We hope everyone has a wonderful festive season and a happy new year. Here are some of our highlights from 2024, see you in 2025!
2024 Volunteer Christmas Celebration!
On Tuesday 17th December, PROSPECTS held a volunteer celebration at Accrington Cricket Club. Any volunteers who helped out in 2024 were welcome to attend. We celebrated with sausage rolls, chocolate, and mince pies! (All with vegan options available) Our Outdoor Learning Officer Sonja worked hard to construct a PROSPECTS quiz for everyone to take part […]
Come On Down to our Volunteer Christmas Party!!
Brookside Winter Newsletter
We are proud to annouce that our latest edition of the Brookside Restoration project newsletter is now live! You can read it online here. To sign up for future versions, click here.
Hyndburn’s Nature Reserves December 2024 Newsletter
HNR Newsletter December 2024
Bullough Park Community Plants ‘Family Trees’ for the Future
Residents of Accrington came together on 15th and 16th November 2024 to breathe new life into Bullough Park’s old bowling green by planting 35 ‘Family Trees.’ Ranging from resilient Alder and Birch to fruitful Bramley Apple and Plum, the trees were planted as heartfelt dedications—many in memory of loved ones or as gifts to future […]
Wreathing Making Mastery in Stanhill
Our first wreath making session of 2024 was a huge sucess, with 20 people creating beautiful wreaths from all natural materials. A big thank you to the Stanhill Methodist Church for use of their lovely hall, and to all who donated to the Brookside Restoration. We are delighted to annouce that we raised £53!
Saturday 16th November 2024 – Festive Crafts
On Saturday 16th November 2024 we held our ‘Festive Crafts’ event at Accrington Cricket Club! The session was led by the talented Gareth Muir of Crag Moor Bushcraft. Participants learned safe knife handling skills, proper whittling techniques, and crafted their very own Winter Wonderland display! Participants used whittling knives to make different tree models from […]
Tuesday 12th November 2024 – Huncoat East
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 […]
Peel Park Pollinator Survey Results 2024
Throughout 2024, PROSPECTS has been carrying out pollinator surveys at Peel Park and the Coppice LNR. Measuring the abundance and distribution of species is vitally important for monitoring species health, climate change, and the effectiveness of conservation actions. Nationally, surveys provide data which allows climate scientists, conservationists, and insect experts to get a greater understanding […]
Tuesday 5th November 2024 – Jubilee Meadow
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 […]
Tuesday 29th October 2024 – Jubilee Meadow
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 […]
Friday 25th October 2024 – Fairy Door Making
On Friday 25th October The PROSPECTS Foundation held their first ‘Fairy Door Making’ activity at Accrington Cricket Club. Participants used natural material such as bark, berries, wood chippings and twigs to create their very own fairy doors and fairy houses, with accompanying furniture! Everyone crafted some spectacular creations that our mystical friends will no doubt […]
Tuesday 22nd October 2024 – Butterfly Glade Maintenance
On Tuesday 22nd October the Hyndburn’s Woodlands Volunteers were back at Whinney Hill woodland carrying out some maintenance work on the butterfly glade located at the top part of the woodland. The glade has a good number of pollinator-benefitting wildflower species, such as cowslip, Marsh mallow, and eyebright. Maintenance involves using scythes to cut the […]
Picnic in the Park 2024
On Sunday 18th August the extremely well received ‘Picnic in the Park 2024’ was held at Memorial Park, Great Harwood! The event was a joint effort between The PROSPECTS Foundation, The Friends of Memorial Park (FOMP), Proffitts CIC, and Hyndburn Borough Council. Attendees enjoyed a lovely afternoon’s picnic on the freshly mown grass, with food […]
Saturday 13th October 2024 – Fungi Walk
On Saturday 13th October, Hyndburn’s Woodlands Officer Brandon Cherry and Irene, of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, held a fungi walk at Whinney Hill woodland! (Livingstone Road) The walk was very well attended, with 21 people turning out for the walk! Irene, a professional mycologist, strolled through the woods while attendees scouted for fungi. The attendees […]
Summer 2024 Overview at Peel Park & the Coppice LNR
Like the rest of the UK, we have been experiencing some odd weather, accompanied by some disappointingly low invertebrate numbers. But we are still working hard to improve the site for pollinators. Our summer started like many others do, tackling Himalayan Balsam! We had several sessions of balsam removal around Pleck Meadow to reduce its […]
Butterfly Emergency 2024
Throughout 2024, PROSPECTS has been performing pollinator surveys at Peel Park & the Coppice LNR as part of the Peel Park Pollinator’s project. A huge thank you to anyone who assisted with the surveys, especially during a very poor year for it. We’ll be submitting/analysing all the data over the next couple weeks, but we […]
Friday 27th September 2024 – Baxenden Bat Walk
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 […]
Spring 2024 Overview at Peel Park & the Coppice LNR
Despite the temperamental weather in April, we still managed to get a lot done on Peel Park & the Coppice LNR. April is the perfect month for planting & seed sowing. We have been planting a variety of different native species to benefit pollinators. We have had a couple Saturday sessions at Pleck Meadow where […]