17-07-2015
Boars Well Reserve
The visit was limited to Susan Stead and
Valerie Shepherd.
Perhaps this was as well as the path through the reserve was
very overgrown and was blocked at one point by a fallen tree.
Susan and Val trimmed back some of the overgrowth and
cleared
the growth around the wells.
The stones relating to Spinkwell Lock were
invisible, either because they had been taken away or were hidden in the
undergrowth.
23-6-2015
Cullingworth Bee Orchid Site
The Bee Orchid site has been translocated during the
autumn/ winter of 2014, and is flourishing on its new site.
When we visited on June 23, we were delighted to see that
several Common Spotted Orchids were beginning to bloom. We did not see any Bee Orchids, but it was
early in the year and once again the weather has made prediction of flowering
times difficult.
Common Blue butterflies were on the wing at the new site.
This suggests their larvae had been successfully brought over with the orchids
as planned.
We would like to give much credit to Mark Woods, the
ecologist who organised the translocation.
06-05-2015
Bluebell
walk – Prince of Wales Park
11 people, and several dogs, turned out for this evening
stroll - and we did see bluebells - but for me they were not the star of the
show.
That place was taken by the Park.
Lodge, Prince of Wales Park
A few years ago the Park was sinking. It appeared unloved
and uncared for. Pathways were obscured,
or were muddy tracks. The bottom of the Park, the formal planting area, was
overgrown and appeared unplanned. The top “wild” area was choked by bracken,
and was becoming overgrown by scrub. The quarry area at the centre was full of
litter and broken glass.
Now, with 150 year celebrations approaching, the Park is
changing, re-emerging under the care of the” friends” group. Those “friends” on our walk explained the
plan and shared with us the pleasure of bringing back the formal planting, getting
rid of litter, restoring the wild area, and resurfacing and opening up paths.
Formal replanting has an edible theme - a mulberry
sapling evidencing this
We were shown the planter moved from the Westfield
re-development, now in a place of honour.
We saw carved stone seats,
re-discovered in the undergrowth.
We listened to an account of sparrow-hawks
nest building in the Park and saw the nest.
stone seat - 1863
A “stump garden” is yet to be created, and the outdoor
classroom was damaged, so now needs restoring.
Resource for this work came in the form of grants, as
well as the effort of volunteers - and there is still plenty to be done, but
now the Park is being looked after it should remain a major asset for all of
Bradford.
bluebells - prince of wales park
