Baxenden Local Panel

On Tuesday 12th November 2024 the Hyndburn’s Woodlands Volunteers were back at Huncoat East woodland continuing with the pathway maintenance started in September.

This involved using spades and shovels to clear back vegetation that had encroached onto the paths. The vegetation covered around 3/4’s of the entire path! We are happy to say the paths have been extended outwards a tremendous amount! Another session will be needed to finish the full path, some 400m.

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who helped us maintain Hyndburn’s woodlands on a very cold day!

Activity funded by Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund.

On Tuesday 5th November the Hyndburn’s Woodlands Volunteers were back at Jubilee woodland to continue with the meadow maintenance that we started the week prior.

Much of the scything had already been carried out, so this session primarily focused on raking off the cuttings to reduce the nutrients present.

Once the last bit of scything was complete, and the raking carried out, volunteers sowed Yellow rattle seeds into the cut meadow. This was done via the ‘heeling’ technique, volunteers small indents into the meadow using the heel of their boots. A small sprinkle of seeds were then placed into the indent, which was then covered over using their heel.

Yellow rattle is a valuable plant for meadow management as the plant parasitizes grasses, reducing their prevalence which in turn benefits other wildflowers. Yellow rattle itself is a wild flower which provides benefits to pollinators.

Activity funded by Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund.

On Tuesday 29th October the Hyndburn’s Woodlands Volunteers were hard at work at Jubilee woodland continuing with the meadow management that has been going on for 3 years.

This involves using scythes to cut as much of the grassy material as low to the ground as possible, the cuttings (arisings) are then raked off the meadow area and removed. This reduces the available nutrients in the following years, which reduces the overall height of grass and allows wildflowers to sprout up.

Thank you to our amazing volunteers who helped us on the day, it was definitely hard work but we managed to get it done!

Activity funded by Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund.

On Friday 27th September 2024 The Hyndburn’s Woodlands project held their second bat walk of the year at Woodnook Vale LNR!

Participants were led by Roger, the Batman, Cunliffe who took them for a light stroll through the vale, with detectors in hand, to search for our nocturnal friends! It didn’t take long to spot them, only a few 100 meters into the walk and we could already see them swooping overhead!

The walk was positively teeming with activity and everyone got to both hear and see our native bats in action!

Thank you to everyone who attended our walk, your presence made it the wonderful evening it was! Thank you also to Roger Cunliffe for sharing his incredible knowledge with us!

Activity funded by Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund.

On Monday 10th June the Hyndburn’s Woodlands Project engaged with the Great UK WaterBlitz. The Great UK WaterBlitz is a national citizen science scheme aimed at assessing how clean the UK waterways are.

For the scheme, we measured the quality of two parameters, that of nitrates and phosphates. We are happy to report that both parameters came back as ‘Low’ which means they are in ‘Good’ ecological health!

Thank you to our volunteers who came along and helped us assess the quality of one of our beautiful waterways!

Activity funded by Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund.