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Hyndburn's Community-Owned Environmental Charity

NEWS

Freshers Fair – Accrington and Rossendale

Posted on Posted in Green Spaces 'Natural Connections', News, Schools and Community Conservation

Freshers Fair - Accrington and Rossendale

On the 13th September Prospects’ Green Spaces Team and the Peel Park Officer attended the Accrington and Rossendale College’s Freshers Fair where we held a stall. Our stall aimed to inform future college students about the various work done by Prospects and to gauge their interest in the environmental sector. We are pleased to report that 40 prospective students visited our stall and expressed an interest in conservation!

Our stall contained all the information about activities, volunteering, and the work done by prospects needed to inspire young people who are interested in the environmental sector. We also created a Climate Pledge Tree using material from our sites, here students could write their eco-pledge onto ‘tree cookies’ and hang them from the tree. The pledge tree stayed at the college in the reception to remind students of their commitments.

It was a great day and it was heartening to see so many students taking a keen interest in their local environment

We would like to thank Accrington and Rossendale College for hosting us and the students who visited our stall.

As always, thank you to our funders at GreenRecoveryChallengeFund and National Lottery Heritage Fund for making this all possible.

Ash Dieback Works this Winter

Posted on Posted in Hyndburns Woodlands, News

PROSPECTS and our friends at Woody Hyndburn CIC will be undertaking Ash tree felling works over the winter months.

Ash Dieback is a particular problem in the borough, many trees are affected and can become dangerous as the disease progresses and the trees become weaker.

As part of PROSPECTS management strategy across the Hyndburn’s Woodlands sites staff and Volunteers will be felling affected trees to ensure the safety of those who enjoy the woods. As always the top priority of Lancashire County Council is the safety of the public with preventative felling appearing to be the most effective means of addressing the issue.

Ash Dieback surveys have been undertaken to identify and mark the trees which will be felled. The resultant timber and brash will be processed on site to increase the percentage of dead wood on site, providing habitat for invertebrates, fungi and everything else! The Survey maps can be found on the individual woodland sites.

As part of PROSPECTS on going environmental education efforts, John Haddon from Lancashire Wildlife Trust delivered a day of training for PROSPECTS staff and volunteers outlining the Trust’s strategy for dealing with the issue.

Natural regeneration of native tree species will take priority over planting, with Ash being effective at self seeding with Ash Dieback resistant individuals hopefully regenerating those woodlands which will be affected.

More information about Ash Dieback can be found on the following websites:

    Woodland Trust:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/tree-pests-and-diseases/key-tree-pests-and-diseases/ash-dieback/

    Lancashire County Council

https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/council/strategies-policies-plans/environmental/ash-die-back/

    Government Website:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/managing-ash-dieback-in-england

Hyndburn’s Woodland Update

Posted on Posted in News

Woodland Volunteers have been busy throughout the Summer months working across the 8 Lancashire County Council woodland sites, which PROSPECTS manages on the Council’s behalf.

The majority of the work has been Balsam pulling, but there has also been non-native tree thinning, litter picking and meadow management using scythes!

As the nights draw in and the days get colder and wet the Woodland Volunteers will be undertaking winter task in the woods. This will include felling Ash Dieback effected trees, cutting back greenery encroaching on pathways, litter picking, coppicing and hedge laying.

Hyndburn’s Woodlands will also be delivering an Introduction to Green Woodwork day, spoon carving day and working with the Green Team to deliver seasonal tree identification walks.

Check our online events page or sign up to our emailing list to receive updates and a monthly ‘What’s On’ e-Newsletter.

Rewilding Update

Posted on Posted in News

The Rewilding project has been busy growing vegetable, fruit and herbs across the four community sites; Growing Wild Community Allotment, Miller Fold Allotment 6a, Oakhill Park Incredible Edible Garden and Woodnook Community Garden.

Produce was used for Crafting Club 2022 with vegetables from the site being used to make vegetarian and gluten free campfire cooked dishes!

Apples were used for fruit juice pressing and soft fruit including raspberries, blackberries and currants being used to make jam and fruit leather!

Some of the produce has been frozen with a Jam and Chutney making activity to be arranged for the cold winter months, so keeping checking the Events page for more details or sign up to the emailing list to receive updates.

Crafting Club Summer 2022

Posted on Posted in News

Crafting Club Summer 2022 was a great success with over 30 participants taking part in a variety of bushcraft themed activities!

Activities included; Campfire Cooking, whittling, natural cordage, natural dyes, fruit juice pressing, wild food and much more!

PROSPECTS is forever grateful to the Ashden Trust for the funding, which made Crafting Club Summer 2022 happen. For more information about the Ashden Trust click HERE

Look out for further bushcraft activities in the future, below is feedback from some of the participants!

Fantastic experience for all the family. Thank you so much for the opportunity to take part in such a great community session.

The whole month was amazing and so well organised. The children and myself learnt about tree ID, outdoor cooking, whittling, natural dying and much much more. They also became more confident with foraging too. We didn’t want it to end.

I would like to thank Gareth and his team, for making my son and me, feel so welcome at the Crafting club. It was full of positive energy and so much fun; making it the perfect environment to learn something new.

Thanks for running these sessions, we always learn something new.

Really well organised events with knowledgeable, patient, helpful people. Thank you

The sessions was very good. My son was engaged and was learning whilst having fun.

This and other prospects courses are extremely well run. We have been to a few and find them engaging and the staff are inviting, interesting and make it a joy to be there. This activity in particular helped whole families become involved and had a variety of activities to get stuck into so that everyone had something that they were interested in.

August Walks Festival led by the Green Spaces Team

Posted on Posted in Green Spaces 'Natural Connections', Hyndburns Woodlands

August Walks

Throughout the month of August the Green Spaces team organised and delivered a series of 14 differently themed walks to encourage people to explore the wonderful outdoor spaces around them and to keep healthy. 5 of which were weekly butterfly survey walks. The walks we organised included:

  • Geocaching Treasure Hunt, where participants followed treasure trails to find items hidden around Oak Hill Park which contained a clue item and an interesting fact
  • Big Butterfly Count Walk, here participants took a slow walk around Spout House Woodland to record butterfly data which directly helped the Big Butterfly Count survey
  • Canal Nature Walk, which was in partnership with the SuperSlowWay project and showcased the fantastic nature you can find walking along the canal
  • Tree ID Walk, led by Prospects’ Tree Officer Gareth Muir, was a walk around Whinney Hill woodland to learn about identifying different tree species to encourage people to explore and understand nature
  • Health Walk for Families where the Prospects staff took families up Peel Park and the Coppice to explore a beautiful local site which families can enjoy together
  • Women’s Walk was a walk dedicated to the mental and physical health of women and took place at Woodnook Vale LNR
  • Foraging Walk, led by medicinal herbalist Danielle Kay, taught participants about the amazing foods you can find in woodlands and even your own garden
  • Bat Walk, led by Roger Cunliffe, took participants through Woodnook Vale LNR using bat detectors to listen and learn about different bat species
  • Wind Farm Walk, later remade into the Jackhouse Nature Reserve Walk, where participants were taken on a tour of the wonderful Jackhouse.

 

The August Walks were a smashing success with overall, 140 people attending our walks. 18 of which reported having improved wellbeing and social interactions. The Bat Walk was the most popular walk with over 50 people attending the event! Our Big Butterfly Count Walk had the greatest impact on personal health with 6/17 people reporting improved wellbeing!

The Prospects team would like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who came along to one of our walks and made it the incredible month it was! We would also like to thank our funders at Green Recovery Challenge Fund (delivered by the National Lottery Heritage Fund) for making it all possible.

Invasive Non-Native Species – Himalayan Balsam

Posted on Posted in Green Spaces 'Natural Connections', HEAL project at Peel Park and the Coppice Local Nature Reserve, News

Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) is an Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS), it originates from the western and central Himalayas and was first brought over to the UK in 1839 as an ornamental plant to decorate Victorian gardens

Shortly after it quickly spread to a wide range of habitats, particularly along riverbanks and in damp woodlands (Tanner and Gange., 2020).

Balsam flowers from June to October, and its seeds are set from August to October. Each plant is able to produce up to 2500 seeds which sit inside explosive seed pods and, when disturbed, are capable of distributing the seeds up to 7 metres away! (Sonal et al., 2016).

It grows in dense monocultures (a large amount of a singular plant, like crops on a farm) which outcompete native vegetation leading to a decline in native plant and insect populations (Pollard et al., 2019)

As it’s an annual plant, once it dies back in autumn this leads to a bare river bank (which would normally be covered with native plants) and so there are no roots which bind the soil together during heavy rain, this leads to soil erosion.

While Balsam is a good source of pollen for pollinators, studies show it can alter the foraging preferences in bee species which results in bees focusing their attention on Balsam and neglecting native species (Lopezaraiza et al., 2008).

Balsam is one of the easiest INNS to remove, its shallow roots and noticeable characteristics make it easy to find and pull up. ‘Balsam bashing’ groups tend to organise around areas which are highly infested.

To remove Balsam:

  • Pull up the plant by grasping the stem as close to the root as possible (ensuring it does not snap, leaving the root in the soil)
  • Snap or crush the plant close to the root, at the lowest node (the bulge closest to the roots)
  • Hang the snapped plant on a tree branch or pile it up, this will dry it out and prevent it from re-rooting.
  • If hanging the plant, make sure not to overload the tree branches to prevent them snapping.
  • If it is not possible to hang the plant then pile it up on the ground, preferably on a surface where it cannot re-root and in a shallow pile so that it can dry out

Balsam pulling season is over now but look out for Balsam pulling sessions next year between April – June!

Eco Conference – Blackburn Rovers Stadium

Posted on Posted in Green Mentor, Green Spaces 'Natural Connections', News, Raising Environmental Awareness, Schools and Community Conservation

Eco Conference - Blackburn Rovers Stadium

School Sustainability Conference

On the 23rd of June Prospects’ Green Team and Green Mentor projects collaborated at the Blackburn Rovers Stadium taking part in the School Sustainability Conference. The event aimed to raise awareness of environmental challenges among school children by offering relevant activities and learning opportunities. During the event over 100 children visited our stall and went home with their own terrarium!

Prospects hosted two main activities:

Our first activity was foil blanket making using old crisp packets, these were layered together and ironed along the seams to create a full blanket. These can be given to homeless people as emergency foil blankets. This aimed to teach the children how every day waste can be used to create something useful, be a fun activity, and can help the community.

The second activity was terrarium making using upcycled jars donated from the community which were filled with soil and various plants, rocks, twigs and mosses. This activity was planned and ran by Prospects trainee Brandon Cherry. The children could create and decorate their own terrarium and take them home to care for. Here we aimed to raise interest in plants and natural systems, the fully self-enclosed terrarium would maintain its own microclimate that the children could monitor, and watch grow. A special thank you to the funders at GreenRecoveryChallengeFund and National Lottery Heritage Fund for facilitating the purchasing of the plants from our local plant merchant, without this the activity wouldn’t have been possible.

The main stall also featured a lot of Prospects work around Hyndburn and showed examples of fun activities we have done in the past, like the wooden rigs used for willow weaving and plant pots made from eco-concrete.

Rewilding – Hyndburn Harvest

Posted on Posted in News, Rewilding Hyndburn's Green Spaces

Thanks to a generous donation by the Arnold Clarke Community Fund, PROSPECTS has purchased apple juicing equipment!
https://www.arnoldclark.com/community-fund

Our Rewilding Officer Gareth, will be organising several juice pressing activities from late August onwards. Check our Events Calendar to see when and where the sessions will be held – https://prospectsfoundation.org.uk/events/
We ask that participants bring a clean plastic bottle to store their juice.

If you have excess apples, which you would wish to donate, please contact Gareth – gareth.muir@prospectsfoundation.org.uk / 01254 230348 to arrange for drop off at our office or collection by our staff.

(Please only donate ripe fruit which is in a suitable condition for human consumption)

Rishton Festival – Hyndburn Academy

Posted on Posted in Green Spaces 'Natural Connections', Raising Environmental Awareness, Schools and Community Conservation

Rishton Festival - Hyndburn Academy

Rishton Festival

On the 2nd of June Prospects’ Green Team and the charity manager Alison Silvers were in Rishton for a family fun day festival! We hosted a stall teaching people how to make their own bug hotels from upcycled cardboard and hay. The aim here was to show people how they can help wildlife by simply using waste materials from their house. After the participants had created their bug hotel, we had an arts and crafts section where they could decorate their bug hotel with whatever designs they liked. Our stall also had plenty of information leaflets and posters showcasing all the work Prospects does around the Hyndburn area.

The event was a huge success with 50 people making their own bug houses to take home with them which will have helped a few insects out.

Thanks to all our funders at GreenRecoveryChallengeFund and National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting Prospects in buying all the supplies needed to make this a great day!

Tree Planting at St. Oswalds Primary and Nursery School

Posted on Posted in News, Outdoor Learning

St. Oswalds Primary and Nursery school have been working closely with the Outdoor Learning Officer to design an outdoor learning area on their school grounds.  Thanks to a donation of trees from Carbon Footprint Ltd., the eco-council were able to break earth in November and begin planting the trees that will be the heart of the outdoor classroom.

Winter Bird Walk

Posted on Posted in Biodiversity, News, Outdoor Learning

Outdoor Learning Officer Danielle led a Winter Bird Walk around Peel Park and The Coppice.  We saw jays, robins, blackbirds, great tits, magpies, blue tits, long-tailed tits and greenfinches.  During the walk we discussed climate change and how changing weather patterns are affecting trees and migrating birds.

AQA in Biodiversity, Air Quality and Horticulture

Posted on Posted in Biodiversity, News, Outdoor Learning

On 17th November, Outdoor Learning Officer Danielle delivered an AQA in Biodiversity, Air Quality and Horticulture.  The session took place at The Prospects Foundation’s Environment Centre on Broadway, Accrington.  Everyone who attended got a free spider plant and aloe vera to take home with them.  If you’d like to see what future AQAs we are delivering, check our Events page here

Head Ranger deadline extended

Posted on Posted in News

We’ve made the decision to extend the application deadline for our new Head Ranger post to Monday 27th September to tie in with our deadline for the Local Nature Reserve Office Post.

The deadline for both jobs is now 5.00pm on Monday 27th September.

Interviews for both post will now take place on Thursday 7th October in Accrington.

Click HERE to visit the Jobs page where you can find out more about both posts and also the paperwork you’ll need to subvmit an application.

 

Borrow a Bike

Posted on Posted in Cycling, News

Sara Britcliffe MP borrowed one of our electric bikes to promote the benefits of sustainable transport!

Cycling is a great way to experience the countryside and enjoy the outdoors. The feeling of freedom and closeness to nature is hugely beneficial to people’s wellbeing as well as the obvious health and fitness benefits of riding a bike. It’s also a great way to tackle climate change.

We have 7 bicycles and 2 electric bikes available for community use. All you have to do is find an organisation that will vouch for you and pop into the Environment Centre on Broadway in Accrington to complete the paperwork.

Why not do your bit for climate change and start riding a bike!

 

Be a Climate Change Cyclist

Posted on Posted in Cycling

Why not do your bit for climate change and start riding a bike?

We have bikes you can borrow – regular push bikes or electric bikes – to help get you started.

All you have to do is find an organisation that will vouch for you and pop into the Environment Centre on Broadway in Accrington to complete the paperwork.

Climate Change Cyclist Flyer

We look forward to seeing you!

We’re recruiting for a Head Ranger

Posted on Posted in News

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve been successful with funding bids to the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, the Kickstart Scheme and the Windfall Fund.  The funding will allow us to run a new Ranger programme in Hyndburn until the end of March 2023.

The programme will involve a new Head Ranger and two new trainees.  They will be organising access and habitat activities to engage our local community in looking after public sites.  In addition, the new team will be organising a Hyndburn Walks Festival.

We are now recruiting for the Head Ranger post.  The deadline for applications is Monday 13th September.

To see the Job Pack click HERE.

 

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