New Trail Opening!

This Saturday, 14th October, sees the formal opening of the new Sandbach Bridges Trail (North), which follows a route from the bypass roundabout north along Arclid Brook and complements the Sandbach Bridges Trail (South) from the same starting point to Wheelock, and was opened in 2015.
The official opening  of Dingle Wood Bridge and Trail by Fiona Bruce MP will be on Saturday 14th October at 11.00 am. It will be followed by a Children in Need Countryfile Ramble which will follow the new Trail, followed by a return route which will also visit the new path at The Dingle.The length of this walk is approximately one mile. A map of the route of the walk on Saturday, prepared by Roger Foden, appears below. See you there? In addition, new links to this and both the other Trails now appear in the panel to the right - download them for free!

New Year new paths

This is more news from SWWG. (Apologies if you earlier received a post to the Sandbach A Rocha UK blog / Sandbach Environment Trail - that has been deleted again - it was posted to the wrong blog!)
A walk around Filter Bed Wood showed how rich it is in fungi, as we looked at the routes for the new path(s).
The path up the west side of Old Mill Road is nearly complete and will become part of the Sandbach Bridges Trail (North) nature trail booklet, when that has been written.
The paths on the east side of the bypass might become a further part of that or might become yet another new trail guide! Watch this space!
Interesting records last year from the Offley Wood/Filter Bed Wood area included (during ecological survey) what appear to be the only records of Leisler's Bat in Cheshire last year. The Cheshire Bat Group does not know of others. We are strongly emphasizing the importance of the area to bats, especially the great old crack willows.
The golden saxifrage by Arclid Brook is nearly in flower - spring is nearly here!
George

New Year new ways

The Sandbach Woodland and Wildlife Group is busy! In case you didn't know (and especially if you would like to help), new woodland walks  are being created at The Dingle, alongside the Sandbach bypass on the Dingle Lake side, and soon along near the bypass on the opposite (Filter Bed Wood) side.

The working party at The Dingle has more or less finished the new little circular path there. The fragment of ancient meadow has been extended by bramble clearance and we are now waiting to see what may spring up in the spring!

This area is the home of a small colony of native Bulbous Buttercups. These are recognisable by the sepals underneath the petals, which bend down rather than up as in most buttercups (see picture). They also grow on the grassland near Park House Drive which still retains its historic pasture flora.
And we will also see what seeds may germinate from long buried seedbanks in the cleared areas.

Roll on, spring!    George Hill