Hyndburn’s Nature Reserves April 2026 Newsletter
PROSPECTS ROADSHOW 2026
Prospects Roadshow 2026
We're excited to be a part of so many local events this year around Hyndburn! Here are some of the upcoming events the Prospects Foundation will have a stall at:
- Great Harwood Agricultural Show - Monday 25th May
- Accrington Food & Drink Festival - Saturday 6th June
- Weavers Uprising Woodland Festival at Whinney Hill - Saturday 20th June
- Oswaldtwistle Carnival - Sunday 21st June
- Stanhill Fete - Saturday 27th June
Plus more later in the year!
Come and say hello 👋
2026 Accrington EcoFest Update
𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗙𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲
A big thank you to everyone who has supported and attended Accrington EcoFest over the last few years. Your enthusiasm, energy and commitment to a greener community is what makes EcoFest so special!
However, this year we are doing things a bit differently! In 2026, we’ll be out and about across Hyndburn, popping up at a range of events and activities as part of our "𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗦 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄". Look out for us at shows, fetes, carnivals and other events, showcasing our work and letting you know how you can get involved in making our environment cleaner, greener and more accessible for everyone.
We’re really excited to be bringing the themes of EcoFest to other locations around the borough and engaging with more communities. Please keep an eye on our website and social media channels for updates on where you can find us this year
𝙐𝙥𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙡 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙧𝙮:
- Great Harwood Agricultural Show – Bank Holiday Monday 25th May
- Accrington Food Festival – Saturday 6th June
- Weavers Uprising Bicentennial at Whinney Hill Woodland – Saturday 20th June
- Stanhill Fete – Saturday 27th June
- Let’s Move Hyndburn (Mercer Park) – Friday 31st July
- Let’s Move Hyndburn (Milnshaw Park) – Friday 14th August
Thank you again for being part of the EcoFest community, we can’t wait to see you out and about soon 
Anti Litter Heroes From St Nicholas CE Primary School
Wednesday 11th March 2026 – Whinney Hill
On Wednesday 11th March 2026 the Hyndburn’s Woodland’s Project carried out some habitat improvement works at Whinney Hill woodland.
Volunteers had previously helped to make 18 bat boxes through the project, a number of bird boxes were also previously made with school groups.
With the help of Henderson Landscaping Services, 18 bat boxes and 12 bird boxes were hung around the woodland. This will improve the overall biodiversity value of the site. We also hope to encourage more bats to occupy the woodland, which in turn will provide more scope for carrying out public bat walks in the future
As always, thank you to our funders at Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund for making it all possible
Tuesday 10th March 2026 – Abbott Clough
On Tuesday 10th March 2026 the Hyndburn’s Woodlands Volunteers were at Abbott Clough woodland carrying out a litter picking and fly-tipping removal session.
We have previously done a huge amount of work getting the roadside hedgerow cleaned up, which had accumulated a lot of rubbish from pedestrians and vehicles.
This time we focused on a small entrance to the woods which had really been hit hard by litter and fly-tipping. In total, we removed 15 large bags of rubbish, a broken laundry basket (repurposed as a glass bucket), and a large collection of miscellaneous fly-tipping (such as a bag of wood, old toaster, and a bag of pillows).
The area now looks a lot cleaner and we are very happy with the result, there is still a small amount of work left to do now (mainly odd bags of rubbish thrown into the woods and stray bits of litter).
Thank you to our incredible volunteers who help us keep Hyndburn’s Woodlands tidy!
As always, thank you to our funders at Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund for making it all possible!
Hyndburn’s Nature Reserves March 2026 Newsletter
Brookside Hosts Half Term Crafts Bonanza
Tuesday 17th February 2026 – Whinney Hill
On Tuesday 17th February 2026 the Hyndburn’s Woodlands project was back at Whinney Hill woodland continuing with the Invasive Non-Native Species removal started last year.
This took the form of clearing a large encroachment of Henry’s Honeysuckle, this voracious species, at one point, was fully blocking the path, as well as strangling a young Oak tree. The species is a climber, and so was finding its way onto and up anything nearby.
We have spent a lot of time snipping all of the climbing material’s connections to the ground. This has worked wonders for the material up the Oak, all of which has now died off, freeing up the Oak for Spring growth.
The material on the ground has proven much more difficult, despite piling it up into large stacks, we have found that it is still managing to produce new growth with little to no light.
We filled 3 large builders-sacks with cut material (and 2 smaller sacks), this still only amounted to half of the material that was onsite. After one more session all of the material should be fully removed.
We then carried out a small supplementary tree planting activity to replace the Guelder Rose we unfortunately had to cut down previously (as this was covered in Henry’s Honeysuckle and had its roots intertwined.
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who helped us keep Hyndburn’s woodlands native! As always, thank you to our funders at Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund for making it all possible
New Faces at the SVCA x Brookside Restoration Heritage Walk
Plenty of new faces!
Board 1: Hargreaves Memorial Garden
Looping around Moss Lane
Board 5: Knuzden POW Camp
Board 6: Calico Printing at Brookside
Tuesday 10th February 2026 – Whinney Hill
On Tuesday 10th February 2026 the Hyndburn’s Woodlands Project was at Whinney Hill tackling some windblown trees.
A clump of Willow had sadly come down and taken part of a fence with us, so the Hyndburn’s Woodlands volunteers took to brashing it up. Volunteers used hand tools to clear the tree back to it’s stump.
The Willow didn’t go to waste though, we repurposed it into a new dead-hedge to mark off the boundary. This will provide habitat for wildlife and many fungi species, over time.
Then, we utilised a pole pruner to clear some overhanging branches from the boundary.
We then finished up by re-erected the fence, utilising Willow lengths as stakes.
As always, thank you to our funders at Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund for making it all possible
Tuesday 3rd February 2026 – Jubilee Woodland
On Tuesday 3rd February 2026 the Hyndburn’s Woodlands Project was at Jubilee woodland for an extremely windy tree planting session!
We planted 225 Hawthorn saplings in a brand new hedgerow. This will provide habitat for wildlife and, in particular, food for overwintering birds
Thank you to our incredible volunteers who braved the very wild weather to help us improve Hyndburn’s biodiversity
As always, thank you to our funders at Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund for making it all possible
Hyndburn’s Nature Reserves February 2026 Newsletter
Tuesday 20th January 2026 – Huncoat East
On Tuesday 20th January 2026 the Hyndburn’s Woodlands Volunteers were at Huncoat East woodland for a dead-hedging session! Dead-hedging work has been taking place at this site for several years. Previous projects had installed an ‘outdoor learning area’ using dead-hedges as a border, which requires annual repairs and ‘top ups’. A site boundary fence is also being worked on, gradually making its way across the site.
Volunteers used previously coppiced hazel (hazel that was left over from other activities) to create stakes, they did so by using a hatchet to chop a point into the stake, these were then driven into the ground to create the foundations of the fence. Heavy material inlaid first, followed by thinner lengths of wood, and finally top layer foliage was woven in.
We did end up requiring some more material so volunteers wore their hard helmets and took part in some good old fashioned hazel coppicing. There is quite an abundance of hazel on this site that is out of rotation.
We think the new extension to the fence looks incredible, and we’re very keen to keep extending it. Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who help create habitat and beautiful structures in Hyndburn’s Woodlands.
As always, thank you to our funders at Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund for making it all possible
Tuesday 13th January 2026 – Woodnook Vale LNR
On Tuesday 13th January 2026 the Hyndburn’s Woodland’s project were at Woodnook Vale LNR for another round of live Willow weaving. We started this last Winter, the structure had existed there for around 5 years prior but had fallen into disrepair. After quite a few hours of effort (and with the help of an expert) we managed to get the structure looking a lot better.
This year it proved a lot easier, only having to bind one years growth made the task a lot easier. Still, with the structure now gaining a bit of height and volume, binding some of the shoots into shape was quite a challenge. We did, however, manage to get all of the tallest shoots bound into the frame, adding some volume outwards. This will (hopefully) begin to grow more outwards now, eventually providing a sort of roof over the benches below.
Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers who braved a very wet day to help us keep Hyndburn’s Woodland’s beautiful!
As always, thank you to our funders at Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund for making it all possible
Tuesday 6th January 2026 – Whinney Hill
On Tuesday 6th January 2026 the Hyndburn’s Woodland’s project (wanted) to kick the New Year off with a litter pick, the recent snowfall did make this a little challenging, but to our surprise the woodland had accumulated very little rubbish over the Christmas break!
We did, however, have a few trees that had come down, so we took to tackling those instead! The trees were quite manageable (being on the ground always helps!), so we managed to get them cleared with little difficulty. Volunteers wore their safety helmets and utilised hand tools like bow saws, pruning saws, and loppers to remove the bulk of the brash, with the main trunk following. It was a very cold day, but the activity certainly kept us warm through the cold!
Thank you to our amazing volunteers for helping us keep Hyndburn’s Woodlands safe and tidy!
As always, thank you to our funders at Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and the Windfall Fund for making it all possible
Prospects Launch Sunday Volunteer Session at Brookside
Hyndburn’s Nature Reserves January 2026 Newsletter
Happy Holidays 2025 from PROSPECTS & Annual Volunteer Celebration
PROSPECTS-themed Quiz!
Buffet for Volunteers
PROSPECTS team!
Brookside Project Volunteers
Filling out the quiz!