The Wildlife Trust
For Lancashire, Manchester
and North Merseyside
We need front of house volunteers to provide a friendly, welcoming face at our Visitor Centre at Mere Sands Wood near Ormskirk.
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We are looking for a highly motivated, enthusiastic and customer focused individual to join the team as we enter our third year. You will provide essential operational and financial support, ensuring that everything runs smoothly, as well as being the first point of contact for customer enquiries.
The results of today's Opposition debate - calling on the Government to stop the cull of badgers - were not a surprise as there was a three line whip.
MPs voted in favour of a badger cull by 298 votes to 237. In October 2012 in a free vote MPs voted against a badger cull.
Lancashire Wildlife Trust has a volunteer role to get involved with Lancashire Botany Group from its beginning. This newly formed group is responding to the growing interest field botanical skills and a strong history of monitoring rare and endangered plants in Lancashire.
UK nature is in trouble – that is the conclusion of a groundbreaking report published today by a coalition of leading conservation and research organisations.
Do you know your Campions from your Cowslips? Ever said, “what is that beautiful flower” whilst walking through a gorgeous meadow? If so, come and join us for a mornings summer stroll around the beautiful Seven Acres Local Nature Reserve and find out some of the names of our colourful wildflowers along the way.
One of Britain’s rarest birds of prey is entertaining diners with stunning displays over the lake on a Lancashire nature reserve. There are only 2,200 pairs of hobby in the United Kingdom, but a couple are regularly seen catching dragonflies over the Meadow Lake at Brockholes, off the M6 at Preston.
Talking Records project volunteers have been digitalising more than 5,000 cards recording the plants and flowers of Lancashire, some dating back hundreds of years.
Students were doing the dirty work at a Lancashire nature reserve to help support wildlife in the region.
On Saturday 18 May, your favorite local attractions are joining together to offer a free classic bus service, offering great deals and special offers to provide a great day out for everyone in Southport, Burscough, Wigan, Bolton and Ormskirk.
If you're looking for something to do this Bank Holiday weekend, the The Lancashire Wildlife Trust has something for you!
Take a tour of 92 of the UK's finest Living Landscapes, delivered by the Wildlife Trusts including several reserves right here in Lancashire!
Be part of a two phase project whose aim is to survey ponds within Preston Fylde and Wyre to record what plant species are there and what decline in pond numbers there has been since the 1940’s. Later in the year ponds will be revisited to harvest, propagate and establish plants in suitable existing and created habitats
Brockholes Nature Reserve recently celebrated its second anniversary of opening to the public and received a fantastic birthday gift – a glowing report from Visit England – the English tourist board.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust managed reserve received an extremely positive assessment, which said that Brockholes “fully merits the accreditation of a Quality Assured Visitor Attraction.”
Work beginning on sand dunes at St Annes is vitally important to local people and to the Fylde’s exceptional wildlife. Visitors to the area between the coastguard station and the North Promenade will notice Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Fylde Council staff and volunteers erecting fencing along the front of the dunes in the coming weeks.
A report which today encourages setting a clear timetable for protection of the marine environment is warmly welcomed by The Wildlife Trusts.
A fire at Heysham Moss has been described as a “significant blow” to restoration work on vitally important mossland
Families got an opportunity to meet the cattle who are helping Lancashire Wildlife Trust to create perfect habitats for creatures around the region, at Brockholes 
The role of the Volunteer Summer Rangers is to walk around the Reserve between 6pm and 8pm, checking that all is well, and to lock the gate at 8pm. It’s a chance to talk to visitors about the wildlife on the Reserve and the Trust’s work to protect it, and to watch the wildlife yourself.
Today’s vote by MEPs was not the radical reform of the CAP we wanted but it has provided hope that some ‘greening’ will be achieved
Nina Rithalia is the winner of our West Pennine Moors survey draw and is now the proud owner of a pair of top quality Opticron binoculars
Janet Packham, ace Heysham photographer, captured her first butterfly of 2013 while she was doing her daily tour with the camera
The Membership Department of Lancashire Wildlife Trust is looking for enthusiastic volunteers to promote membership to visitor at our award winning Brockholes reserve. This role would involve volunteering at our Brockholes Nature Reserves promoting the Trusts work and encouraging people to join as members who pay a membership subscription.
Birds of a feather are flocking together as winter bites. Our photographers have been capturing some wonderful nature moments
A partnership set up by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust has resulted in two members of our community led projects winning an award – that will enable them to set up their own schemes aimed at helping their own neighbourhood.
The proposed High Speed 2 rail plan risks flying in the face of vital nature conservation sites according to The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.
More than 4,000 Lancastrians called for the protection of the Irish Sea and its inhabitants at a reception in %20-%20Lancashire%20Wildlife%20Trust.JPG)
Westminster yesterday.
A huge wave of public support will shake Westminster today as a quarter of a million people call for greater protection for UK’s seas and coastline. 250,000 signatures on the Wildlife Trusts’ Petition Fish will be presented to Natural Environment Minister, Richard Benyon at a Parliamentary reception at the House of Commons, hosted by the Wildlife Trusts. The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside collected over 4 000 of these signatures across northwest England. 
Winterwatch has ended on the BBC so it's time to look out in our own gardens for wildlife. Here are some of the highlights on our reserves and in the rest of the region
A scheme is hoping to give pre-school children an introduction to wildlife – and experiences both the youngsters and their families will always remember.
Our Activize Your Lives Project based at the Environmental Resource Centre (ERC) in Breightmet, Bolton aims to develop the Centre as a place where individuals, families and community groups can visit to gain new skills/training, have fun, meet new people and take ownership of their local community. The project needs volunteers who are enthusiastic, committed and have a genuine passion for helping others to help empower local people to improve their quality of life, and to get involved with projects and activities at the Centre.
Our food growing volunteers can become involved in a number of tasks, at a variety of locations across the region. The work could involve being part of a team maintaining an established food growing garden, or using your knowledge and experience to help develop new gardens and train new food growers.
The Croall Irwell Local Group are looking for a volunteer who would be able to give up an evening a fortnight to act as Programme Secretary, meeting up with the rest of the group and helping to plan and organise the talks and field trips for each year and to write up the programme using IT skills.
Find out more information here.
To express an interest in this role please click here to complete the volunteer registration form and mention the role title on the 'interest' page. If you are already registered please contact the Volunteering Support Officer on 01772 318374 or e-mail volunteer@lancswt.org.uk
The North Lancashire Naturalists Local Group are looking for a volunteer who would be able to give up an evening a fortnight to act as Programme Secretary, meeting up with the rest of the group and helping to plan and organise the talks and field trips for each year and to write up the programme using IT skills.
Find out more information here.
To express an interest in this role please click here to complete the volunteer registration form and mention the role title on the 'interest' page. If you are already registered please contact the Volunteering Support Officer on 01772 318374 or e-mail volunteer@lancswt.org.uk
Our Community Education Volunteers will help Morecambe Bay’s ‘A Wealth of Wildlife’ Project to prepare and deliver events around Morecambe Bay to raise awareness of wildlife in the area. Volunteers can help prepare education materials or take bookings, plan events or send mailouts – or all of them!
To express an interest in this role please click here to complete the volunteer registration form and mention the role title on the 'interest' page. If you are already registered please contact the Volunteering Support Officer on 01772 318374 or e-mail volunteer@lancswt.org.uk
Our Red Squirrel project based at Seaforth Nature Reserve, Liverpool requires a volunteer with excellent communication skills to help organise and attend events to increase the profile of the project.
The Government has shown “a lack of ambition” in designating just 31 of the 127 sites recommended by the Wildlife Trusts as Marine Conservation Zones. And the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is disappointed that only one of its four “nature reserves” in the Irish Sea has been chosen.
A new guide to walking in South Ribble is finally available to download. Ribblestrides - Trailing Nature in South Ribble is a series of walks exploring wildlife, history and geology.
Santa Claus is going to be working right up until the last minute this Christmas when his reindeer take him to Brockholes. It means shoppers who refuse to accept that Christmas begins in September can start to celebrate the weekend before the big day.
The numbers of birds in the North West over winter means our feathered population is four times the size of summer numbers. Geese, waders and the much-publicised waxwing are visiting the region in their thousands but other regular, colourful and noisy visitors are back in the UK.
Thousands of waxwings are invading the UK with the North West seeing a large proportion of the beautifully coloured birds. More than 2,000 waxwings are estimated to have arrived from Scandinavia this month, landing in Scotland and then heading south.
The Government has refused an appeal which would have allowed peat extraction to continue on Chat Moss for another 15 years.
And the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire Manchester and North Merseyside welcomed the announcement by Eric Pickles (Secretary of State for communities and Local Government) that he had refused to allow William Sinclair Horticulture Ltd to extract any more peat from Chat Moss, to the west of Manchester.
proposed badger cull. The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside believes vaccination is the way forward to combat bovine TB.
Time to throw weight behind alternatives
The Wildlife Trusts welcome the Environment Secretary’s announcement to delay the badger cull but are disappointed by his (economic) motives.
Lancashire Wildlife trust nature reserve, Mere Sands Wood is holding it's third amateur photography competition and time is running out to enter!
The Living Seas Conference will journey deep into the Irish Sea to discover its huge variety of wildlife and how we can protect it for future generations.
An "iconic, high-profile visitor attraction and nature reserve" - Brockholes won its latest award at the Royal Town Planning Institute's North West awards in Manchester
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is now the proud owner of Little Woolden Moss in Salford. The 100 .JPG)
hectare peat extraction-scarred site will now be restored to mossland habitat and made into a nature reserve after the Heritage Lottery Fund purchase
A badge scheme aiming to give a sense of adventure to children with disabilities in Bolton has been given a £54,352 boost by BBC Children In Need.
After taking care of loved ones, remember your local Wildlife Trust in your Will and see how a piece of paper can do truly amazing things.It’s a little known fact that some of our most vital income comes from people leaving gifts in Wills. That's why we are taking part in Remember A Charity Week 2012 to help raise awareness of the importance of gifts left in Wills.
VIP visitors from the Heritage Lottery Fund were told of our mosslands vision at Little Woolden Moss today. Funding for the purchase came from HLF
An art project will give people with mental health problems an opportunity to express their love of wildlife.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust project aims to create a 20-piece montage of wildlife images from the Seven Acres Local Nature Reserve in Bolton.
Thousands of migrants have flown into and out of Brockholes nature reserve in the past year and hundreds more will visit this weekend.
It's National Marine Week - time to look out at the Irish Sea and appreciate the wildlife on our own doorstep . . .
Arsonists who burned a popular hide to the ground at a Lancashire nature reserve have been slammed as “selfish”. Firefighters tackled the blaze at the Peninsular Hide, at Brockholes off the M6 motorway at Preston, in the early hours of Sunday, but they could not save the £14,000 building.
RHS and The Wildlife Trusts announce competition winners
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and The Wildlife Trusts have announced Kathryn Entwistle of Chorley, Lancashire as the winner of the new build category in the Big Wildlife Garden Competition.
Brockholes Nature Reserve has won three awards at Britain’s architecture Oscars.
The Visitor Village, at the Lancashire Wildlife Trust reserve, off the M6 at Preston, was chosen as the North West’s Building of the Year by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) at a ceremony at the Queens Hotel in Leeds, on Wednesday night.
Lancashire Wildlife Trust is joining the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts in lobbying the Government to designate 127 Marine Conservation Zones in the seas around the United Kingdom 
Stalwarts of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust celebrated 
its 50th anniversary at Formby Golf Club and Freshfield
Dune Heath today
Nature lovers will get a chance to mix with some of the county's top naturalists at the.JPG)
Brockholes BioBlitz tonight and Saturday
A huge thank you to Booths cafe staff at Lytham, Penwortham and Preston for their 
support for the Big Buzz Tea Parties which are raising funds for the Wildlife Trust during our 50th anniversary year
The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts celebrates it's 100th anniversary
today. 
It is an opportunity to look back on the work of the Trusts -
and how it has preserved habitats for wildlife in Lancashire
International Dawn Chorus Day becomes Dawn Chorus Weekend with Lancashire Wildlife Trust on May 5 and 6.With two early morning walks and breakfasts on Saturday, May 5 and a training session for people keen to get involved in recording birds, the Trust has all the bases covered.
Conservation Grazing Apprentice Sian Parry has another dramatic night with a happy ending as Stumpy the ewe with no horns gives birth to the third lamb from the Hebridean flock.
Proving that children do enjoy learning about the environment on Wildlife Trust reserves, St 
Joseph's Primary School have thanked Mere Sands Wood for a "wonderful" day.
The Government announced its National Planning Policy Framework yesterday with major
repercussions for the environment. Here is the Lancashire Wildlife Trust response
After a 10-day public inquiry into the future of peat extraction on Chat Moss, Lancashire Wildlife
Trust Campaign Manager Dave Crawshaw believes the decision now hangs in the balance. Dave reports on the last day of the inquiry.
On the penultimate day of the public inquiry into peat extraction on Chat Moss Wildlife Trust Campaign Manager Dave Crawshaw describes the closing arguments for the peat extractor and how it came under close scrutiny by Salford Council's legal team
Finally, finally we have our first Hebridean lambs from the Wildlife Trust's conservation 
grazing ewe. Shepherd Maureen Merone is delighted in her latest update and Conservation Grazing Apprentice Sian Parry is over the moon!
Author Eric Greenwood launched his Flora of North Lancashire at Brockholes today. It is .JPG)
described as the type of book that will be published just once every 100 years!
In his latest blog from the public inquiry into the refusal of an extension to peat extraction on 
Chat Moss Dave Crawshaw reports on the evidence of the main witness for the peat extraction company
There was a bad-tempered exhange as Salford Council pressed Sinclairs' expert at the Chat 
Moss Public Inquiry. Wildlife Trust Mosslands Campaign Manager Dave Crawshaw continues his blog into the cut and thrust of this vital inquiry
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust is holding its breath before commenting on George Osborne's Budget. We will wait until the Government planning document is released on Tuesday but there are concerns over its green credentials
Another tough day and night for the West Lancs shepherds as more sheep arrive but there is 
still no sign of the Wildlife Trust Hebrideans. An exhausted Maureen provides the details
Our Campaigns Manager, Dave Crawshaw, updates us on day six of the Chat Moss public inquiry.
There's no sign of the Wildlife Trust's conservation grazing Hebrideans being born but that 
doesn't mean our shepherds are not busy. Marueen Merone gives us the latest update and its more good news on the lamb front
It was Lancashire Wildlife Trust's turn to give evidence at the public inquiry into peat extraction
at Chat Moss. Dave Crawshaw's latest blog captures the cut and thrust of another fascinating day in Leigh.
The Budget will give the Government the opportunity to keep its environmental promises but the
Wildlife Trust will be watching. RSWT Chief Executive Stephanie Hilborne is asking them not to sacrifice wildlife and the environment for short-term profit.
Local residents and Salford MP Barbara Keeley have their say on day four of the public inqu
iry into the refusal of an extenstion to peat extraction on Chat Moss. Trust Campaign Manager Dave Crawshaw gives his latest update and is impressed with the strength of local feeling.
The vitally important public inquiry into peat extraction on Chat Moss continues with Salford Council witnesses providing arguments as to why the planned extension of extraction for another 15 years was refused. Trust campaign manager Dave Crawshaw continues his updates
There is good news and bad news in our fist blog from our West Lancashire shepherds
Maureen Merone has filed the first update with pictures by husband Malcolm. Conservation Grazing Shepherd Sian Parry got an early baptism of fire.
Dave Crawshaw, the Trusts Campaign Manager gives us an update from the first day of the public enquiry.
The public inquiry into the Chat Moss peat extraction began today. It is "a national test case. A test of the Government's green credentials". Dave Crawshaw will be providing regular updates..JPG)
Brockholes Visitor Village has won two Civic Trust awards including a special award for sustainability. Wildlife Trust Chief Executive Anne Selby is hoping the awards will inspire others to start 'living lightly' to help to protect wildlife.
The Duke of Gloucester paid a visit to Brockholes as 
part of a programme of events to mark Preston Guild
year and the Guild Wheel, which passes through the
nature reserve
His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester will visit Brockholes as part of a tour of Preston on Thursday. He will meet management, volunteers and staff at the Visitor Village.
It's National Nestbox Week and the Trust is recommend
ing nature lovers consider investigating boxes which are more likely to attract scarce species of birds to nest in their gardens.
Brockholes is "a floating visitor centre that demanded a design which responded to the environment in every way" as it wins top green building award.
Lancashire Wildlife Trust's contracts team have completed work to create five ponds at Pope 
Lane Playing Fields Local Nature Reserve which is great news for great crested newts
Familes take part in a national event to spot feathered friends
in a Lytham park - and it's great fun!
Keep up to date with a brilliant newsletter detailing our work with Living Seas
and how you can get involved in protecting this wonderful environment on our doorstep
Bir
ds of prey, red squirrels, a water rail and a bittern have been sighted at our Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve
Local Wildlife Trusts will pursue badger vaccination as a means of tackling bovine TB in the pilot badger cull areas announced today.
The Wildlife Trusts today express disappointment and regret in advance of the Government’s expected decision to press ahead with a cull of badgers in pilot areas in England.
The Wildlife Trusts call on the Government to put biosecurity and vaccination at the centre of efforts to tackle this disease and avoid wasting more time and money on a badger cull.
Today the Lancashire Wildlife Trust is teaming up with The Big Give website to launch its appeal to save Chat Moss. From 10am today any donation made through The Big Give website towards the Chat Moss appeal will be doubled.
The Wildlife Trusts today voice deep frustration at George Osborne's Autumn budget statement, expected later today, which includes plans to review the protection afforded to wildlife in England.
Our seas are suffering serious damage and need protection now, according to the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside, in response to today's ministerial statement on Marine Conservation Zones.
The statement announces the Government's intention to gather further evidence on the 127 Marine Conservation Zones recommended by stakeholder groups.
A crack team of den builders and wildlife champions from the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside helped make the BBC’s Deadly Day Out a big success.
Around 8,000 people visited Avenham Park in Preston on Sunday 13th November for an exciting day of wildlife activities linked to CBBC’s Live and Deadly programme for budding David Attenboroughs.
The wildlife in England’s seas are facing a serious threat, warns The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.
The long-awaited network of marine protected areas, promised by Government for 2012, is in danger, says the Trust, which has been instrumental in marine campaigning and research. They are urging the public to write to Under-Secretary for Natural Environment and Fisheries, Richard Benyon MP, in support of Marine Conservation Zones.
An exciting initiative by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust to teach people how to grow their own fruit and veg has really taken root – thanks to generous support from the National Lottery.
The Lottery’s Reaching Communities Fund has agreed to hand out almost £160,000 to the Chorley Community Food Growing Project, to help hundreds of people learn the skills to grow and cook their own food and improve their health and wellbeing in the process.
Nature lovers are being urged to join the campaign to save Chat Moss – and act now.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside has been campaigning since June 2010 to save the endangered habitat from peat extraction. Salford and Wigan Councils have both rejected applications from extraction company William Sinclair to extend their extraction licence.
Volunteers are an integral part of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside. At the heart of many an inspirational story, you will find a volunteer. In order to celebrate this, The Trust hosts a Volunteer Conference each year, incorporating the Volunteer Awards, a chance to say a special thank you to some of the most dedicated and inspirational.
The Volunteer Conference, this year sponsored by Wyre Power, provides a day for staff and volunteers alike to meet, but also a chance to develop knowledge an understanding with an exciting range of workshops.
The streets of Preston will be turning a shade greener next year – as thousands of trees spring up all over the city.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust and partners will be planting 2,012 native trees to help celebrate Preston Green Guild 2012. The planting programme aims to provide fresh fruit and nuts for local people, as well as make many areas more attractive places to live in.
A fire at Heysham Moss Nature Reserve over the weekend has seen one of the boardwalk areas of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust site completely destroyed.
The reserve, near Morecambe, is one of the county’s most important raised bogs and is of particular importance for its rare plant species.
Wildlife spotters are being urged to get online and report sightings of the UK’S fastest-declining mammal, the water vole.
The country has lost nine out of ten water voles in recent decades due to habitat loss and predation by the introduced American mink.
Wildlife lovers are being urged to bid for unique celebrity artwork to celebrate Red Squirrel Week this week.
A host of famous names, including wildlife expert Bill Oddie and comedienne Jo Brand, have been enlisted to Scribble A Squirrel for charity and have their artwork auctioned on eBay.
Three Bolton schoolchildren stole the show at a recent meeting of Lancashire Wildlife Trust staff at the new Brockholes nature reserve.
The children were there from St James’s High School and were representing an after-school club run by the Trust’s Bolton Environmental Action Team (BEAT).
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust was awarded 'Marketing Campaign of the Year' at the Lancashire and Blackpool Tourism Awards, beating off strong competition from other attractions in the area.
The Award was for the launch campaign of new flagship reserve, Brockholes, located on Junction 31 of the M6.
The North West Wildlife Trusts have received a boost in the shape of an award from the P1 Marine Foundation to help set up a new marine project.
Shoresearch is a volunteer recording scheme to identify the animals, plants and habitats at coastal sites around Britain. Originally pioneered by Kent Wildlife Trust, it is now running successfully in several coastal counties and will shortly be arriving in the North West.
As stakeholder recommendations for a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) around England are made public, The Wildlife Trusts remind the Government of its commitment to create a well managed ecologically coherent network covering at least 25% of English waters by 2016.
This ambitious - and achievable - target is set out in the recently published England Biodiversity Strategy, ‘Biodiversity 2020: A strategy for England’s wildlife and ecosystem services’, in which the Government proposes to reverse the decline of biodiversity in our seas and help to restore them to their full potential.
Two years into a project to revive an area of Wigan’s wetlands, there is already good news for wildlife at Lightshaw Meadows.
One of the main targets of the project is to boost the numbers of breeding birds that use the site, and there have been successes with grassland waders like redshanks, oystercatchers and lapwing all raising chicks, while other species such as snipe were spotted to provide further encouragement.
A special wildlife habitat has developed on the Fylde coast thanks to the hard work of enthusiastic volunteers from the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.
The Fairhaven Coastal Care Group meets each week to pick up litter which gets regularly washed up on the beach from Fairhaven Lake to Beach Terrace Cafe.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust has welcomed the decisions by both Wigan and Salford councillors to reject the application by William Sinclair to continue extracting peat from Chat Moss for another fifteen years.
Chief Executive of the Trust, Anne Selby said: “We would like to thank all those people who recognised the enormous damage to the environment that is done by peat extraction, and who wrote in to object to the planning application."
Conservationists have given the UK's rarest lizard a helping hand, with 80 captive-bred sand lizards released on the Sefton Coast at The Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s Freshfield Dune Heath, as part of a long-term conservation project to restore the species’ status and historic range.
The release at Freshfield is one of nineteen projects within the Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership Scheme, a three year Heritage Lottery Funded Project being delivered by the Sefton Coast Partnership. It is also supported by the North Merseyside Amphibian and Reptile Group, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and Natural England.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust is urging the public to be vigilant after the deadly squirrel pox virus returned to the red squirrel stronghold on the Sefton coast.
Our red squirrel conservation experts have made the call after the body of a red squirrel was found on Mossgiel Avenue in Ainsdale, Merseyside. Expert analysis carried out at the University of Liverpool has confirmed that the animal died of squirrel pox virus.
Youngsters are flocking to Brockholes, Lancashire’s exciting new nature reserve, and it looks like they will be hanging around for a while.
The young Sand Martins are moving in – and nesting – in the purpose-built Sand Martin wall which was completed in late March. And because the average age of the birds is about a year, the Brockholes wall is something of a youth club for these feathered flappers.
The Wildlife Trusts’ National Marine Week kicks off on 31st July and there’s plenty of fishy goings-on on the Lancashire coastline for anyone looking for some fun with their buckets and spades.
Normally the sight of a shark when you’re at the seaside would be a cause to panic, but the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside want to change that to celebrate the Irish Sea’s own basking sharks.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside has expressed disappointment at the Government’s decision to pursue yet more trials of badger culling, as The Trust does not see culling as the solution to the problem of bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
To press ahead with these pilots ignores the main body of scientific evidence relating to culling, which shows that at best it is ineffective, and at worst can exacerbate the problem.
A conference was held at Brockholes nature reserve in Lancashire yesterday which brought together key policy-makers to discuss how to protect the region’s wildlife, led by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust.
The Thin Green Line Conference came weeks after the publication of the government’s Natural Environment White Paper, the first for 20 years. It is a statement of its vision on this key policy area and sets out the long term direction of travel to address compelling new evidence about the declining state of our natural environment.
Members of the public were treated to an evening of stunning natural beauty last week as they took part in a guided walk around new Wigan nature reserve Lightshaw Meadows.
The walk, organised by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Red Rose Forest, gave locals the opportunity to see the latest developments to the site and some amazing native wildlife.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust has welcomed the decision by Salford councillors to reject the application by William Sinclair to continue extracting peat from Chat Moss for another fifteen years.
Chief Executive of the Trust, Anne Selby said: “We would like to thank all those people who recognised the enormous damage to the environment that is done by peat extraction, and who wrote in to object to the planning application."
Intrepid naturalists, parents and children braved horrible weather conditions to make the first Brockholes BioBlitz a success.
A total of 445 species were found on Saturday, despite heavy and persistent rain hampering surveying on the nature reserve.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside and Cheshire Wildlife Trust have welcomed the news that a tidal energy scheme on the Mersey Estuary has been put on hold.
The conservation charities have raised serious concerns over the proposal for a tidal barrage due to the potential impact on thousands of birds and newly established populations of migratory fish.The Feasibility Study Report issued by Peel Energy Ltd found that the estimated £3.5bn initial construction costs were ‘not competitive’ in current markets.
Peel Ports (Mersey Docks and Harbour Company) have just begun a 13 week public consultation on their Mersey Ports Master Plan - a 20 Year Strategy for Growth.
The Wildlife Trust will be responding formally to this but members of the public are also encouraged to do so. The plan can be found at www.portofliverpool.co.uk and the consultation ends on 5 September 2011.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside has welcomed the Government’s Natural Environment White Paper and praised the level of ambition contained within The Natural Choice: Securing The Value Of Nature.
The recognition of the need for restoration and recovery of the natural environment at a landscape-scale is applauded.
A new report paints a vivid picture of how one of the North West’s rarest mammals is faring - and will pave the way for vital new work to safeguard their future in the region.
The comprehensive study, which took place over three years, of over 300km of North West lowland waterways by two of the region’s Wildlife Trusts - Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Cheshire Wildlife Trust - will throw a lifeline to our surviving populations of water voles.
One of Britain’s rarest – and cutest – mammals has put in a surprise appearance at a remote farm in rural Lancashire. The dormouse was discovered snoozing in its nest, concealed among plastic bags, on a farm in Preesall, near Garstang.
Though relatively common in Southern England, the species has disappeared from Lancashire. It still clings on in small numbers in Cumbria and Northumberland and has been reintroduced to Cheshire. There are an estimated 45,000 dormice in England and Wales.
This year’s Wildlife Watch children’s conference had a party atmosphere as the groups got together to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Wildlife Watch, the UK’s leading environmental action club for children.
Over 80 members and leaders from groups based in Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside attended the event at the Environment Education Centre in Penwortham on May 7th. The aim of the day was to bring Wildlife Watch group members together to have fun and take part in a variety of exciting and sometimes competitive environmental workshops.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust have welcomed the announcement by Salford City Council that they have served a Temporary Stop Notice on William Sinclairs, who had recently restarted peat extraction at Chat Moss despite their planning permission having expired in December 2010.
However, the Trust and other groups have observed that the extraction has continued on the site, with latest reports indicating that Sinclairs have moved their activities to the area in the jurisdiction of Wigan Borough Council.
Last week, Lancashire Wildlife Trust staff joined Greater Manchester Fire Service in fighting a blaze that devastated a large area of Red Moss nature reserve.
The cause of the fire that swept through more than 30 acres of the 100 acre site, close to Middlebrook in Horwich, is unknown, but there are already signs that wildlife there is starting to recover.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust has expressed its anger and disgust at the unauthorised action by William Sinclair’s, who restarted peat extraction on Chat Moss on Good Friday, without planning permission.
The Trust has called on both Salford City Council and Wigan Council to take enforcement action against the company.
Brockholes, a new Lancashire Wildlife Trust reserve located just off Junction 31 of the M6, opened for the first time on Easter Sunday, attracting over 2,500 visitors for a Family Fun Day.
Brockholes is set to change the face of nature reserves across the country and is being dubbed the ‘unreserved reserve’. People of all ages will be encouraged to visit, whether they are a keen naturalist or a beginner, and it is also home to the UK’s first floating Visitor Village.
For those living around Morecambe Bay there is so much beautiful scenery and wildlife and this exciting new project will give people a chance to learn and engage with the coastal environment around them.
The Morecambe Bay ‘A Wealth of Wildlife Project’ aims to connect communities with the inland, coastal and marine environments through a series of initiatives that will increase access to the beautiful natural places between Fleetwood and Ulverston.
This spring sees the start of an exciting new wildlife survey at Warton Crag Nature Reserve, near Lancaster.
Experts from Liverpool World Museum will be undertaking a comprehensive survey of invertebrates over the next two summers in the hope of extensively cataloguing the reserve and revealing some of its lesser-known treasures.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside has welcomed the stance taken by the Association Of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) on the use of peat by gardeners and professional plant growers.
The Trust have been fighting against the extraction of peat at mosslands sites like Chat Moss over many years and have been encouraged by recent Government proposals to eliminate the use of peat in horticultural compost by 2020.
This summer the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is launching some rare opportunities to be trained and to shadow specialists in amateur naturalism.
Part of a project to give volunteers the skills and support they need, to inject new blood into the fields of amateur naturalism, this project aims to help volunteers collect vital species records to help conserve nature reserves and species.
As spring gets into its stride, one of our most breathtaking natural spectacles is unfolding within ancient woodlands across the UK, with bluebells bursting into colour. And with more than 30 nature reserves around the region, The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside can offer plenty of places to appreciate it.
History will be made this week at Brockholes nature reserve, just off junction 31 in Lancashire, as the newly constructed Visitor Village will be floated for the first time.
Brockholes is a new Lancashire Wildlife Trust nature reserve, which is being launched this Easter Sunday. The floating Visitor Village, designed by Adam Khan Architects, is the first of its kind in the UK.
One of Bolton’s best-known wildlife artists will be opening an exciting art exhibition in the town on Saturday, March 26.
Accomplished wildlife and countryside painter Nigel Artingstall will be at the Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s Environmental Resource Centre in Bolton to get the art show off the starting blocks at 11am.
A new breed of eco heroes have begun working to transform one of Wigan’s newest nature reserves, as a herd of longhorn cattle arrive at Lightshaw Meadows.
Shaped by Wigan’s long industrial landscape, Lightshaw Meadows is a fantastically unique area for nature. Over the next three years, Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Red Rose Forest, will work to restore the area for the benefit of key habitats and species listed on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority List.
Double celebrations are taking place at Longton Brickcroft Wildlife Watch group this week. The group was nominated for the “Wildlife Watch Group of the Year” in the 2011 Wildlife Watch Awards and are extremely pleased to find out they have been awarded “Highly Commended” for all their hard work.
The judges from The Wildlife Trusts chose them for their interesting and varied activity programme,their contribution to nature conservation, and for encouraging older members to take an active role in the group.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside are backing a call for the Government to introduce a levy on peat composts bought from garden centres in the budget.
Peat extraction for horticulture has extensively damaged lowland raised bog habitats in the UK. 67,485 acres of bog in the Trust area has already been destroyed, and of the remaining habitat which can be restored, a staggering 45% is made up by peat extraction sites (914 acres).
Over 25 volunteers helped to plant 500 new trees over the weekend at Lightshaw Meadows – a new nature site which is being developed, just outside Leigh and Wigan.
The trees - including oak, silver birch, ash and rowan - were chosen to re-create Wigan’s traditional native broadleaf woodland and will help to improve the habitat for a wide range of local, and often rare, bird and animal species.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust Education Department will sadly draw 12 years of environmental inspiration with children in Penwortham to a close later this year.
The Trust have been delivering engaging and fun environmental education to children from all over the region for many years and have been based at the National Grid-funded centre in Penwortham since September 1998.
The Wildlife Trusts have urged the Government to recognise the practicalities and realities of securing the long-term protection of England’s forests for the future. They were commenting on the consultation into the sale of publicly-owned forests, a high proportion of which have wildlife value.
The transfer of ownership of these forests away from the Forestry Commission presents a real risk to the future of our natural heritage. Nature’s recovery is a key objective of the imminent Natural Environment White Paper – this could be a barrier to achieving that.
Brown Hares will be in the media spotlight this weekend when the BBC airs two news items about the iconic Lancashire mammals.
North West Tonight will interview North West Brown Hare Project Manager Sam Bolton for the Sunday evening broadcast at 10.15pm.
And Sam and the Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s Tim Graham will appear on CBBC’s Newsround on Monday at 5pm.
Peat extraction ought to be a thing of the past, like the dinosaurs - but it isn’t, not yet anyway!
Applications for peat extraction on Chat Moss, west of Manchester, have been submitted and the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside have been asking their members and supporters to help them to stop this devastating development.
The Wildlife Trusts have welcomed the launch of a Government consultation which looks to phase out the use of peat by amateur gardeners by 2020, but warned that even greater urgency is needed if we are to restore and manage our peatlands effectively.
Natural Environment Minister Richard Benyon has called for the elimination of peat from the amateur gardeners market by 2020, and its use by all gardeners, growers and procurers by 2030 at the latest. Peat extraction devastates habitat for many rare and specialised species, and releases huge amounts of harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
With another very cold winter hitting our region, local wildlife may be struggling to cope, warns the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.
Our wildlife is amazingly hardy and adaptable and can put up with a pounding from the weather. But prolonged periods of cold, continuing for weeks or months at a time, or severe and sudden changes in the weather, can cause it major problems.
Public support for action to ensure nature’s recovery is being felt by the Government after it received more than 15,000 responses - an unprecedented number - to a consultation to 'Shape The Nature Of England.'
The Wildlife Trusts encouraged everyone to support its call for the Government to take action for wildlife in an ambitious new way, and help change the way the natural environment is managed. A Living Landscape is The Wildlife Trusts’ recovery plan for nature to help create a resilient and healthy environment, rich in wildlife, and provide ecological security for people.
All week we have been receiving doubled donations online for Brockholes. So many of you think our work is important and makes a difference – thank you.
There is a pot of £2,425 remaining and Friday is the last day for online donations to be matched £1 for £1 through The Big Give Christmas Campaign. So if you were thinking of giving, your donation will have double the impact!
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside urgently need your help to oppose the proposed badger cull. As someone who cares about wildlife, it is important that your MP and the Coalition Government know your view.
The Government is consulting until 8 December 2010 on a policy to control bovine TB based on the culling of badgers in affected areas in England. Find out more about what you can do to help us oppose it.
There's some new faces at Brockholes Nature Reserve. The visitor centre may still be under construction and the public won't be able to flock there until next Easter, but a herd of longhorn cattle have moved in and are making themselves comfortable.
The longhorns are on loan to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust for the winter from neighbours Cheshire Wildlife Trust, and have been brought in to graze on the reserve, under the watchful eye of staff and a team of volunteer lookerers.
Simon King OBE – renowned wildlife programme-maker, cameraman, photographer and presenter – has been appointed President of The Wildlife Trusts. And, at 47, King will be the youngest President in the organisation’s 98 year history.
On accepting the role, King said: “I am honoured to be the next President of The Wildlife Trusts. I am particularly excited by the opportunity to encourage the millions of people in the UK who are already inspired by nature into taking action for it."
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside are celebrating after two of their projects were successful in the North West In Bloom 2010 awards.
The Trust’s Productive Landscapes In Preston (PLiP) team were heavily involved in a number of small sites that were acclaimed in the It’s Your Neighbourhood section of the awards, with Preston winning an impressive 62 awards across all categories.
The number of endangered High Brown Fritillary butterflies has significantly increased this year at Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s Warton Crag Nature Reserve, with surveys showing the highest count for nearly 20 years.
The High Brown Fritillary is of great conservation concern in the UK, having declined more rapidly than any other butterfly species in recent decades. It has disappeared from many of our woodlands, where suitable habitat has been lost through development or the ending of traditional management practices.
On the first anniversary of the passing of the Marine and Coastal Access Act (MCAA), The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside is calling on Government to make a statement demonstrating it is still committed to establishing a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
The announcement of the MCAA in November 2009 was a major step towards securing a healthy future for the UK’s marine life, including that of the Irish Sea, but its implementation is now the key issue. It is vital that an ecologically coherent network of MPAs is established if our seas are to recover from past decline.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside are offering Preston citizens the chance to explore the city’s urban meadows and learn how to create and maintain them.
The Trust’s Productive Landscapes In Preston (PLiP) team recently ran their first Beginners’ Guide To Urban Meadows course at St Matthew’s Church, New Hall Lane, and it proved to be a huge success, with over 30 participants picking up some useful tips.
The IUCN UK Peatland Programme’s ‘Commission of Inquiry into Peatlands’ has received alarming evidence that peat soils, being washed down massive networks of old drainage ditches are releasing millions of tonnes of carbon and destroying important wildlife habitats.
Further evidence on how to help tackle this problem and restore our damaged peatlands will be taken from expert witnesses – including Dr Chris Miller from the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside – at the Inquiry Open Event on 3rd November 2010 in the University of Edinburgh.
Do you want to get more active? Do you want to try something new? Do you like the sound of outdoor physical activity? If you answered yes to any of those questions then read on. Lancashire Wildlife Trust are working with Bolton PCT, Get Active teams, Bolton Council and local Bolton at Home teams to bring the adults of Bolton an exciting new project; Mud to Muscle.
Winter might be closing in, but the outdoor adventures continue at Penwortham Environment Education Centre this half term.
‘The Wild Side’, a popular and unique holiday club is already in full swing and Lancashire Wildlife Trust staff are busy encouraging kids aged 8-14 to go wild in the woods!
Volunteers are an integral part of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside. At the heart of many an inspirational story, you will find a volunteer. In order to celebrate this, The Trust hosts a Volunteer Conference each year, incorporating the Volunteer Awards, a chance to say a special thank you to some of the most dedicated and inspirational.
This September saw a traditional hay cut introduced to a number of Lancashire Wildlife Trust reserves in North Lancashire in an effort to extend and enhance the areas of species rich grassland, in this part of the county.
Flower-rich meadows with their blaze of colour, buzzing with bumblebees and fluttering butterflies, are truly a glorious spectacle, although now sadly an increasingly rare sight in an otherwise uniform green landscape.
There’s good news for the North-West’s red squirrel population, with increased sightings reported in key areas by the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.
This news comes as Red Squirrel Week seeks to highlight the problems still facing the species in the UK, with numbers in our region only just recovering from a devastating outbreak of squirrel pox between 2006 and 2008.
The Wildlife Trusts strongly support the findings of a new report that says delivery of nature conservation in England is in urgent need of a step-change in action, and a key starting point should be the establishment of ecological restoration zones.
The Making Space for Nature report will say that without seeking this step-change, the continued slow spiral loss of wildlife and habitats is inevitable - a sentiment backed by the conservation organisation.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust is running another Volunteer Conference on Saturday 2ndOctober, 10am-4.30pm. The conference has some inspiring speakers, a host of interesting workshops on current topics and will see the second year of the Volunteer Awards, where inspiring volunteers are recognised for their hard work and dedication.
Conservationists have given the UK's rarest lizard a helping hand, with 350-400 captive bred Sand Lizards released at six sites in England and Wales, including 34 on the Sefton Coast at Freshfield Dune Heath, as part of a long-term conservation project to restore the species’ status and historic range.
Two rare and unique bogs in Chat Moss, near Manchester, have been rescued from destruction by The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, saving thousands of tonnes of carbon. Restoration works on Astley Moss, and Cadishead Moss have successfully raised water levels, helping preserve the valuable bog habitat, and secure the carbon held in the peaty soil.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside has welcomed the news that Liverpool Bay has been designated a Special Protection Area (SPA) for birds.
The announcement has come as the Government unveils 15 new Marine Protected Areas around the UK, also including Shell Flat, a large sandbank off the Fleetwood coast that had been the proposed site for an offshore wind farm two years ago.
Visitors to Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve in Rufford will have their experience enhanced by new technology that has been installed by the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.
Three audio-trails have been recorded to help guide people around the reserve, while a camera has been installed to provide stunning close-up views of some of the beautiful birds that call it home.
It’s too cold and wet for the beach, but you don’t want to spend your summer holidays wandering around shopping centres, so what is there to do for young people round here? The Lancashire Wildlife Trust has got the answer!
The traditional British summer might not be the best thing for topping up your tan, but it’s still perfect weather for getting out and about in nature and having some fun, as well as helping to protect our wildlife.
Naturalists and nature lovers managed to record a whopping 890 species at the Lancashire BioBlitz over the weekend.
They had 24 hours to find as many species of plantlife and wildlife as possible.
The Lancashire BioBlitz began at 10am on Saturday at Cuerden Valley Park, with Bill Oddie helping out with the launch, and ended at 10am on Sunday.
Construction of the unique pontoon designed to float on one of the lakes at Brockholes Nature Reserve has been completed.
This is the first stage of the project to construct the Brockholes Visitor Centre at the 106 hectare reclaimed wetland habitat near Preston, which is owned by The Lancashire Wildlife Trust (LWT).
The Bolton Environmental Action Team (BEAT) from the Lancshire Wildlife Trust is celebrating after four of its main outcomes have already been met, just nine months into its first year.
It was expected that BEAT would work with 240 young people each year and, with a late start to the project, cancelled meetings and assemblies due to the harsh winter and not to mention the big step for both project staff, it seemed like a tall order for the first year.
The new Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Natural Environment and Fisheries, Richard Benyon, has met sea users from the Irish Sea to talk about the process to recommend Marine Conservation Zones in the Irish Sea project area.
The Minister wanted to meet people whose lives may be affected by the new conservations zones and any possible restrictions on activities within them. He talked to a commercial fisherman, a sea angler and a scuba diver, as well as several conservationists.
The White Paper on the Natural Environment provides a real opportunity to lay the foundations of nature conservation for the 21st century, according to The Wildlife Trusts.
The conservation organisation makes this statement ahead of a public consultation and sets out its recovery plans for the UK’s wildlife and fragmented habitats.
It’s Britain in Bloom season once again, and two Preston primary school pupils have reason to celebrate. Their imaginative flowerbed designs have been given pride of place in the showpiece beds on the city’s Adelphi roundabout, ahead of judging at the end of the month.
Charlotte Lockwood, of Brockholes Wood Primary School, and Gabriela Jeziorska, of Fishwick Primary School, were joint winners of a city-wide quest led by the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside to find two original and innovative designs for the landmark site opposite the university.
Sunday 25th July is a special day in the world of nature conservation. It is International Bog Day, and has been held since 1991 to celebrate the beauty of bogs and mosslands, and to encourage their conservation.
This year’s Bog Day comes at a time when the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is fighting to save Chat Moss in Salford from an application to extend peat extraction on the site.
The red carpet was rolled out last week for an exclusive film premiere evening at the Mitchell and Kenyon Cinema in Preston, as young people working with the Trailblazers project and The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside gathered to watch the eco-films they had been producing over the past six months.
Volunteers at the Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s Mere Sands Wood have discovered that one of the Tawny owls at the reserve lived to the ripe old age of 20 years and nine months. The owl’s body was found in February by the Thursday Group of volunteers at the Rufford reserve and the identification ring was sent off to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) for tracing.
Seaforth Nature Reserve has had a series of special arrivals over the past week from distant shores. A White-tailed Lapwing (Vanellus leucurus) arrived on 27-28 May 2010, much to the delight of birders on site. Earlier in the week, a beautifully marked female Wilson’s Phalarope from North America was seen, closely followed by a Pallid Harrier flying north.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is introducing a new Community Food Growing project in Chorley, and are looking to hear from anyone interested in learning how they can benefit from growing their own food.
The connection between the food we eat and our personal wellbeing is well documented. A community food growing study commissioned by NHS Central Lancashire has found that there is a range of health issues that would benefit from increased accessibility to affordable, fresh, local home-grown food.
Members of the public enjoyed a treat last week as they took an evening nature walk around new nature reserve, Lightshaw Meadows. The walk, organised by Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Red Rose Forest, gave participants the opportunity to see a nature reserve in its infancy and view some of the amazing wildlife in the area.
National Volunteer Week takes place between 1st and 7th June and the Lancashire Wildlife Trust celebrated this by organising a mass volunteering day on the Lytham Dunes. On Wednesday 2nd June, 140 staff and volunteers from LWT took part in post bashing, litter picking and species surveying to do their bit.
The organisation is supported by an army of dedicated volunteers and staff at LWT decided they would celebrate their volunteers by getting stuck in themselves.
On Monday evening, a fire broke out at Red Moss, a site of special scientific interest near Bolton.
Red Moss is a 46 ha nationally-important lowland raised bog or Mossland, which supports breeding populations of a number of priority species for conservation action including Snipe, Lapwing, Reed Bunting, Cuckoo, Grasshopper Warbler, and the nationally-important Water Vole and Common Lizard. There also 11 species of Sphagnum moss present on the site.
As the new coalition government publishes its agreements, The Wildlife Trusts call on it to raise its game in policies on the natural environment and commit to a White Paper on Nature.
Stephanie Hilborne OBE, The Wildlife Trusts’ chief executive, said: “We hope this coalition government will deliver on the cross-party consensus that built up before the election."
Sofa springs will be tested next week as the UK settles down for the screening of three Springwatch specials. The first covers climate change and the associated challenges we, and wildlife, might face. And it looks at how The Wildlife Trusts are working to face those challenges.
Springwatch presenter Chris Packham presents the first hour-long show (Monday 17 May at 8pm, BBC Two) which examines how nature is showing us climate change is happening now. Shifts in seasonal changes threaten food chains which may have real consequences for some of our species and habitats.
Responses from the three main political parties, to a letter from The Wildlife Trusts, become available to view online today.
This month The Wildlife Trusts urged the leaders to introduce in their manifestos a White Paper on nature and ecological restoration. They were also asked to commit to the implementation of the Marine Act and secure the designation of Marine Protected Areas by 2012.
Join the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside to enjoy one of the most spectacular sounds of spring – the dawn chorus. The Trust is offering early birds the chance to witness one of the most uplifting experiences in nature, with events organised across the region.
Starting on Sunday there will be birdsong breakfasts and dawn chorus walks on nature reserves – and if all that sounds a bit strenuous for 5am, you can always just open the windows and absorb the spectacle from your bedroom.
An endangered moth species has been recorded by the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside on Warton Crag Nature Reserve, the first record for the reserve.
The Barred Tooth-striped moth (Trichopteryx polycommata) is currently known only from a small number of locations in the UK and is a priority species for conservation under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. The last confirmed record for the Warton Crag area was in the 1960s.
Groups of young eco-entrepreneurs from Lancashire were awarded money towards their environmental project in a Dragons' Den
event this week.
The event was organised by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust's Trailblazers project, offering up cash to young adults to spend on projects they have designed themselves. Students came from across the North West to compete for the available funding at the Environment Education Centre in Penwortham, Preston.
The Wildlife Trusts are working to ensure the ten species of UK mammals, featured on new stamps issued today by The Royal Mail, have a wild future - not a sticky end.
Thanks to schemes undertaken by The Wildlife Trusts across the UK, many of these species - including the dormouse, otter, water vole and greater horseshoe bat - are on the road to recovery.
Leaders of the three main political parties will today receive a letter from The Wildlife Trusts - urging them to introduce a White Paper on nature and ecological restoration in their manifestos.
The leaders are also being asked to commit to the implementation of the Marine Act and securing the designation of Marine Protected Areas by 2012. In her letter, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, Stephanie Hilborne OBE, reminds them that any decisions taken to secure the natural environment’s future are critical.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside have confirmed the date for another Eco Dragon’s Den, following the success of last year’s event, where young people were awarded over £4,500 towards their eco projects.
After a bitter winter across the UK in 2010, most of us will be eagerly anticipating the coming seasons, and the natural highlights on offer at this time of year are not to be missed. The Wildlife Trusts have compiled their Top 40 Wildflower Meadows, including Freeman’s Pasture SSSI (a Site of Special Scientific Interest) in Lancashire. The beauty and appeal of the UK’s wildflower meadows is undeniable, so it is worrying to hear this type of habitat is extremely rare.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside have completed work on a new multi-user footpath through Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Nature Reserve, on the line of the Ribble Way Public Footpath.
For the some years, the Trust have been working to secure this site of national environmental importance and restore habitats to their full potential.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside has been funded by Natural England through Defra's Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund to deliver a series of interactive workshops and off site visits to schools in the Ribbleton and Brockholes areas of Preston.
The Trust has purchased the former Brockholes quarry site close to junction 31 of the M6 and the site is currently being developed into a flagship nature reserve. Features of the site include a floating eco visitor centre and a wealth of different habitats which aim to attract a variety of species.
The Bolton Environmental Action Team (BEAT) from the Lancashire Wildlife Trust have been a huge success with schools in the area so far, with just two more places left for schools to sign up
So far there are 10 schools on board with BEAT: Rivington & Blackrod Lower, Rivington and Blackrod Upper, George Tomlinson, Bolton School Boys' Division, Sharples, Thornleigh Salesian College, Ladybridge, Turton, Mount Saint Joseph's and St James'.
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The Lancashire Wildlife Trust has welcomed the announcement from Rt Hon Hilary Benn that the Government is calling for a phase-out of peat in compost material by 2020, but have warned that even greater urgency is needed if we are to restore and manage our mosslands effectively.
The Wigan Flashes Conservation And Community Group, supported by the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, have raised a £44,000 to improve one of Wigan's best-known and well-loved environmental resources. The Wigan Flashes Local Nature Reserve will benefit from this Community Spaces Grant, a National Lottery grant administered by Groundwork's National Office.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside launched a new website today. The site was developed with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, who generously provided financial support for the development.
Come and join Lancashire Wildlife Trust on a guided health walk in Preston. We are holding a series of guided health walks over the next few months and it's a great opportunity to enjoy the fresh air, exercise and on some walks learn about the wildlife that can be found in the parks, woodlands and local nature reserves in Preston.
All the walks are graded, easy walks being ideal for people new to walking or returning to walking after a long break, medium walks for people wishing to move up to a new level and the hard walks for the more experienced walker.
This Valentine's Day, would you consider building a new house from scratch for your loved one? Or performing an elaborate and world-renowned dance to impress and win their love forever? No? You could learn a thing or two about romance from our native wildlife, says the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.
As human couples everywhere agonise over the right gift or gesture - or forget their sweetheart altogether - in the natural world time-honoured rituals are taking place which are eminently successful in the match-making stakes. Here is a quick guide to some of the most captivating 'Casanovas' of the animal kingdom
In an effort to improve the sustainability of habitat management work, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust has begun charcoal-burning on its Warton Crag Nature Reserve with the aid of a grant from Arnside & Silverdale AONB Sustainable Development Fund.
Warton Crag is a hugely important site, supporting populations of several butterfly species of national conservation concern, including High Brown Fritillary and Northern Brown Argus, Pearl-Bordered and Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillaries. Since early 2008, the Trust has been undertaking a project to benefit these butterfly species on the Crag.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust are running a series of free wildlife fun sessions for young parents at children's centres in Darwen, designed to get kids excited about local nature.
They start on 9th February at Earcroft Children Centre and 11th February at Lord Street Children's Centre, and are supported by Darwen and Rural Neighbourhood Board. The children will be making bird feeders and nest boxes, as well as venturing out into Sunnyhurst Woods for nature walks.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust's Forever Meadows project has issued a call out to ask land occupiers in Chorley, West Lancashire, Knowsley and St Helens to get it touch if they are interested in managing or creating wildflower meadows.
Project Officer Gemma Worswick said: "Wildflower meadows are one of our most attractive and scarce wildlife habitats. It is so important to conserve them as many of the species which rely on this habitat provide vital services for agriculture, including crop pollination by bumblebees and natural pest control by spiders.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust are gaining the support of local young people with a new project at Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve in Rufford.
The SITA-funded project - called Project 2010 - being run by the Trailblazers team will be creating a new dual pond-dipping area that aims to help bring the local community closer together.