. rapum-genistae), parasitises Broom and Gorse and has given its name to the whole group. Curiously, it is not called Broomrape because it ‘rapes’ its host but because the base of the plant is bulbous and turnip shaped; note that turnips belong to the species Brassica rapa.

Richard Buxton and Leo Grindon recorded instances of O. rapum-genistae in the Manchester area but they left no Mersey Valley records. Later floras (published in the 1960s/70s) suggested that this species is now extinct in the Manchester region.

I have not yet seen any records for Common Broomrape in the Mersey Valley. As a result I was stunned to find some specimens in East Didsbury back in July. The site was on the bank of a ditch not far from the river. I glimpsed, what appeared to be, a small vertical stick on the opposite bank of the ditch, under a tree, and knew instantly what it was. When I crossed the ditch I was able to find 11 plants in total. The only mystery is what were they parasitizing? O. minor is not as host specific as some other species but it tends to favour members of the Pea family (Fabaceae) and Daisy family (Asteraceae). But members of neither of these two groups were immediately visible. To complicate matters the Broomrape plants were growing amongst a patch of Ivy. There is a Broomrape specific to Ivy (O. hederae) but I don’t think that my plants were of that species. Ivy Broomrape tends to be confined to the Bristol area in Britain (and I have seen it there).

So, is mine the first ever record of O.minor in the Mersey Valley? And is O. rapum-genistae really extinct locally? I shall now have to check every Gorse and Broom bush that I see!

Common Storksbill (Erodium cicutarium) (Bottom photograph)

Storksbills are members of the Geranium family (Geraniaceae) but our four native species tend to be somewhat less common than many of their ‘true’ Geranium cousins. Three of these native species are almost exclusively seaside plants but Common Storksbill is found inland as well. Many members of the Geraniaceae have ‘beak-like’ fruits but those of Storksbills tend to be proportionately longer than those of Geraniums. It doesn’t need much imagination to visualise these fruits as storks’ beaks or bills (hence the common name).

In the 19th Century Richard Buxton found Common Storksbill, “... near Chorlton” - but didn’t elaborate further. Leo Grindon gave no specific Mersey Valley locations for the plant but wrote: “[It occurs] in cultivated fields and by dry waysides, but [it] is not a common plant”. This suggests that it might have been a rather scarce weed of cultivated fields around here.

In August of this year I found a single specimen of this plant near Northenden. The site was the area known as Kenworthy Woods. This is, essentially, a little bit of land left over from building the motorway and planted with Alders and other trees. Of course the authorities can’t leave any scraps like this alone (I suspect that they’re an affront to their ambition to concrete over as much of the planet as possible). So, in 2008, the Highways Agency (HA) dug part of it up to “improve the drainage”. These days the ‘concreters-over’ (probably much to their disgust) have to mitigate for any loss of biodiversity and so the HA has built a small pond in the middle of the site. Curiously, though, the most important effect of the disturbance was unintended. Last year and this year dozens of old agricultural weeds appeared, presumably because the seed bank was still in the soil and was brought to the surface by the disturbance. Poppies, Black Grass, Charlock, Stinkweed, Swine-cress, Field Penny-cress, Scarlet Pimpernel and several others appeared and flowered; but the ‘jewel-in-the-crown’ was Common Storksbill.

Unfortunately, the HA have scattered Perennial Rye Grass seed all over the site (Why? Why not let it re-vegetate naturally?). This grass already covers much of the site - which will soon be as boring as a suburban lawn.

Dave Bishop, December 2010

Owl Boxes on Ivy Green

2010-11-17T15:37:00.002Z

Recently we received a cash grant from Manchester City Council which has allowed us to purchase some bird and bat boxes for the Chorlton Ees and Ivy Green Local Nature Reserve. The credit for this must go to our Treasurer, John Agar who worked tirelessly to secure the grant.

We agreed that part of the grant should be spent on owl boxes. John researched this subject on the Internet and found a fascinating website called, ‘Gods Own Clay’ (www.godsownclay.com). The authors of this website live in the Weald of Kent and it covers the wildlife of this specific corner of the county, but with a particular focus on Tawny Owls. Among much other information the website contains a useful comparison of commercially available owl boxes. Those sold by a company in Burnley, called Valley Bird Boxes, were particularly highly recommended for the following reasons:

• Professional design and sturdy construction.

• Lots of room inside.

• A ledge for any chicks to perch on: apparently these chicks are rather prone to falling out of the nest and the ledge is an all-important safety feature.

• Ease of cleaning.

They seemed ideal for our purposes so John contacted Ian Waddington of Valley Bird Boxes and arranged to purchase two boxes. You can see a picture of one of these boxes in the top photograph above.

The boxes have to be mounted quite high up on the trunk of a sturdy tree and this is a specialised job requiring appropriate equipment and climbing skills.
John and I identified, what we believed to be, two suitable trees on Ivy Green and Ian and his son Sam came down and fixed a box to each of these trees. Sam did the climbing and the fixing and it looked like strenuous job requiring a good head for heights. You can see Sam working up a tree in the lower photograph.

All we have to do now is to wait for some owls to find the boxes.

For the record, a Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) is about the size of a pigeon. It has a rounded body and head, with a ring of dark feathers around its face surrounding the dark eyes. It is mainly reddish brown above and paler underneath. These birds usually start to nest from late February/early March onwards. They used to nest in rot holes in old trees but there are far fewer of these now than there used to be and modern arboricultural practices lead to far fewer rot holes in younger trees.

You might like to have a wander around Ivy Green to see if you can spot these boxes, then, having spotted them, you might also like to make a record if you see any owls using them. Please drop us an e-mail and let us know if you do see any.

Just a word of warning: I’ve read that owls can be aggressive if they’ve got chicks in the nest – although this should only be a problem if you do something silly like climbing the tree and trying to see inside the nest!

Dave Bishop
November 2010

A reminder for this coming Sunday’s Birdwatching For Beginners (winter migrants) walk

2010-11-17T14:34:00.003Z

On Sunday 21st November 2010, Friends of Chorlton Meadows members will be leading a Birdwatching For Beginners walk. It is a free two-hour walk around Chorlton Meadows and Sale Water Park, with the intention of getting beginners young and old into birdwatching.

FoCM members will be on hand to point out any winter visitors and other birds that make their home in this beautiful mixture of grassland, woodland and water habits.

Timetable For The Day
9.45 – 10.00 Meet at Mersey Valley Visitors' Centre, Rifle Road, Sale (near Sale Water Park).
10.00 Introduction, housekeeping and walk plans
10.05 Walk along Sale Water Park to bird hide at Broad Ees Dole nature reserve
10.35 From Broad Ees Dole along River Mersey to Chorlton Ees
11.15 Walk around Chorlton Ees and Chorlton Meadows to Jackson’s Boat
12:00 Arrive back at Visitors’ Centre for final review and dispersal

Bring binoculars if you can, though some provided by Friends of Chorlton Meadows members will be available on the day.

Biodiversity - The Start of a Revolution?

2010-11-02T22:02:00.003Z

Back in August the Guardian newspaper published an article by its Environment editor, John Vidal. The article quoted Ahmed Djoghlaf, the Secretary General of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, who warned: “What we are seeing today is a total disaster. No country has met its targets to protect nature. We are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. If current levels [of destruction] go on we will reach a tipping point very soon. The future of the planet depends on governments taking action very soon.”

The article also quoted the UN Environment Programme who reported that the Earth is in the middle of a mass extinction of life. Scientists estimate that 150 – 200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours. This is nearly 1000 times the natural, background extinction rate and is greater than anything the world has experienced since the dinosaurs [went extinct] nearly 65 million years ago.

Djoghlaf went on to warn that: “Destroying biodiversity only increases economic insecurity. The more you lose it, the more you lose the chance to grow.” He went on to criticise countries for separating action on climate change from protecting biodiversity. “The loss of biodiversity exacerbates climate change ... Climate change cannot be solved without action on biodiversity and vice versa.”
The article anticipated a UN report which was due out last month. This was expected to say that the economic case for global action to stop species destruction is even more powerful than the argument for tackling climate change and that saving biodiversity is cost-effective and the benefits from saving ‘natural goods and services’, such as pollination, medicines, fertile soils, clean air and water, are between 10 and 100 times the cost of saving the habitats and species that provide them.

In October representatives of more than 190 countries met in Nagoya, Japan to attempt to agree on a global strategy for conserving biodiversity under the umbrella of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The omens were not good – we all know what happened at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference last year! Nevertheless, the Nagoya conference agreed, at the 11th hour, on an ambitious conservation programme which included 20 key ‘strategic goals’ to be implemented by 2020 that should help to end the current mass extinction of species. It is intended that greater protection will be afforded to the natural world and enshrine the benefits it gives to humankind in a legally binding code of protection (‘The Independent’, 30th October 2010).

In the same edition of ‘The Independent’ Michael McCarthy commented that: “At the very least, the signing of the agreement in Nagoya ... is the moment when the international community at last began to take the destruction of the natural world seriously.” He went on to point out that: “Biodiversity loss has long been the Cinderella of global politics. For many years, while governments have prioritised the reduction of world poverty ... and the real threat of climate change, the remorseless destruction of the world’s habitats, ecosystems, species and natural genetic material has been an afterthought.” He regretted the fact that: “... the generation of politicians who made a first attempt at saving the planet at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, not only established a UN Convention on Climate Change [but also] the UN Convention on Biodiversity. But while the climate treaty has grown in importance ... the [biodiversity treaty] has never attracted the attention of world leaders.” He neatly encapsulated the whole dilemma that we have faced up to now in the following sentence: “The world’s politicians are at last waking up to the fact that this is not a matter of concern merely for middle-class birdwatchers, as some developmentalists used to dismiss it, but a threat to the fabric of all life, including our own [my italics].”

From now on it should be more difficult for people to say the sorts of things that they frequently say to me, e.g. “you care more about a few weeds than you do about people!” People are part of the fabric of life (whether some of them like it or not – it’s an inescapable fact) and if the present generation of people succeed in ‘winning’ the present vicious war against Nature their descendants will be the ultimate losers; it’s highly likely that the Human Race will follow thousands of other species to extinction. I think that it would be beneficial to stop talking in terms of “saving the planet” and more in terms of, “saving the Human Race”.

The buzzword among businessmen, economists and politicians at the moment is ‘globalisation’; they envisage a homogenised world in which goods, services and labour can be freely exchanged and shuttled around for their convenience and profit. But concern for biodiversity (and diversity in general) is about valuing and conserving the local; I strongly suspect that a truly globalised world would very soon be a dead world (or one not worth living in).

So what’s happening in our local patch of the world i.e. South Manchester? Well, the year 2010 is supposed to be UN International Year of Biodiversity but I know that, in Chorlton alone, we’ve lost at least three species this year (and I know which organisations are responsible). And there is more destruction in the pipeline e.g. the plan to push the Metrolink tram system through the Hardy Farm Site of Biological Importance and across the Mersey to Wythenshawe and the airport. GMPTE and their contractors assure us that they intend to put adequate mitigation measures in place – but I fear that more local extinctions will be inevitable.

For many years I had assumed that local politicians saw us conservationists as, at worst, a mild irritant – a bunch of eccentric “middle-class birdwatchers” and, at best, insignificant ‘bugs’ to be squidged under the vast tyres of the mighty juggernauts ‘progress’ and ‘economic growth’ (along with all the real, insignificant and eminently squidgeable, bugs). But even that is beginning to change. In October Mr John Leech, MP for Withington, put the following motion before the House of Commons:

That this House notes that 2010 is the UN's International Year for Biodiversity; believes that the alarming rate of biodiversity loss is not only an environmental problem but also threatens people's livelihoods, human well-being and economic progress, as well as undermining capacity to address other major challenges such as climate change; further believes that the 10th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (Nagoya, Japan, October 2010) is an opportunity for governments to signpost sustainable ways to manage the planet's limited resources to reduce global poverty, as are the upcoming international negotiations on climate change in Cancun; welcomes the report Banking on Biodiversity: a natural way out of poverty, published by the International Institute for Environment and Development and Bird Life International to coincide with these important international meetings; agrees with this report that human prosperity is rooted in nature's riches and that governments must fully recognise the economic value of natural capital or risk deepening poverty, escalating climate change and irreversible damage to the biological wealth on which all humankind depends; and calls on the Government to contribute positively to the greener economic thinking that is required and to advocate greater integration of strategies to reduce poverty, tackle climate change and halt biodiversity loss.

When I last checked 22 other MPs has signed this motion, including Caroline Lucas and Glenda Jackson. Let’s hope that all of the other MPs in the House will see sense and catch up with our elected representative for South Manchester very soon! I hope that if you feel strongly about this (one way or the other) you will take the time to write to Mr Leech and give him your views; this is one area where we really are, “all in this together”!

I’ll leave you with a sobering thought: the Human Race, in its present form, is probably about 2 million years old – that’s 20 thousand centuries. If we keep on consuming and destroying the world at our present ferocious rate we might only have two or three more centuries left!

Dave Bishop,
November 2010

Some Autumn Events for your diary

2010-09-20T08:35:00.001+01:00

Saturday 25th September. Bat and Moth Night at Sale Water Park. Join Friends of Chorlton Meadows naturalists Ben Smart (moths) and Richard Gardner (bats) to see and hear some of the life flying around the Mersey Valley by night. Note that you need to book your place on this event by calling the Mersey Valley Wardens on 0161 905 1100. You can obtain meeting place and time when you make your booking.

Saturday 2nd October. Friends of Chorlton Meadows Changing Seasons Nature Walk. Come and find out how plants, birds, mammals and other living things respond to the changing season. Meet at Chorlton Ees car park (at the end of the cobbled road off Brookburn Road) at 10:30 am.

Sunday November 21st. Winter Migrants Bird Identification for Beginners. This walk will be led by FoCM ornithologist, Julian Robinson. Meet at Mersey Valley Visitors' Centre, Rifle Road, Sale (near Sale Water Park) at 9:45 am.

There might be a couple of more events that we'll slot in somewhere - watch this space. And don't forget the AGM on the 30th September, at Chorlton Library at 7:00 pm.

A Rare Butterfly Siting by Ben Smart and Peter Hardy

2010-08-31T10:22:00.006+01:00

FoCM Moth Expert, Ben Smart e-mailed me yesterday with the following exciting news:

It’s been a long time since I saw a new (for me) butterfly here in the Mersey Valley. I found a Purple Hairstreak today (29.8.10) nectaring on Canadian Golden-rod in my back garden on Redland Crescent! The butterfly presumably descended from the nearby group of oaks on Hardy Farm meadow (where the football complex was planned). There are very few records of this butterfly in Greater Manchester. It is very rarely seen even when it does occur as it normally spends its entire life flying and resting at the top of an oak tree. They very rarely descend to nectar. Unfortunately the butterfly was very worn, so not as photogenic as the ones at:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?species=quercus

Some of my photographs are included above.

It’s worth looking for the adults flying around the tops of oak trees within its flight period (July and August), or even for the eggs on oak twigs.
I emailed Peter Hardy (butterfly recorder for Greater Manchester) with the record. He replied:

“Ben, this is quite amazing. I have NEVER heard of this species using Canadian Golden-Rod before (I do have one record on file of Satyrium w-album (White-letter Hairstreak) using this plant, gleaned from a "Butterfly conservation news" magazine in 1994, but no other Hairstreaks).
The nearest location to you where I have definitely recorded Neozephyrus quercus (Purple Hairstreak) is on the line of oaks adjacent to the overflow river channel between the canal and Chester Road, Stretford, SJ793935, in July 2006; I have looked for it annually since then but not seen it. Even on that 2006 occasion they were only visible with great difficulty (and with the assistance of P.M.Kinder's sharper eyes) as tiny dots up in the trees. In 2007 I think I saw one in the Southern Cemetery, which isn't far from you, but was unsure and could not record it.
I believe the species is quite widely distributed over greater Manchester but extremely difficult to see on account of its tree-top habits. I have certainly never seen one in anywhere remotely near a photographable position so I do hope you were successful in attempting to photograph it.”

Ben Smart and Peter Hardy, August 2010

If you are interested in butterflies you may like to have a look at Peter’s Butterfly website is at: www.pbh-butterflies.yolasite.com

Mystery Caterpillars by John Agar

2010-07-22T10:02:00.003+01:00

Below FoCM Treasurer, John Agar describes some mysterious caterpillars that he spotted on a Chorlton postbox:

On the 10th of June, driving along Ryebank Road, Chorlton, I was puzzled to see that the normally red postbox appeared to be green. On closer inspection I was surprised to see it was covered in hundreds of green caterpillars. I had no idea of what the species might be, however, since moth species greatly outnumber those of butterflies I assumed they must be moth caterpillars.

The postbox was situated approximately three meters from an ash tree growing in a neighbouring garden and behind a privet hedge, clearly one or both must be the host plant. I checked several books, but given that there are in the region of 2,500 species of moth, and many green caterpillars, I was unable to identify the species.

Fortunately help was at hand in the person of, fellow FoCM member, Ben Smart. Imagine my surprise when Ben informed me that the caterpillars were not that of a moth but of an Ash Sawfly, the shape of the head and the five or six pairs of abdominal prolegs being the key to identification. Ben further informs me that there are seven British species that feed on ash (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sawfly/) .

On checking the photos he`s sure it is the Ash Sawfly (Tomostethus migritus) a species that can experience population explosions leading it to devastate foliage. Ben`s view is that the larvae had descended from the ash in search of further food plant.

The tree had been severely cut back in recent times and the foliage present, although limited, showed no sign of damage. Is it possible that leaf litter from the tree could have been blown into the box and the larvae were emerging from within?
It seems improbable but perhaps not impossible. Why if the larvae were seeking further food plant would they be concentrated in such large numbers on a bright red postbox? I assume that, in common with other flies, they have compound eyes and see colour differently to us, perhaps that answers the question. If anyone can enlighten me please do so.

Ben visited the site but could only find one larva, which he took to try and rear through to absolutely confirm ID.

I am indebted to Ben for his help and input.

John Agar, July 2010

Note:

The Sawflies: Suborder Symphyta

The insects in this suborder have no obvious `waist `between the thorax and the abdomen .They get their name because most females have a saw-like ovipositor, although in some species it works more like a drill. The eggs are nearly always laid inside plant tissue and the larvae are all vegetarian. There are over 400 British species.

Reference:

Collins Complete British Insects by Michael Chinery

Report (rather late!) on the Birdwatching For Beginners walk on 6th June 2010

2010-07-16T14:35:00.006+01:00

12 hardy people attended this event, taking place on a drizzly Sunday around Sale Water Park and Chorlton Meadows. The walk encompassed a variety of habitats around this diverse part of the Mersey Valley.

FoCM member John Agar had arranged for the feeders outside the visitors’ centre at Sale to be topped up with food, and, sure enough, his foresight paid dividends as, waiting for everyone to arrive, we were lucky enough to watch a Greater Spotted Woodpecker repeatedly come to take food. This gave us all a chance to test out our binoculars, many of which loaned to us by the Mersey Valley and Countryside Warden Service. Thanks again to them for their assistance on the day.

We set off towards the dipping pond adjacent to the visitors’ centre, pausing along the platform to take in the terrain over the marsh. As if on cue, soon after our arrival, we were treated to the sight of a Kestrel appearing overhead and taking up its distinctive hunting behaviour by hovering above the marsh, only a few feet above us. Even better, we witnessed it make a successful kill, a few of the mammal knowledgeable among us even able to identify the prey dangling from its talons as a short-tailed field vole, which the Kestrel took to a nearby tree to eat. This was a wonderful piece of luck (for us, not the vole!), and goes to show you never know what you’ll see, even on what at first seemed like a wet day, low on promise.

Our walk continued along the brook towards Sale Water Park, from the banks of which we added to our list a Sedge Warbler, betrayed to us by its messy trilling call. Our patience paid off as we were also able to catch glimpses of this elusive bird as it volleyed in and out of cover.

Around the lake we added many more species, including Lapwings, Little Grebes and a family of Mute Swans by the bird hide at Broad Ees Dole.

Our final stretch took us through Chorlton Ees, some of the eagle-eyed among us picking out from nearby woodland a number of Herons hidden among the branches. This was the Heronry, a place where Herons nest and breed, and one of Chorlton Meadow’s ornithological jewels. The more we looked, the more we saw, including one posing at the top of a Larch, silhouetted against the sky analogous more to a mango grove than a beauty spot 2 miles outside the city centre!

Our final ‘star’ species was the Reed Warbler, singing constantly from cover in the reed beds at the heart of the meadows. Hearing this bird’s repetitive and chirring song, as opposed to the more variable song of the Sedge Warbler, enabled us to put our ears to the test and appreciate that for many bird species it’s the aural realm where they’re best admired. A few of us saw the bird occasionally flit through the reeds, but it largely remained in cover, brilliantly camouflaged against last year’s dead reed stems.

For more information on the birds in and around Manchester, pay a visit to the Manchester Birding website, where, among many gems, you can find up-to-date records for what’s been seen in and around Chorlton Meadows:

http://www.manchesterbirding.com/

A complete list of birds we saw on the day.

Blackbird - Sale Visitor Centre
Black-headed Gull - Broad Ees Dole
Blue Tit - Sale Visitor Centre
Canada Goose - Broad Ees Dole
Carrion Crow - various locations
Chaffinch - Cow Lane
Chiffchaff - Broad Ees Dole/River Mersey
Coot - various locations
Cormorant - flying east to west towards Sale
Goldfinch - Stretford Ees/Turn Moss
Great Spotted Woodpecker - Sale Visitor Centre
Great Tit - Sale Visitor Centre
Greenfinch - Hardy Farm
Herons and Heronry - Broad Ees Dole, Chorlton Ees
House Martin - Stretford Ees/Turn Moss
Kestrel (successful kill) - Sale Visitor Centre
Lapwing - Broad Ees Dole and Stretford Ees
Little Grebe - Broad Ees Dole
Long-tailed Tit - Broad Ees Dole/River Mersey
Magpie - various locations
Mallard - Sale Water Park
Moorhen - Various locations
Reed Bunting - Sale Water Park and Chorlton Ees
Reed Warbler - Chorlton Ees
Robin - Cow Lane
Sedge Warbler - Sale Visitor Centre
Song Thrush (star singer!) - Stretford Ees/Turn Moss
Swallow - Mersey overflow
Swan with 6 signets - Sale Water Park
Swift - Stretford Ees/Turn Moss

Julian Robinson, August 2010

Small Ermine Moths by Ben Smart

2010-07-07T10:01:00.005+01:00

Many people have remarked, this summer, on the webs smothering certain local trees. Our local Moth expert, Ben Smart, explains all below:

You may have noticed large grey webs coating the leaves of a variety of trees this year. These will usually be made by caterpillars of different species of Small Ermine Moths, and these seem to have appeared in large numbers this year. The particular species can usually be identified on the basis of the tree on which it is feeding. Each web contains large numbers of caterpillars (approx 20-50) feeding gregariously in May and June. Once fully fed the caterpillars move to a nearby branch, form a fresh web, and enter the chrysalis stage of their life-cycle. Again, they do this gregariously, and if you look inside one of these pupal webs, you may see large numbers of chrysalises all lined up together each in its individual white silken cocoon. The adults tend to emerge in June and don’t move far from the foodplant so you may see the adult moth sat on a leaf or on the trunk of the tree. All have small black spots on a white background and are about 1 cm long. The different species are so similar it is often easier to identify the moth by its foodplant.

There are five species that may be found in Chorlton.

Bird-cherry Ermine Moth (Yponomeuta evonymella) – This is the commonest of the family and feeds gregariously on Bird-cherry. It may defoliate the foodplant so much that webs may be formed on neighbouring plants even if unsuitable, in a desperate bid to get the nourishment required for successful development of the caterpillar. This moth can be differentiated from the others as its black spots are smaller and more numerous than the other related species.

Orchard Ermine (Yponomeuta padella) – Caterpillars form webs on hawthorn and blackthorn. The chrysalis has a greenish body with black wing cases. The moth, which emerges from the chrysalis after about two weeks, has a slightly greyer tinge to the forewing than its close relatives.

Apple Ermine (Yponomeuta malinellus) – Webs of these species can be found on the apple trees at Chorlton Water Park. Each contains lots of dense silk, half-chewed foodplant, lots of droppings, and tens of caterpillars. The adult moths are white with grey tips at the end of the forewings, and a small number of black spots.

Spindle Ermine (Yponomeuta cagnagella) – Quite an unusual moth in Chorlton, due to the relative scarcity of its foodplant, Spindle. As with all of these species, with the exception of Y.rorrella, each chrysalis is protected by a white, silken cocoon. The adult moth has a white forewing with a small number of black spots.

Willow Ermine (Yponomeuta rorrella) – A few webs have been found this year on White Willow close to Jackson’s Bridge on the north side of the Mersey. The caterpillar is typical of the Small Ermine moths in that it is grey with a black head and black spots. The adult has a greyish patch on the forewing and grey tips to the wings. The black dots are smaller in size than for most of this family.

Confusion species – There is a moth called the Thistle Ermine (Myelois circumvoluta) that looks similar to these, but is larger, about 1 ½ cm long, and has larger black spots. The caterpillars of this species do not form webs but feed over the winter in the stems of Spear Thistle.

Ben Smart, July 2010

Report on the Fern Walk with the British Pteridological Society - 29th May, 2010

2010-06-19T15:34:00.003+01:00

For some, as yet unexplained, reason the area of the Mersey Valley adjacent to Chorlton has a very rich Pteridophyte (i.e. Fern) flora and some 24 species have been found between Chorlton Water Park in the east and the Stretford border in the west - a distance of approximately 2 miles.

On a wet Saturday in May four members of the Manchester and North Midlands Group of the British Pteridological Society (Yvonne Golding, Roland Ennos, Michael Hayward and Dave Bishop) and three guests (Charlotte Abbas, Katherine Miller and David Rydeheard) set off from Chorlton Water Park with the intention of seeing as many of the local fern species as possible. First we negotiated a narrow, sunken lane at the rear of the Water Park and bordering Chorlton Golf Course. Here we encountered Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas) and a luxuriant specimen of Scaly Male Fern (D. affinis). We then moved on to the inelegantly named Barlow Eye Tip – once a landfill site but now a Site of Biological Importance (SBI). Here we found three species of Horsetail: the ubiquitous Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) but also Water Horsetail (E. fluviatile) and Great Horsetail (E. telmateia). The latter species is interesting because in Manchester Museum Herbarium there are specimens of it which were collected from a site nearby in the mid-19th century. The present colony is on the very edge of the site and may have survived all of the various upheavals which occurred around it in the recent past.

Moving further westward along the river bank we came to another SBI known as Lower Hardy Farm. Here, deep in a Birch and Willow copse, is a magnificent stand of Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis). Unfortunately, there is a plan to drive a spur of the Metrolink tram system through this SBI and across the river to Manchester Airport. Various exploratory drilling operations were conducted here recently and the Osmunda plants came within a whisker of being destroyed.

We then inspected the walls of the Withington Sewage Works Pumping Station. Here can be found Intermediate Polypody (Polypodium interjectum), Hartstongue Fern (Asplenium scolopendrium), Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes ssp. quadrivalens) and Rustyback Fern (Asplenium ceterach). The latter species is a lime-lover and one would not normally expect to encounter it in South Manchester, but there is probably enough lime in the mortar of the sewage works wall to support it (the photograph above is of A.ceterach on the sewage works wall). Unfortunately, the spring of 2010 had been exceptionally dry (in contrast to the day of our walk!) and many of these ferns were somewhat shrivelled.

In a wet area at the back of Brookburn Road Primary School nearby we found our fourth Horsetail –Marsh Horsetail (E. palustre). Then a single specimen of Hard Fern (Blechnum spicant) was seen clinging to the steep bank of Chorlton Brook; Hard Fern is a rare species locally.

By this time, lunch at the Bowling Green beckoned - but not before we had seen Black Spleenwort (Asplenium adiantum-nigrum) and Wall Rue (A. ruta-muraria) in the wall of the old St. Clement’s churchyard. In the pub I was able to show the group a frond of Common Polypody (Polypodium vulgare) which I had gathered the day before from a site somewhat off our line of march.

After lunch we made our way towards the Chorlton Ees SBI. Passing through a strip of woodland we saw a specimen of Soft Shield Fern (Polystichum setiferum) with rather deeply cut fronds. About 20 years ago I was told that this species was believed to be extinct in Greater Manchester – but evidently not, because since that time it has turned up in several other places.

In the midst of a derelict hay meadow on Chorlton Ees we saw a large and impressive colony of Adderstongue Fern (Ophioglossum vulgatum). This species was reported from this area by Richard Buxton in his flora of 1849 and by Leo Grindon in his flora of 1859, and was then thought to have been lost until it was re-found in 1995.
We also spotted Lady Fern (Athyrium filix-femina) in the course of our travels and finally, in a patch of Birch woodland on the edge of the SBI, we saw Broad Buckler Fern (Dryopteris dilatata), Narrow Buckler Fern (D. carthusiana) and more Scaly Male Fern.

Challenges for the future are to look for Equisetum hybrids and Dryopteris hybrids (particularly the hybrid between Broad and Narrow Buckler Ferns). In addition, the name ‘Scaly Male Fern’ actually covers a complex group of species, and it would be nice to know how many of these we have locally.

Dave Bishop, June 2010

Bees in the Mersey Valley

2010-06-16T08:58:00.002+01:00

On Sunday 20th June Bee Expert, Brian Robinson will be leading a walk and talk focussing on bees. This is a free event and everyone is welcome.

Meeting Place: Mersey Valley Visitors' Centre, Rifle Road, Sale.

Time: 10:00 am to 12:00 noon

Join us to learn about bees and their important pollination role. Brian will give a short talk on bee identification and about some of the different species we have locally. This will be followed by a short walk around some flower rich parts of the meadows to find some bees.

Rachael Maskill and Dave Bishop (FoCM)

Report on Moth, Butterfly and Caterpillar Walk by Ben Smart

2010-06-08T10:53:00.004+01:00

This was a joint meeting of the Lancs Moth Group, Butterfly Conservation and FoCM. It was held on the 23rd May, 2010 at Hardy Farm. Ben's report of the meeting is below:

13 attended the walk in baking hot conditions (27oC) looking at this area of the Mersey Valley, where over 600 moths have been recorded. The walk concentrated on those species feeding on birch and on those feeding on grassland, on grasses, vetches and other low-growing plants. Records were made of leaf-mines, larvae and their feeding signs as well as adult moths and butterflies.

Highlights included a beautiful freshly emerged Ruby Tiger (see photograph above), still drying its wings, good numbers of Mother Shipton and Small Yellow Underwing moths, and many caterpillars of Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet on vetch, a couple of which had already formed their cocoons on the surrounding grasses. Nine species of butterfly adults were found including the Small Copper, Common Blue and Holly Blue.
Unfortunately no butterfly caterpillars were seen, although the bright orange eggs of the Orange-tip butterfly, laid on Cuckoo-flower, were located.

Another nice find was the Coleophora albidella larval case on Goat willow (albidella), spotted by the eagle eyes of Dave Bishop, Chair of the Friends of Chorlton Meadows. After checking my records I realised that I had once had the adult of this species to light (see adult at http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=532 ), but this was the first time I had seen the case of this species. The case is a dark, pistol-shaped structure coated with hairs from willow catkins and was found attached to the upper surface of a leaf doing a good impression of a bird dropping. Other Coleophora species were found on Creeping Thistle (Coleophora peribenanderi) and hawthorn (probably Coleophora spinella), as well as feeding signs of Coleophora serratella on birch.

Numerous Grapholita lunulana were seen. This moth is a fairly recent arrival to Lancashire but is certainly thriving on this site. Although small, it is a very distinctive species, dark in colour with a crescent shape across the forewings, hence the Latin name lunulana.

Another micro-moth seen in numbers was the Cock’s-foot Moth (Glyphipterix simpliciella). A swarm of these moths were seen flying around a clump of Cock’s foot Grass. Careful examination showed that the dried stems from last year were full of the pupal exuviae, and numerous exit holes from which the adults leave the stem once they have emerged.

A Common Frog and Willow Warblers were also recorded.
All this was followed by much needed refreshments in Jackson’s Boat.
This area has recently been threatened by development with proposals from the private landowner (recently purchased from the University of Manchester) to build a football stadium with turnstiles, fencing, 50ft high floodlights and seven football pitches, including artificial pitches. Fortunately this proposal was soundly rejected by the City Council Planning Committee and the developer withdrew his application - although this is unlikely to be the end of the matter.

The full Lepidoptera species list was:
Eriocrania salopiella – mines on birch
Eriocrania semipurpurella – mine on birch
Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet – larvae and cocoons
Aspilapterix tringipennella – adult
Phyllonorycter ulmifoliella – mine on birch
Glyphipterix simpliciella (Cock’s-foot Moth) – adult
Argyresthia retinella - feeding signs on birch
Coleophora serratella – feeding signs on birch
Coleophora spinella (prob) – larval case on hawthorn
Coleophora albidella – larval case on Goat Willow
Coleophora peribenanderi – larval case on Creeping Thistle
Elachista argentella – adult
Anacampsis blattariella – larva on birch
Aphelia paleana – adult and larva on Ribwort Plantain and vetches
Celypha lacunana – larva on Ribwort Plantain
Ancylis badiana – adult
Grapholita compositella – adult
Grapholita lunulana – adult
Grapholita jungiella – adult
Mother of Pearl (Pleuroptya ruralis) – larva on nettle
Green-veined White – adult
Large White – adult
Orange-tip - egg on Cuckoo Flower, and adult
Common Blue – adult
Holly Blue – adult
Small Copper – adult
Small Tortoiseshell – adult
Peacock – adult
Speckled Wood - adult
Winter Moth – larva on birch
Latticed Heath – adult
Mottled Umber – larva on oak
Ruby Tiger – adult
Sallow – larva
Dun-bar – larva on birch
Small Yellow Underwing – adult
Mother Shipton – adult

Lancs moth group is at: http://www.lancashiremoths.co.uk/
Information on proposed development of Hardy Farm can be found at http://savechorltonmeadows.wordpress.com/
Photos of all moths mentioned can be seen at: ukmoths: http://ukmoths.org.uk/

Ben Smart, May 2010

A reminder for this coming Sunday’s Birdwatching For Beginners walk

2010-06-02T16:14:00.004+01:00

On Sunday 6th of June 2010, Friends of Chorlton Meadows members will be leading a Birdwatching For Beginners walk. It is a free two-hour walk around Chorlton Meadows and Sale Water Park, with the intention of getting beginners young and old into birdwatching.

FoCM members will be on hand to point out any summer visitors and other birds that make their home in this beautiful mixture of grassland, woodland and water habits.

Timetable For The Day

9.45 – 10.00 Meet at Mersey Valley Visitors' Centre, Rifle Road, Sale (near Sale Water Park).
10.00 Introduction, housekeeping and walk plans
10.05 Walk along Sale Water Park to bird hide at Broad Ees Dole nature reserve.
10.35 From Broad Ees Dole along River Mersey to Chorlton Ees.
11.15 Walk around Chorlton Ees and Chorlton Meadows to Jackson’s Boat.
12:00 Arrive back at Visitors’ Centre for final review and dispersal.

Bring binoculars if you can, though some provided by the Mersey Valley Countryside Warden Service will be available on the day.

Task and Events Summer 2010

2010-05-21T18:46:00.015+01:00

Friends of Chorlton Meadows Task and Events Summer 2010.

Task/Event
Search for Moth and Butterfly Caterpillars of Hardy Farm with Ben Smart.
Date
Sunday 23rd May.
Time
10:00 am.
Meet
Entrance to Hardy Farm at the end of Hardy Lane, Chorlton.

Task/Event
Fern Walk with the British Pteridological Society (the Fern Society).
Date
Saturday 29th May 2010.
Time
10:30 am.
Meet
Chorlton Water Park car park (end of Maitland Avenue).

Task/Event
*Story Walk with Ingrid Burney and Dave Bishop (this is a Chorlton Arts Festival Event).
Date
Sunday 30th May 2010.
Time
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm.
Meet
Ivy Green Road Entrance to Ivy Green (Not Ivy Green car park on Brookburn Road).

Task/Event
Bird-watching for Beginners with Julian Robinson.
Date
Sunday 6th June.
Time
9:45 am – noon.
Meet
Mersey Valley Visitors’ Centre, Rifle Road, Sale.

Task/Event
*Historic Uses for Wild Plants – A Walk Led by Dave Bishop.
Date
Sunday 27th June 2010.
Time
10:30 am – 1:00 pm.
Meet
Chorlton Ees Car Park.

Other events are in the planning stage. We’ll be doing more Himalayan Balsam pulling - as this was quite successful last year. We’re also planning a bee walk (probably also in June) and another moth and bat walk (which will be an evening event in early September). More information is in the Mersey Valley Summer Events Programme: www.merseyvalley.org.uk

IMPORTANT:

Please make a careful note of the venues.

The Chorlton Ees Car Park is at the end of the cobbled Road off Brookburn Road (by the side of Brookburn Road Primary School).

The Ivy Green Road Entrance is about three quarters of the way down Ivy Green Road on the left hand side just past Edward Avenue.

The Hardy Lane Entrance is at the end of Hardy Lane, Chorlton.

The Chorlton Water Park Car Park is at the end of Maitland Avenue (off Barlow Moor Road).

For some tasks and events you may wish to bring a packed lunch. You will also need to wear suitable footwear (boots or wellies) and dress for the weather.

* Note that some of these events are also included on the Mersey Valley Summer Events 2010 Programme

OTHER CONTACTS
Mersey Valley Countryside Warden Service
Website: www.merseyvalley.org.uk
Email: info@merseyvalley.org.uk
Chorlton Water Park: tel. 0161 881 5639
Sale Visitors’ Centre: tel. 0161 905 1100
Dave Bishop (FoCM Chair): tel. 0161 881 6276; mobile: 07947535691 (voice calls only, please!)

Fern Walk with the BPS

2010-04-30T18:02:00.003+01:00

The British Pteridological Society (BPS) is the society for anyone interested in Ferns ('Pteridophytes'). I recently joined this society and when I casually mentioned to other members that I had found around 18 species of Ferns in the vicinity of Chorlton Meadows they were very surprised and suggested that this is a very good total - especially in a semi-urban area.

As a result I've been asked to lead a walk which, I hope, will take in as many of the local Ferns as possible. The details of this walk are as follows:

Meeting Point: Chorlton Water Park car park (at the end of Maitland Avenue, Chorlton).

Date: Saturday 29th May 2010

Time: 10:30 am (until approx. 2:30 to 3:00 pm)

My co-leader on the walk will be Dr Yvonne Golding - who is General Secretary of the BPS. As well as being a Fern enthusiast Yvonne is a professional Entomologist and she tells me that she has conducted research on Hoverflies around Chorlton and Sale Water Parks.

The walk is open to non-members of the Society, but if you would like to join us could you please email me beforehand (at davegbishop@aol.com) so that I can get some idea of numbers.

Posted by Dave Bishop, 30th April 2010

Plums!

2010-04-18T20:03:00.003+01:00

Sorry about the title - I couldn't resist!

The commonest 'wild plum' in flower at the moment is Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). It's gorgeous white blossoms seem to be everywhere. But there are others which are easy to confuse with it.

One species which I've only just discovered (by that I mean, discovered for myself - it's long been known to other botanists, of course!) is Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera). The time and place where I first became aware of it was last autumn at a spot in Stretford in the shadow of the bridge which carries the A56 (Chester Road) over Kickety Brook. At this place there's a little group of black barked trees clustered around an old willow. I suppose, if I'd noticed them at all, I'd probably thought that they were some variety of Blackthorn. But last autumn I noticed that they were bearing little red and yellow plums. Most of these were too high to reach but I was able to gather a few wind-falls which, in spite of their size, were quite sweet and juicy. I waited, a bit impatiently (it has to be said) for the trees to flower - which they did at around the end of March/beginning of April (they tend to flower at least a couple of weeks before Blackthorn). The flowers do look a bit like Blackthorn flowers but are quite a bit larger. Another characteristic of this tree is that the young twigs are green. The tree itself is larger and less thorny than Blackthorn. According to my books P. cerasifera, in the UK, is almost always planted - so who planted my little grove in Stretford, I wonder?

One evening, a couple of days ago, I had a little wander over Hardy Farm with my Field Guide, notebook and camera. In the middle of the SBI was a smallish tree (about 8 to 10 ft high, I would think) absolutely smothered in white blossom (a really breathtaking sight!). I soon realised that this wasn't Blackthorn either. It was, in fact, 'true' Wild Plum (Prunus domestica) although I do need to see the fruits next autumn to be absolutely sure. It's highly likely that this has self-seeded itself in this spot. Many Wild Plums are derived from domesticated fruit trees. They could be derived from Plums, Greengages, Bullaces etc. but are usually so complexly hybridised and back-crossed that even the experts have great difficulty in sorting them out.

I've posted pictures of both of these finds above.

Posted by Dave Bishop, April 2010

More fires and the search for summer visitors

2010-03-25T20:43:00.010Z

On Sunday I had a few spare hours so I took a stroll over Lower Hardy Farm towards Barlow Tip at the western end of Chorlton Water Park in search of my first chiffchaff of the season. Chiffchaffs are usually the first of the summer migrant warbler birds to arrive in the UK and although the warblers can be tricky to distinguish by eye the key to identifying the chiffchaff is to listen for its song. It sings it's name by repeating two notes quite close to each other. Sadly, I didn't hear the bird and was instead shocked to see the damage caused by fires all over Lower Hardy Farm and Barlow Tip.

On a more positive note I did have a close encounter with a fox as I disturbed it was hunting for small mammals. It never ceases to surprise me how in the middle of a busy Sunday afternoon with hundreds of joggers, cyclists and dogs passing up and down the Mersey banks what wonders you can be seen in the Mersey Valley when you step off the beaten track. I was particularly captivated by the beauty of this lichen. I don't have any books on lichen but my general British Wildlife book has a similar picture for Hypogymnia physodes. Please comment if you think I've got this one wrong.

Despite the depressing site of acres of burnt vegetation I was pleased to see a common shrew and a short tailed field vole under an old bit of metal sheet I found. I also saw frogs mating and spawning in the pond at Chorlton Water Park, so in spite of the devastation caused through the valley by fires spring is still exerting its very special appeal.

Incidentally, I heard my first chiffchaff of the season on Tuesday at Pickerings Pasture in Widnes.

Posted by Richard Gardner, March 2010

Firestarter on Chorlton Ees

2010-03-21T09:59:00.003Z

There have been some developments in this sorry tale. My spies tell me that the police have actually stopped a man who they think is responsible for these fires. Unfortunately, they didn't manage to catch him in the act - so they could only warn him. The warnings don't seem to have had much effect because there have been more fires since he was stopped last week.

Nevertheless, we now have a more detailed description: He is a white male in his late 40s, early 50s. He is clean shaven and has short, greying hair (he may, at times, wear a baseball cap). A witness suggested that he looked a little bit like the actor who played the Scouse builder, 'Moxey' in the TV series 'Aufwiedersehn Pet' (if anyone remembers that?). When stopped by the police he was wearing a sort of 'camel hair coat' with a wide, fleecy collar over a red sweat-shirt. On the right breast of the sweatshirt was a stitched, half-circular motif which may actually have included his name (!) He was also wearing blue trousers or jeans. I believe that he also drives a van - but I have no description of that.

Again, I can only repeat, if you see him hanging around, don't approach him but ring the Police of 0161 872 5050 or the Mersey Valley Warden Service on 0161 881 5639 (Chorlton Water Park) or 0161 905 1100 (Sale Water Park).

Posted by Dave Bishop, March 2010

Chorlton Ees Heronry

2010-03-20T23:28:00.003Z

Above is Thomas McEldowney's wonderful picture of a pair of the Herons which are currently nesting on Chorlton Ees.

Thanks, Thomas!

March 2010

Greater Manchester Local Record Centre - Training Programme 2010

2010-03-17T19:55:00.003Z

The Greater Manchester Ecology Unit (GMEU) provides specialist advice to, and on behalf of, the ten district councils that make up Greater Manchester on biodiversity, nature conservation and wildlife issues. Although hosted by Tameside MBC, GMEU works across the whole of Greater Manchester. To find out more about GMEU and their roles and objectives go to: www.tameside.gov.uk/ecologyunit .

GMEU houses the Greater Manchester Local Record Centre (GMLRC) which contains detailed records of wildlife in the county. The more information the Record Centre holds the better because it’s through accurate record keeping that GMEU can better identify local areas, habitats and species worthy of conservation and also monitor changes in the local environment. You can do your bit by learning to identify particular groups of plants and animals. If you’re at all interested in wildlife and its conservation, acquiring identification skills and making accurate records of what you see is definitely one of the most important things that you can do.

This spring and summer GMLRC are running a series of species identification training courses for people at beginner and intermediate level.

The courses are as follows:

Tuesday 27th April, Woodland Flora at Healy Dell, Rochdale (Trainer: GMEU)

Thursday 6th May, Identifying Bird by Sight & Song at Sale Water Park (GMEU)

Monday 14th June, Invertebrate Identification & Survey at Reddish Vale, Stockport (Don Stenhouse)

Wednesday 14th July, Wildflowers & Grasses at Chadkirk, Stockport (GMEU)

Wednesday 21st July, Dragonflies & Damselflies at Philips Park, Bury (Dave Winnard)

Each course costs £25

For a booking form and/or further information please e-mail Suzanne Waymont at:
Suzanne.waymont@tameside.gov.uk

Posted by Dave Bishop, March 2010

Gatley Carrs in February by Peter Wolstenholme

2010-03-16T10:58:00.002Z

I'm afraid I'm a bit late in posting Peter's report this month. This is entirely your editor's fault - sorry, Peter!

Between midday and 4 pm on the 6th at least ten flocks of Pinkfooted Geese flew west towards Martin Mere from East Anglia and towards month end two more flocks followed. Tens of thousands were still wintering in East Anglia at month end so there is still scope for further birds flying over in March before the flocks finally depart for Iceland.

Vegetation has been slow to develop because of what is billed as the coldest winter for thirty years, but the Alder Catkins are still to be seen by the stream and both Daffodils and Snowdrops were budding or in flower by month end. Birds of prey this month have included Sparrow Hawk, Buzzard and Kestrel.

By month end Robins are again present in pairs. Hedge Sparrows are in song as are a much smaller number of Wrens than in the autumn. Despite the cold weather there are plenty of species of birds in song, which had not been heard earlier in the winter. A pair of Mistle Thrush are in territory and their slurred song is to be heard at the west end of the poplar plantation. The repeated phrases of Song Thrush are now a feature in several parts of the reserve and the slow dreamy song of Blackbird is again a sound to be listened for from now until the summer. The cheery song of Chaffinch has been a sound we have heard towards month end. Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Nuthatch and Goldcrest have all joined the chorus and it is worth listening out for the drumming of Great Spotted Woodpecker against the trunks of mature trees. In the late evening listen for the hooting call of nesting Tawny Owls.

Do not forget to continue feeding the birds in early spring. Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Blue, Great, Cole and Longtailed Tits have all been visiting bird tables and bird feeders. Fat balls, peanuts and birdseed are all eagerly devoured as the number of insects for the birds to feed on remains pathetically low. During the latter half of the month a male Blackcap has fed on fat and once even ventured to sing for a few minutes. Blackcaps during the winter months are likely to have come from Germany or further afield. Our summering Blackcap are likely to come back in early April, together with other migrants from southern Europe or Africa.

When the pool has been unfrozen during February there have been up to four pairs of Canada Geese prospecting for nesting sites. Up to five pairs of Mallard are also there. Heron hunt on the pool and a pair of Moorhen are in the vegetation. The stream attracts a pair of Grey Wagtails. A Snipe has appeared on the pool but there have been no sightings of Kingfisher since December. Cormorants are still fishing along the cleaner waters of the Mersey.

Up to forty Blackheaded Gulls are feeding on the playing field to the west of the wildflower meadow and by month end there were already a couple with the blackheads of summer plumage.

With best wishes for the warmer spring weather.

Peter Wolstenholme RSPB, Manchester and SK8

UN International Year of Biodiversity - Fire Raising on Chorlton Ees

2010-03-15T15:18:00.005Z

As well as the authorities doing their very best to destroy our remaining scraps of biodiversity, in what is supposed to be an important and significant year, members of the public are getting in on the act now.
In the last few days several large areas of Chorlton Ees have been deliberately set on fire. This will have killed millions of insects and other invertebrates and killed or endangered many ground nesting birds and small mammals. In addition the vegetation seldom recovers from such fires and what should be species rich grassland will tend to be replaced by a virtual monoculture of Rosebay Willowherb (which is why it's sometimes called "Fireweed").

There have been other such fires, in previous years, usually in March. A picture is building up of the main culprit - but he hasn't been caught yet.

He appears to be in his late 40s to early 50s (hence old enough to know better!). He dresses in "outdoor" clothing and wears a baseball cap. He also carries a black rucksack and brown oil/gas cylinder (which appears to be part of his fire-raising equipment).

We do not know whether this grossly irresponsible and anti-social idiot is dangerous or not, but, to be on the safe side, it's best not to approach him. Nevertheless, if you do get close enough to see any further details of his appearance, without any risk to yourself, please make a note and pass it on to the Police on 0161 872 5050 and/or to the Mersey Valley Wardens on 0161 881 5639 (Chorlton Water Park) or 0161 905 1100 (Sale Water Park).

I had hoped that 2010 would really be a special year in which we would begin to turn the corner and start to value the remaining wildlife in South Manchester. Instead, it's shaping up to be one of the worst years on record with lots of 'officially sanctioned' destruction ongoing and even more in the pipeline. No wonder people like the 'Chorlton Ees firebug' have no respect for the environment!

Dave Bishop, March 2010

Village Green Application - Help Secure an Undeveloped Future for Hardy Farm

2010-03-02T11:09:00.004Z

The recent attempt to build a huge sporting development at Hardy Farm has been a 'wake-up call' for the whole community. In spite of its nominal Green Belt status this seemed to count for nothing to the Council's Planning Department who, you will remember, were "minded to approve" the development. It was only because the politicians on the Planning Committee refused to approve the plans, and the developer withdrew them, that we're not now saddled with twelve 49 ft floodlights, eight to ten football pitches (including an astro-turf one), fences, lots of extra cars and coaches parked on local streets, and lots of swearing, litter and late night drinking in the clubhouse that, unfortunately, seems to go with football these days.

As a result several members of the Save Chorlton Meadows group have been looking into the possibility of obtaining Village Green status for Hardy Farm. Below is a message from Joanne Newberry asking for your help:

We are seeking to preserve free access and the right to roam across the meadows for all local people, whilst protecting the meadows from development. Greenbelt status alone is insufficient, but village green status would formalise and safeguard the use over the past twenty-five years as a popular informal open space. This is a positive process to protect our local breathing space, ensuring it continues to be freely available for local residents to access and use, now and in the future.
We need support from as many people in Chorlton as possible. You can help if you, your friends or family have used the meadows (section between the paths to Jackson’s Boat bridge from Hardy Lane and Brookburn Road in Chorltonville) and have lived in Chorlton(within the parish of St Clement...please ask if you're unsure ) at any time in the last twenty years. If you haven’t already filled in a questionnaire, please request one by sending your name, address or contact number to:

villagers@savechorltonmeadows.co.uk

Please help with this - it's a great and worthy cause and it's also important that we all do as much as possible to protect our remaining green spaces.

Posted by Dave Bishop, 3rd March 2010

Gatley Carrs in December 2009 & January 2010

2010-02-07T16:00:00.002Z

This is Peter Wolstenholme's midwinter report from Gatley Carrs at the eastern (Stockport) end of the Mersey Valley:

Early December temperature remained largely above freezing point. Several flocks of Pinkfeet flew high overhead in a westerly direction. Again there were small numbers of Canada Geese which were either at tree top height or on the pool when it was unfrozen. The first signs of spring were along the stream with blooming alder catkins and pussy willows. Siskins, Redpolls, Bullfinch, Chaffinch and Goldfinch fed among the alders.

Very cold weather with heavy frost and deep snow in early January brought Redwing and Fieldfare foraging in gardens for berries and apples. One or two Blackcaps appeared after the snow - probably winter visitors from central Europe. A Kingfisher on Christmas Day on the stream brought a flash of colour but there have been few seen since the very cold snap. The stream hosted Snipe and Gray Wagtail. During the colder weather Herons visited the stream and garden ponds and even foraged for carrion in the snow.

Throughout the period there were Kestrel, Sparrow Hawks and Buzzard visiting the Carrs. Birdsong has come from Collared Doves, Wood Pigeon, Robin and Dunnock but the numbers of singing Wrens has dropped as numbers have diminished with the cold weather. The milder weather of January has brought back the bright cheery phrases of song from the Song Thrush for the first time since very early autumn. During the next two months there should be plenty of new songsters as the spring chorus of birdsong begins to get established.

Bird feeders have attracted Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Blue, Great, Coal and Longtailed Tits. Birds have fed on Fat Balls, Peanuts, Pale bird seed and Blackbird seed. Some species especially Goldfinch are doing very well with flocks of 60 to 100 gathering in the treetops while others such as Wren seem to have dropped in numbers. Goldcrest have held on in the conifers near the entrance.

In the morning of mid January up to 30 Blackheaded Gulls fed on the playing fields - still in winter plumage. Flocks of up to 80 Jackdaws flew over to roost in late afternoons in a northerly direction and in the evening the hooting of Tawny Owls has come after nightfall.

A bird visit to the Solway Estuary in January brought sightings of an American Wigeon among European Wigeon and over 300 Whooper Swans at Caerlaverock, Purple Sandpiper and Greenshank on the shore at Southerness Point and over 10,000 Barnacle Geese on Blackshaw Merse

With best wishes,

Peter Wolstenholme RSPB Manchester and SK8

UN International Year of Biodiversity - January in South Manchester

2010-02-03T19:43:00.005Z

So, we’re one month and a bit into 2010, the UN International Year of Biodiversity – how are we doing in South Manchester?

Well, as I predicted last December it’s not going terribly well – but not quite as bad as I expected.

We didn’t lose Hardy Farm, as seemed fairly certain a month ago, but the plans were not actually rejected by the Planning Committee because the developer withdrew his application before they could do so. That probably means that he is going to come back at some point with a revised plan – so it’s not over yet.

Contractors acting for the Environment Agency (EA) have been working on that part of Chorlton Brook which flows through the Chorlton Ees and Ivy Green Local Nature Reserve from Brookburn Road to the Mersey. On the plus side they’re actually doing this work during the winter - which makes a change from the usual ‘blitz-everything-during-the spring-just-as-the-birds-are-nesting’ approach. Nevertheless, they’ve chopped down some of the old, multi-stemmed White Willows which lined the brook and were something of a feature of it. No doubt someone decided that these trees were ‘diseased’ or ‘dangerous’ (or even ‘untidy’) – spurious reasons which are usually taken to be of much greater importance than the fact that the older the tree, the more important it is in biodiversity terms. Nevertheless, this is not an acceptable attitude on a nature reserve, where old trees (no matter how ‘decrepit’) are some of the most valuable organisms present. I will start to believe that the authorities have more than a token regard for biodiversity when they start valuing old trees rather than automatically and thoughtlessly cutting them down. Mind you, by that time we probably won’t have any old trees left to value!

The old trees that we have lost were covered in mosses and lichens and would have been rich in insects and other invertebrates. They would also have provided nesting and roosting opportunities for birds and bats. What is more, old trees develop more of these associations as they grow older. I suspect that they were just reaching a stage where they were beginning to become really interesting. Sadly, at this particular stage, they begin to look ‘untidy’ and ‘dangerous’, with broken limbs and rot holes, and some officious, know-nothing busybody is likely to come along and condemn them as ‘diseased’. No doubt they can be ‘dangerous’ ... if you stand underneath one in the middle of the night in a high wind! But this is also true of ‘healthy’ (looking) planted trees - which often have weakened root systems (quite a few of these have blown down in winter gales over the last few years).

I’m prepared to bet that, at some point, if this article and the protest letter I’ve written to the EA have any effect at all, they will promise to plant new trees. But, as I’ve argued many times before, tree planting has very little to do with conservation. Conservation is about valuing, retaining and enhancing what is there already – it is not about introducing new things.

The fate of the trunks and branches of the felled willows is also causing me some concern. At the moment they are stacked by various paths through the reserve. Already some of this wood has been shredded (in an industrial ‘tree-mincer’) and the resulting chippings sprayed on to the ground. Not only is this an unsustainable method of disposing of biomass, it also smothers the native vegetation. I am constantly amazed at the way the ‘tree-mincer’ operators always manage to choose the most sensitive areas possible to smother with their chippings. For example, on the north side of the brook there’s a little patch of a plant called Barren Strawberry (Potentilla sterilis) – it’s the only place in the whole reserve where this plant grows but it’s been unerringly smothered in chippings. On the south side there are some patches of an interesting plant called Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium) and the biggest and best of these patches has been singled out for the chippings treatment. We’re also at risk of losing our only specimens of Hard Fern (Blechnum spicant), Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris), Wood Anenome (Anenome nemorosa) and Black Currant (Ribes nigrum) which all grow on or near the banks of the brook.

It’s important to bear in mind, of course, that the EA are doing this work in order to protect us from flooding, but I can’t help thinking that if there was regular maintenance on the brook, rather than a major ‘blitzing’ every few decades, the effects on wildlife might be less catastrophic.

So it would seem that our Local Nature Reserve has almost certainly had its net biodiversity reduced; and it certainly hasn’t had it enhanced!

Elsewhere in South Manchester contractors working for the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) have been working on the new Metrolink line which will eventually run from Old Trafford to Didsbury. You will recall that this service will follow the route of the old Midland Railway line – which was abandoned in the 1960s and had, in the intervening 50 years, transformed into a rich wildlife corridor. In spite of promises to conserve biodiversity along this route, not much of the embankments along the Old Trafford to Chorlton section seem to be left. This has caused so much concern among certain residents of properties adjoining the Chorlton to Didsbury section that they have attached “save our trees” notices to trackside trees and marked them off with yellow tape! GMPTE have promised to plant five trees for every one tree that they remove - but this is pure developers’ tokenism, and as the regions through which the line will run are heavily built up, it’s not at all clear where all these trees will be planted.

Anyone who has tried to walk along this route, in the last few years, will know that much of it is/was flooded. In an area where most of our historic ponds have disappeared these flooded areas formed an important local habitat for water plants, water-living invertebrates, amphibians etc. GMPTE have, rather belatedly, submitted some plans for some replacement ponds – but these are, surely, at least a couple of years too late?

So, where are we up to in South Manchester in this UN International Year of Biodiversity? Well: ‘quite a few losses, hardly any gains’, probably sums it up fairly well. There have been some concessions: like working in the winter rather than the spring (a big advance) - but there’s a general impression that engineering considerations come first and the obligations that organisations have towards biodiversity are still not taken as seriously as they should be, and tend to be seen as a bit of an afterthought, or even something to be avoided if possible.

I’m planning for this to be the first of a number of such articles on biodiversity in South Manchester during this important year. Although I shall have no hesitation in naming and shaming organisations which destroy our wildlife and their habitats this year, I will also be looking and reporting on any examples of good practise that I come across.

Dave Bishop, February 2010

Valuing Manchester's Wildlife Questionnaire

2010-01-26T11:26:00.004Z

Manchester City Council would like the people of Manchester to have their say about wildlife in the city. They have therefore prepared a questionnaire entitled 'Valuing Manchester's Wildlife'. You can find it here:

http://survey.groundworknw.org.uk/Survey.aspx?s=391a096150e1459ea7d469deb1638c36

You may need to cut and paste this link into your browser.

To be quite honest I have some reservations about this (e.g. Should wildlife be the subject of a popularity contest? And will this jolt us out of the 'conservation is all about tree planting' groove that we seem to be stuck in?).

Nevertheless, I urge you all to fill this in and make your views known. The deadline for completing the questionnaire is the end of March. If you choose to fill in the 'About You' section at the end of the questionnaire, your details will be entered into a prize draw.

Dave Bishop, January 2010

A Famous Victory in the Fight for Hardy Farm!

2010-01-15T12:26:00.004Z

Yesterday was a great day for the Mersey Valley, and the local community in Chorlton and South Manchester, when Manchester City Council Planning and Highways Committee rejected plans to build a huge sporting complex on Hardy Farm.

The day started with a visit, by the Committee, to the site. The ‘Save Chorlton Meadows’ group were well prepared for this visit: the proposed astro-turf and all-weather pitches had been marked out with tape and members of the group were stationed at the corners with large red balloons. Other, helium filled, balloons on 49 ft long strings, indicated the positions and heights of the proposed floodlights. Several members of the group addressed the committee but the key speakers were local residents Nigel Lewis, Karen Pertoldi and me. I restricted my remarks to the subject of local biodiversity but the other speakers covered other topics including noise and light pollution, access and visual amenity. Other people, of the 100 or so people who attended, had an opportunity to express their own concerns – for example one lady raised the very important subject of possible contamination from the underlying tip if the overlying soil cap were to be disturbed. I thought that all of the speakers expressed very eloquently to the Committee the importance of this much loved open, green space to the local community. Although passions were running high on the day, and there was a lot at stake, the event was generally peaceful and restrained with only a couple of raised voices.

In the afternoon we all went to Manchester Town Hall to hear the debate in the council chamber. Jonathan Green spoke for the action group and, in a heroic effort, managed to convey most of our concerns in the scant four minutes allowed. Local politicians, Cllr. Sheila Newman, Cllr. Val Stevens, Cllr. Paul Ankers, Cllr. Norman Lewis and John Leech MP all then spoke out against the development. It’s been a feature of this campaign that all of the local politicians have supported it. The agent for the West Didsbury and Chorlton Football Club then spoke in support of the development (he was also allowed four minutes).

The Committee then debated the issue. The Chair of the Committee, Cllr. Tony Burns, indicated that the formal debate was not a public event and that members of the public could not participate. To be honest I was expecting the worst – after all the Council’s own officers, in their report, had been “minded to approve” the development; so when Cllr. Andrew Fender, who opened the debate, ended his remarks by stating that he could not support it my jaw dropped! Several other members of the Committee also spoke out against the plans and the vote, when it came, was unanimous – the Committee moved to reject the development.

What followed was a bit of an anti-climax. Cllr. Burns instructed the Council Officers to prepare a case justifying the Committee’s decision and to submit this by the end of that day’s meeting. I think that the members of the Action Group were somewhat puzzled by this procedural nicety and sort of drifted off in a bit of a daze. I’d certainly had more excitement than I could cope with by that point so went to the pub with a couple of friends.

I think that Karen Pertoldi nicely summed up the day, and the campaign generally, in a subsequent email:

“... what a wonderful example of community spirit, team work, brilliant organisation, never ending positivity and enthusiasm, and determination not to give up. People power at its best.”

Although we’ve got every right to celebrate we must bear in mind that it’s not over yet. The Football Club still owns the land and they can appeal against the Committee’s decision or submit scaled down plans at a later date. We should not disband the Action Group just yet.

So that’s twice now, in 20 years, that I’ve been involved in battles over attempts to develop Hardy Farm. The first time was over UMIST’s plans to stabilise the water-logged pitches, by dumping builders’ rubble on to them, in 1990 (see ‘The Great Mersey Valley Revolt of 1990, FoCM blog 08.05.2009). It just goes to show that the Mersey Valley, whoever may own bits of it, is very much seen as a vital, and much loved, community resource and that, when it’s threatened, local people will fight to conserve it. Developers and spoilers beware! We’ve got teeth!

Dave Bishop, 15.01.2010

Volunteers' Day, Sunday 10th January 2010 Cancelled

2010-01-07T19:42:00.002Z

We have decided to cancel Sunday's volunteers' day because of the weather. I'm sure that you wouldn't want to be shovelling the frozen snow off scrub before you could cut it down!

Dave Bishop, 7th January 2010

2010: UN International Year of Biodiversity

2009-12-30T17:21:00.003Z

Well, we’re only a day or so from 2010 which you may, or may not, know will be the UN International Year of Biodiversity. You can read more about it here: http://www.countdown2010.net/year-biodiversity. As this website tells us:

“The year 2007 marked a milestone: it has seen the turning point at which more people live in cities than in rural areas. According to UN projections, 85% of world population growth between 2000 and 2010 will be in urban areas. Cities are therefore responsible for the well being of the majority of the world population, which is directly linked to sound biodiversity management. As urbanization is leading to an increase in their size, they also control an increasingly vast area of land. The concept of urban biodiversity is therefore becoming extremely important. As a result, cities need to take up the challenge of halting the loss of biodiversity by taking biodiversity into account in their decision making process.”

So is Manchester taking up this challenge? I’ve searched the Council’s website (http://www.manchester.gov.uk/) and I cannot find a single mention of the UN International Year of Biodiversity. On their associated ‘Wildaboutmanchester’ website (http://www.wildaboutmanchester.info/site/) I did find some stuff about a ‘record breaking’ tree planting attempt earlier this month. Apparently:

Manchester residents assembled in five different locations across the city on Saturday 5 December to take part in the BBC Breathing Spaces Tree O'clock event.
This hour long planting session was part of a nationwide bid, not only to beat the world record for the number of trees planted within an hour, but also to raise awareness about how important trees are to the environment. Events took place in various parts of the city and over 11,000 trees were planted in the hour provided
Councillor Richard Cowell said: "Tree O'clock is a wonderful campaign to spread the word about the benefits of trees to the environment, so it's fitting that we're supporting it here, where tree-planting has always been a top priority.”

Sadly it now appears to be the only priority! Which is odd as tree planting actually has very little to do with conservation. As one of our most distinguished experts on the British countryside, Dr Oliver Rackham puts it:

“Tree planting is not synonymous with conservation; it is an admission that conservation has failed.” (Rackham, O., ‘The History of the Countryside’, Dent, 1986).

Perhaps it’s not so odd if you consider that tree planting is also easy, cheap, highly visible (an important characteristic of a token) and ideal for facile publicity stunts like record tree planting attempts. On the down side it diverts attention from the continuing degradation and destruction of our remaining scraps of local biodiversity and far too often the trees are planted in the midst of our even smaller scraps of species-rich and rough grasslands - which are much more important, in wildlife terms, than a few planted trees. There’s much more to say about tree planting but I’ll finish this bit by reminding the Council that trees plant themselves (and have been doing for millions of years without the Council’s help) and that old trees are hundreds of times more important, in biodiversity terms, than planted saplings, but we’re losing more and more old trees locally at a ferocious rate. The Environment Agency has been doing some work along Chorlton Brook recently. Ostensibly this was to shore up the banks but they, almost casually, cut down many of the large White Willows along these banks, which means that we’ve lost some of the oldest and most valuable trees in the district – and no amount of tree planting will make up for this loss. This, for me, is an indication of the real contempt that the local authorities have for local biodiversity.

So what might be happening to biodiversity, in South Manchester, in 2010? To be quite honest it’s not looking good (in fact it’s looking terrible!). As soon as spring and the bird nesting season arrives, the Mersey Valley will no doubt ring to the sound of motors and engines as contractors of various sorts apply their chainsaws, strimmers, herbicide sprays and heavier machinery to the vegetation of any wild bits they can find left, and the birds will be driven from their nests and the wild plants will be cut down in flower and fail to set seed. As in previous years, if challenged, the workmen will claim that what they’re doing is absolutely necessary and furthermore they have a legal right to do it, no matter how destructive it might be. That’s why I call them ‘licensed eco-vandals’ by the way!

Until recently we had a linear wildlife corridor stretching from Old Trafford to Didsbury. This was, of course the route of the old Midland Railway line closed by Dr Beeching in the 1960s. As we all know this is to be the route for the new Metrolink line. The Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) made all sorts of extravagant promises for conserving biodiversity along this route but I have to confess that I’m not very impressed with progress so far. Much of the route was/is flooded and these water bodies were/are full of frogs and newts. GMPTE claimed that they would be ‘re-housing’ the displaced amphibians but, apart for a small, cheap makeshift pond in a small field behind Chorlton Leisure Centre, the ponds have not (to the best of my knowledge) materialised yet. I wonder what the amphibians are supposed to do in the meantime? Die, I suppose ... ?
But local conservationists really lost faith in GMPTE’s promises when, in March 2009, they cut down an avenue of mature trees between St Werburgh’s Road and Mauldeth Road West. To the best of our knowledge this avenue had not even been surveyed by independent ecologists so no-one really knows what effect its destruction has had upon the local ecology. Mind you I do question the point of commissioning surveys when you are intending to destroy what the surveyors find!
I have to tell you, though, that GMPTE are going to plant five trees for every tree that they cut down. When I read promises like this I imagine a workman walking into the Sistine Chapel and saying: “We’re going to have to sandblast this ceiling you know. But, never mind, when we’ve finished we’ll give it a nice coat of whitewash!”

And, of course, the fate of Hardy Farm hangs in the balance. For those of you who have been on another planet recently, a massive, floodlit sporting complex is planned for this site - which is rich in birds, plants and insects and contains within its boundaries part of a Site of Biological Importance (SBI). As consultees in the planning process Greater Manchester Ecology Unit stated that:
“The creation of the new sports pitches will result in a loss of botanical diversity and a loss of nature conservation potential.”

And they concluded that:

“The proposed development will detrimentally affect habitats and species in the area by causing direct and indirect loss of habitats. The adjacent SBI will be directly and indirectly affected by the development proposals.”

In spite of this, and many more objections, Manchester City Council Planning Department have decided that they are “minded to approve” this development. The Council Planning and Highways Committee are due to visit the site at around 10:15 am on the 14th January 2010; they will then vote on the matter, in the Town Hall, in the afternoon. Will they take biodiversity into account, in the UN International Year of Biodiversity? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see ...
Still, it’s nice to know that the developer is going to plant some trees if he gets his planning permission!

Dave Bishop, December 2009

Sunday's Volunteers' Day Cancelled

2009-12-18T21:19:00.001Z

We've decided to cancel Sunday's Volunteers' Day because of the weather (we don't think that it's going to get any warmer!). So see you all in January.

Actually, speaking of January, John Agar and I are going for a walk on New Year's Day (just a gentle-ish stroll to fettle us after the festivities). If you'd like to join us we're meeting at 12:30 at the Ivy Green car park on Brookburn Road. A 'de-brief' in a pub might well be in order afterwards.

Dave Bishop, December 2009

Kestrel on Hardy Farm

2009-12-13T14:37:00.005Z

To the left is Thomas McEldowney's stunning picture of a Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) hovering over Hardy Farm. I've put some more of Thomas's Kestrel pictures on the Picasa web album - brilliant photos, Thomas!

It's sad to relate that, according to the RSPB, Kestrels have been declining lately and are now on the 'amber' list. Nevertheless, this is probably the commonest British raptor whose habitats include moor, heath, farmland and urban areas. It also likes motorway and major road verges where you've probably seen it hovering and looking for the voles, and other small mammals, which form its prey.

It's thought that the major reason for the decline in Kestrel numbers is the continuing intensification of agriculture and the degradation of habitats generally. As we all know, Hardy Farm is currently under threat - so will we lose our Kestrel's from there as well?

For more information on Kestrels go to the RSPB website (link in panel to the right) or the 'Birds of Britain' website (www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/bird-guide/kestrel.asp).

Dave Bishop, December 2009

Mink Again

2009-12-08T12:07:00.002Z

I had another phone call this morning from Amy Glendinning of the South Manchester Reporter. Amy had read yesterday's story about the Mink Invasion and is interested in doing an article about it in the paper. So, if you've had problems with Mink, or are concerned about them, please contact Amy on: 0161 211 2120. If you happen to have any photographs of the 'little blighters' in your garden, she'd be particularly interested in seeing those.

Dave Bishop, 8th December 2009

Mink Invasion!

2009-12-07T12:14:00.003Z

I had a phone call recently from a Chorlton resident named Martin. Chorlton Brook runs at the bottom of Martin's garden and recently, he tells me, the garden has been invaded by Mink. These creatures appear to be fearless and he has watched them take fish and newts from his garden pond; he is also worried that they may be taking birds and small mammals as well. He is right to be concerned as they have a reputation as ruthless predators.

American Mink (Mustela vison)are members of the Weasel Family (Mustelidae). They were originally bred in captivity, in both Britain and continental Europe, for their fur. Over the years captive animals have escaped and established breeding populations in the wild. Because of their voracious appetites they pose a great danger to our native wildlife.

Has anyone else seen Mink in their gardens and the wider Mersey Valley (I've certainly seen them at Sale Water Park)? And does anyone have any ideas about what can be done about them?

Posted by Dave Bishop, 7th December 2009

A Glimpse of the Mersey Valley 50 Years Ago - The Conclusion to Hilda Broady's Journal

2009-11-27T14:53:00.002Z

This is the undated Conclusion to Mrs Broady's Journal:

When I began the study of my plot I was very apprehensive and rather worried as to procedure, but as the weeks went by, the work became more and more fascinating (and also more time consuming). From what appeared to be a rather dull patch of ground in March, developed a plot of far greater interest than I had ever anticipated, and which produced many specimens of plant and insect life.

Many of the herbs appeared to have a very short season, which may be accounted for by the exceptionally dry weather of 1959. During August, September, and the beginning of October there were numerous fires on the plot. Within four weeks of the first fire, grass and rosebay willow herb had appeared through the scorched ground. Within nine weeks of this fire, 75% of the area affected was covered by grass, rosebay willow herb and bramble.

Some of the grasses, as will be seen from the specimens, grew to an exceptional height of about six feet, and by July it was very difficult to walk about parts of the plot owing to the height of the grass, which hid bramble shoots which were very prolific.

Rosebay willow herb was dominant in the summer months, and some plants reached a height of four feet.

The leaves of the Sycamore trees had suffered considerable damage by aphis, and many were affected by rust.

Between March and November, the only time water was seen in the stream was in late July – probably because the mud had hardened so much that the rain took longer to soak through – and from this time, water was not seen again until November.
Although I only completed a fraction of the work which I should have liked to complete, valuable experience has been gained on which to base future work which I hope I may be able to undertake with schoolchildren.

So that's the final section of Hilda Broady's journal for 1959. As I reported back in the Spring I think that her plot still exists, within the boundaries of Chorlton Golf Course, and is probably looking better now than it was in 1959. I'm still not sure exactly who Hilda Broady was and whether or not she carried on her study of her plot, and of Natural History in general, in subsequent years. If anyone has any more information it would be gratefully received.

In addition, if anyone fancies doing a similar study somewhere locally The Friends of Chorlton Meadows would be very interested in it and would try to help in any way we can. The more we know about local biodiversity, the more chance we have of saving it for future generations. - Ed.

Posted by Dave Bishop, November 2009

Noticeboard

2009-11-12T11:29:00.004Z

Some of you may have noticed that the Chorlton Ees and Ivy Green Nature Reserve is now equipped with a brand new noticeboard. If you haven't yet seen it, it's sited at the entrance to the Brookburn Road car park.

The front of the board gives some general information about the reserve and the rear of the board (viewable from the adjacent path) gives some information about our Friends group. Here you can find out how to join the group, if you're not already a member, and details of upcoming volunteers' days. We also hope to add information and photographs of interesting wildlife that might be encountered on the reserve at particular times of year.

Manchester City Council supplied us with a grant to purchase the board with and the Mersey Valley Countryside Warden Service installed it; we are grateful to both of these organisations for their support. The front of the board was designed by Rachel Costigan and Alex Krause, formerly of MVCWS. Rachel and Alex have both now moved on to other posts but we would also like to thank them for their input.

Finally, much thanks must go to John Agar (FoCM Treasurer) who went to a great deal of trouble to make this happen.

Dave Bishop, November 2009

A Glimpse of the Mersey Valley 50 Years Ago - Hilda Broady's Journal

2009-11-08T22:07:00.003Z

8th November, 1959

The leaves were falling fast from the trees, but some still remain on the side of the Sycamore which was affected by fire. On the first plot that was burnt, about 75% is now covered with grass, bramble and willow herb.
There is now about two inches of water in the stream. The plot is beginning to look “messy” as the plants are finishing fruiting.

This is the last dated entry in Hilda Broady's Journal - Ed.

Posted by Dave Bishop, 8th November 2009

FoCM member features on BBC’s Autumnwatch

2009-11-02T21:11:00.004Z

Friends of Chorlton Meadows volunteer and committee member, Rachael Maskill featured on the BBC’s Autumnwatch programme last month.

Rachael met with Autumnwatch presenter Martin Hughes-Games to discuss bat surveying for the Bat Conservation Trust, which seeks to identify important habitats and gather data on populations. As a volunteer for South Lancashire Bat Group, Rachael is involved with obtaining data for the Greater Manchester area.

To view the Autumnwatch episode and find out more about the the Bat Conservation Trust’s survey, visit:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n8scx/Autumnwatch_2009_Episode_2/

Book Review

2009-10-29T22:23:00.003Z

‘Call Back Yesterday: Northenden Remembered’ by Winifred A. Garner, pub. Neil Richardson, 2nd Edition 2002 (ISBN: 1-85216-147-7), 67pp, £5.75

I found this book in a newsagent’s shop, in Northenden, a few weeks ago. It’s a volume in Neil Richardson’s extensive series on local history. It was first published in 1986 and re-published in 2002. I confess that I bought it for the illustrations, but on reading the text I found it very interesting and affecting.

It is an autobiographical account of a young girl growing up in the Mersey Valley village of Northenden, between the First and Second World Wars. Winifred A. Garner née Payne was born in 1910 and died in 1992. In her book she outlines the lives of her parents and grandparents and then describes her childhood, teenage years and early twenties. The account ends with the birth of her daughter in 1935, two years after she and her new husband had moved into a (then) new house in Baguley. In a sense this is recent history – but it’s already a time that is rapidly passing out of living memory.

The first section of her book describes social relationships which would be inconceivable today. Winifred’s maternal grandfather secured himself a position as coachman-handyman with a well-off Northenden family. One of the daughters of the well-off family married a rich Manchester businessman. When the businessman’s family moved to Marple they took Winifred’s grandfather’s family with them and provided them with a cottage. Winifred’s mother, Deborah, worked as a ‘between-maid’ for the rich family and they paid her medical bills when she fell ill and advanced her education by allowing her to read all the books in their house. Later Deborah secured herself another position, with another well-off family, and this relationship seems to have been equally paternalistic.
Of course, paternalism was probably not always as idyllic as the above account suggests. In fact, at one point Deborah found herself working for a “very bad-tempered lady” – and soon left that employment. In addition, for every working class family who secured themselves a position with rich paternalists, there must have been hundreds who didn’t. But I believe that, when reading accounts such as this, one should be careful not to criticise the past by the standards of the present. By the time that Winifred came of working age these paternalistic relationships had largely broken down, and rather than go into service like her mother, she worked for a number of commercial enterprises in Manchester and Northenden.

Winifred seems to have had a very happy childhood and obviously grew up in the bosom of a very loving family. Both her father and uncle saw service in the First World War – but both returned safely. Winifred recalled spending a weekend sitting outside the Post Office waiting for her father to alight from a bus. Unfortunately, he actually returned on the following Monday afternoon, while she was at school.

Winifred tells us that in her childhood most children were expected to run errands for their parents and other adults. She seems to have relished this aspect of her life – and, if nothing else, it was probably very good for her socialisation. Writing about these errands gives Winifred the opportunity to describe various Northenden shopkeepers and tradesmen and their various wares, services, foibles and eccentricities.

Northenden, like most communities, seems to have had its fair share of eccentrics. One of these was old Tim Bardsley who would sit outside his terraced house in Church Road and wave his walking stick at passing (errand running) children and shout, “I’ll have you!” Winifred imagines him chuckling to himself at the memory of the children’s “scared faces and scurrying legs”. Another was the village constable, PC Scragg, who invited himself to a family party and left with his helmet on back to front!

Through the media of local folklore and events Winifred was also aware of a darker side to life. Eight years before her birth a seventy year old butler shot and killed his ex-employer and was himself shot dead by a policeman. By the time of Winifred’s childhood this murder had attained a prominent place in local legend. Another gruesome murder occurred in the 1920s.A 14 year old lad was abducted from Manchester and stabbed to death in a local wood. She also tells us that people often drowned in the highly polluted* river Mersey: children playing, rowing accidents and suicides. Bodies tended to be recovered from the Cheshire side of the river because the authorities on that side paid more for recovery than those on the Lancashire side!

Winifred witnessed the transformation of Northenden from a rather pretty, rural village to a Manchester suburb and in reading her book we witness her own transformation from a country girl to a rather fashionable young woman who obviously revelled in all the cultural delights that a big city, like Manchester in the 1920s, had to offer.

Sadly, time has not been too kind to Northenden. The major changes began in the late 1920s/early1930s when the neighbouring Wythenshawe estate was purchased from the Simon family by Manchester Corporation and developed into the vast housing estate that we know today (a transformation which Winifred and her family benefited from, of course). Because Winifred’s book ends in 1935 we learn nothing of subsequent changes: the rather brutalist town planning of the latter half of the 20th century, the motorway building which has left Northenden an island surrounded by roads and the river, and the laissez-faire developments of the last couple of decades which have relentlessly filled in many of its remaining open spaces. Still, in a few spots (Ford Lane, Boat Lane, St. Wilfrid’s Church and churchyard) we can still catch a glimpse of the village that Winifred knew and loved.

This is a delightful book, written in straightforward and eloquent prose; highly recommended to anyone with an interest in social history, local history or the Mersey Valley.
You can obtain a copy of this book by sending a SAE to Neil Richardson, 88 Ringley Road, Stoneclough, Radcliffe M26 1ET. I also note that you can buy all of Neil Richardson’s books via the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society website (http://www.mlfhs.org.uk/).

Dave Bishop, October 2009

* Earlier this year, on a walk from Northenden to Didsbury, I was amazed to see huge shoals of small fish (gudgeon?) in the river all the way from the Tatton Arms to Simon’s Bridge. Obviously the river is much, much less polluted now than it was in Winifred’s day. This has to be a very definite improvement!

Michaelmas Daisies

2009-10-23T10:02:00.003+01:00

Last week I went for one of my regular rambles. I headed along the river bank towards Urmston, then into Urmston itself for lunch. Because of the lateness of the season it wasn’t a particularly exciting walk, from a botanical point of view, but it was relaxing and peaceful and the weather was good.

I walked home again by following a rather obscure path along the northern edge of the old Stretford tip. There is a dense tangle of willow scrub in this area and the path is very muddy underfoot. About half way along the path I suddenly came upon sheaves of a tall plant with reddish stems and small, whitish daisy flowers. I recognised this plant as a Michaelmas Daisy (Aster sp.). After consulting my Field Guide (ref. 1) I decided that it was Narrow-leaved Michaelmas Daisy (Aster lanceolatus). This is just one of at least six Michaelmas Daisy species and hybrids which are naturalised aliens in the UK, but are originally native to North America. In that continent A. lanceolatus grows in: “Moist soil in New Brunswick to W. Ontario and Montana, S. to New Jersey, Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Missouri (ref. 2).”

There are around 250 species in the genus Aster, many of them North American. We only have two native species in Britain: Sea Aster (A. tripolium) which is, as the common name suggests, a seaside plant, and Goldilocks Aster (A. linosyris) which is a very rare plant of limestone cliffs of western England and Wales.

Two other of the naturalised North American plants that I have found in the Mersey Valley are: Confused Michaelmas Daisy (A. novi-belgii) and Common Michaelmas Daisy (Aster x salignus - which is the hybrid between A. novi-belgii and A. lanceolatus). The name “Confused Michaelmas Daisy” always makes me laugh – but it should be noted that North American botanists tend to use the more dignified name, “New York Aster” (“novi-belgii” = “new Belgium” - which was an early name for New York). I state, with seeming confidence, that I have found these taxa but they can be difficult to identify and can form complex hybrid swarms – so I don’t actually feel 100% confident in my identifications.

Another American species that is naturalised in Britain, but which I haven’t found in the Mersey Valley yet, is Hairy Michaelmas Daisy (A. novae-angliae). Again, North American botanists use a more dignified name, “New England Aster” – which is, of course, merely the English translation of the scientific name. The following passage from the American gardener, Hal Bruce serves to demonstrate the impact that Asters, and related plants, make in the autumn landscapes of eastern North America (ref. 3):

“Until I took a trip by auto to Toledo, Ohio, in late September, I thought I lived in New England Aster country, but on the coast I have never seen the species in the abundance with which it grows from Pittsburgh west. Meadows, banks, roadsides wet and dry along the Pennsylvania and Ohio turnpikes, were bright, whole fields as purple and gold as Byron’s Assyrian hosts with this aster and various goldenrods.”

Aster novi-belgii was introduced into Britain in 1710 (ref. 4). The name ‘Michaelmas Daisy’ refers to the fact that the plant is in flower on the Feast of St. Michael (29th September). It is thought that this name was probably coined after 1752 following the change to the Gregorian calendar. I am guessing that the other Aster species were probably introduced somewhat later.
Cottage gardeners loved to grow A. novi-belgii with Chrysanthemums (ref. 5) but as every serious gardener knows Michaelmas Daisies (at least the ‘old-fashioned’ kinds) can be invasive and prone to mildew – so many must have been thrown out over the years.

A. novi-belgii and other Michaelmas Daisies are now well established on waste ground, roadsides and railway embankments everywhere, along with their American relatives, the Golden-rods (Solidago spp.).

Interestingly, they are rarely condemned as being invasive aliens - but that’s probably because they flower late in the season, when not much else is in flower, and they also represent an excellent late source of nectar for butterflies and other insects. I’ve often wondered if Michaelmas Daisies and Golden-rods have, in some sense, ‘slotted back’ into similar niches to those that they once occupied (not man-made ones, of course). Perhaps before the last Ice Age we had more species of Aster and Solidago in these islands but they failed to return before the North Sea/English Channel opened up ... but that’s just speculation at present.

Dave Bishop, October 2009

References:

1. ‘Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland’ by Marjorie Blamey, Richard Fitter and Alastair Fitter, A & C Black, 2003.

2. ‘The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Asters’ by Paul Picton, David & Charles, 1999.

3. ‘How To Grow Wildflowers And Wild Shrubs And Trees In Your Garden’ by Hal Bruce, Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.

4. ‘The Origins of Garden Plants’ by John Fisher, Constable, 1982.

5. ‘The Cottage Garden: Margery Fish At Lambrook Manor’ by Susan Chivers and Suzanne Woloszynska, John Murray, 1990.

Harlequin Ladybirds by Polly McEldowney

2009-10-19T16:45:00.012+01:00

The word 'Harlequin' sounds innocuous enough, conjuring up images of a diamond-clad theatrical clown. But the Wikipedia entry reveals the character may have been originally based on a more sinister figure from medieval French passion plays. 'Hellequin, a black-faced emissary of the devil, is said to have roamed the countryside with a group of demons chasing the damned souls of evil people to Hell. The physical appearance of Hellequin offers an explanation for the traditional colours of Harlequin's mask (red and black).'

A slightly less frightening new visitor to Chorlton is the Harlequin ladybird, but it is not without negative connotations of its own. Harmonia axyridis is a new species to the UK, having arrived in the South of England in 2004 and rapidly spread across the country. I have seen it in Manchester for the first time this autumn, and it is quite possible you have too, as it has made a rather dramatic entrance. It is much bigger than most of the other 25 species of ladybird native to the UK, and is rarely seen alone, sometimes aggregating in groups of thousands or even tens of thousands. There have been scenes around Chorlton recently that are reminiscent of the summer of 1976, when unusually hot weather led to an explosion in the population of the 7 spot ladybird, Adalia 7-punctata. A brief stroll round my back garden has just revealed a cluster of 30 on a green surface. The harlequin ladybird's success arises partly from having a longer breeding season than other ladybirds, such as the 7 spot which has only one generation a year. But the harlequin will continue to breed as long as it is warm enough and there is food available, having two or more generations a year. I've spotted harlequin larvae in my garden this week, and it's nearly the end of October. Most other ladybirds will have sought out places to hibernate by now. Another huge advantage is that it is more of a generalist feeder than other ladybirds, which tend to stick to aphids as a food source. The harlequin is a highly effective aphid predator but can also broaden its diet when aphids are scarce, eating the eggs and larvae of other species, including butterflies and other ladybirds. It will even suck the juice from soft fruit.

So, outcompeted and outnumbered, our hitherto common species of native ladybird could be in big trouble. Is there anything we can do? The best thing for now is probably just to monitor sightings on the UK harlequin ladybird survey website. Identification isn't straightforward as there are over 100 colour patterns of the harlequin ladybird. They can have black spots on a red background, or red spots on a black background. The main giveaways are the size (6- 8mm) and the fact that they're wandering round in October. Another common characteristic is an M-shaped mark on the pronotum (the back of the head). Be careful when getting close to them though; they have a defence mechanism where they exude a toxic chemical, 'reflex blood', which can be quite painful to humans. This creature is best admired from a distance!

Polly McEldowney, October 2009

I learned that Polly had an interest in this subject last week and asked her if she would consider contributing an article to the blog. She tells me that she "finally cracked" when she found a Harlequin Ladybird in her hairbrush! - Ed.

Walking the Old Road by Andrew Simpson

2009-10-11T10:47:00.006+01:00

The old road must be as old as the township. It ran from Hardy Lane past farms and cottages, cutting through the village before heading off across the flat lands beside the Mersey and onto Stretford. It may always have been a dark and slightly mysterious place.

Any one starting out along the road as it left the village would have to pass Sally’s Pond. The spot is secluded and just to one side of the track. It is easy to feel that something is not quite right about the place. On a wet autumn afternoon with the light fading and the leaves heavy with rainwater you begin to feel very alone. But landscapes change and Sally’s pond was not always shrouded in undergrowth. For most of its existence it was just an open space, a stretch of water more than likely created by farmers hollowing out the clay which then filled with water. Its end was no less mysterious. Sometime in the late 60s it had become a dumping ground for old bikes prams and the odd milk crate and was filled in. The hollow can still be seen through the trees just beyond the stumps. And the stumps themselves have passed into folk memory. My friend Tony and Oliver the son of Bailey the farmer remember freewheeling down to those very stumps on warm summer days and of the time one lad miscalculated and took his bike and body into the stump.

The old road has had many names. Before it arrived at the edge of the church yard it was called Brookburn, beyond the Green it took several more names before becoming Ivy Green and then as it passed out of the village settled on Hawthorn or Back Lane.

Not much moves along it today, but in the past it would have busy. Old farmer Higginbotham will have used it to drive his cattle home to his farm on the Green. Farm wagons would have trundled in the opposite direction on their way to the Canal to offload their produce on the barges heading for the Manchester markets and perhaps collecting a portion of night soil emptied the day before from the city’s privies.
A sight guaranteed to offend the more delicate wealthier villagers who chose the same route to pick up the Dukes fast packet boats. These were still until the 1840s the marvel of the age. Fast and comfortable our passengers could be in the heart of Manchester in just under half an hour.
The walk would also take us past the stone weir built to guard the Duke’s canal against the threat of being swept away by the sudden flash floods which burst the banks of the Mersey. These were awesome events and took the township by surprise. So sudden and unforeseen was one flood in the 1820s that one farmer just had time to unloose his horse from the cart before being engulfed by flood water. And the same storm swept the haycocks of Henry Jackson and Thomas Cookson’s from their meadow land up by Barlow Hall down to Stretford while the fierce winds drove the very same haycocks back a few days later.
Not that the weir proved steadfast. It too was lost in a torrent of storm water and had to be replaced. Today you reach the weir along that part of the track which runs beside the tall banks that separate it from the Mersey and which offer some protection from the danger of flooding.
By the time the old road reaches the weir the journey is nearly at an end. Here the track opens up a little and the curious might stop off at the cemetery. Close to where we walk and about as far away from the church and its respectable dead are the graves of paupers. Their headstones lie in rows of six and reveal that each was a multiple grave. In some as many as six or seven were interred.

There is it seems a close density in death as there was in life. For many would have come from mean humble dwellings of wattle and daub and later cheap brick. Their lives lived out in small places crammed into two or them rooms before old age or poverty drove them into the workhouse and a pauper’s grave.
And as if this was not grim enough, just beyond is another multiple grave. In this case to those who died during the blitz and in particular to the night when the nearby church was hit and those sheltering inside were blown away. So final was their end that many could not be identified.

But the road does not end at the cemetery; it runs a short distance more. First under the arches that carry the railway which arrived at Stretford in 1849. The road occupies just one of the arches, the others are for the overflow from the weir should the Mersey ever breach its banks. This railway arch is wide and shows the evidence that the railway line had been extended. The canal arch with stone facing is still more impressive. Perhaps I suppose because of the volume of water that flows above it. Here and only here beneath this arch is a raised section of pavement, perhaps recognition that pedestrians need some form of protection in the confined space when the farm wagons rolled past.This is where the road ends. Beyond is Stretford. Above just a few yards away on the canal is the Watch House, with its white walls. It is easy to romanticise the old road but for hundreds of years it was one of the only routes in and out of the village. More than likely those bringing the news of Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar would have passed on along it into the village as would an obscure soldier fired by missionary zeal to preach the Methodist message about the year 1770.

Andrew Simpson, October 2009

Editor's Note: The illustration is a painting of Sally's Pond, which was not far from the Chorlton end of Hawthorn Lane (on the right hand side if walking from Chorlton to Stretford). The painting was by a local artist called Montgomery. Andrew is not entirely sure who Mr Montgomery was; if anyone has any information on him we would be delighted to hear about it.