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

The new guide is here!

See on right for a link to the new Trail guide

Crayfish arrive

A long time since the last entry! A guided walk down the Brook Wood trail and valley on Sunday had a wet end, but to our surprise turned up a new species. It was not a particularly desirable one; but an American signal crayfish (that's the invasive species) in the brook above Dancing Bridge was at least a proof (along with a shoal of young Rudd swiming above it) that the brook is in good health. George.

New species

A walk through Brook Wood at the weekend turned up a new species for our checklist. On the footpath in Brook Wood was a dark little creature with a very short tail - a Short-tailed Vole (or Field Vole). I would have frightened it away but my wife, walking more slowly and looking, stopped before it sensed her, so we watched it for several seconds, pottering about in the wood which belongs to it - not to us!
Oh, and by the way, Coronation Meadow has changed its name again! It's now Townfields Meadow - George.

Valley butterflies!

A walk down through Brook Wood on Friday revealed a fine collection of butterflies and other wildlife, which were also seen on the Sandbach A Rocha group walk on Sunday. Here are some pictures:

1. Mating Common Blue butterflies at the trail start below Homebase -

2. Small Skipper butterfly at the trail start below Homebase -

3. Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on the ragwort on Coronation Meadow -

4. Peacock butterfly on Coronation Meadow - the blackest of butterflies when its wings are closed!

5. Field Poppy sown on Coronation Meadow to commemorate the centenary of the Great War's outbreak -

6. Green-veined White butterfly on Coronation Meadow -

7. Goat's Beard seed head on Coronation Meadow -

7. Banded Demoiselle dragonfly on Arclid Brook at Dancing Bridge (and present all down the valley of the Sandbach Wildlife Corridor) -


Take a walk yourself down the wonderful new paths and see! - George Hill

If anyone has not been through Brook Wood recently, they have missed a remarkable transformation! For months Phil Mason and his lads (whenever weather allowed) have been working away on building paths, steps and lots more out of wood. Many tons of hardcore have gone into the paths. There has been much thinning and much more work is hurriedly being put in ahead of the grand opening with Fiona Bruce MP on Saturday April 12th. Some bits have suffered in the process; the Large Bittercress marsh was accidentally damaged but is being restored as I write. The debate on mowing the Coronation Meadow (as it is now called) continues. But we all have a wood to be proud of! Later we will see what wildlife is flourishing - George Hill