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Boar's Well Urban Wildlife Reserve

Clearing the spring at Boar's Well
BEES have been involved in the management of the Reserve since the year 2000

Boars Well pond clearance in Oct 2005Boars Well pond clearance in Oct 2005Boars Well Urban Wildlife Reserve sits on the hillside above Canal Road. It is council land and the responsibility of the Countryside and Rights of Way team. . Our key tasks involve keeping the pathways accessible. BEES have been involved in the management of the Reserve for the past 8 years, controlling the spread of Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam, management of the wildflower meadow and the pond.

The Reserve is on a south facing slope and is a popular site for butterflies and birds. Kestrels nest on or near the site each year and can often be seen hunting over the hillside.

Geolocation

53.807309, -1.752372

Conservation Work

Friday 1st May Boars Well Urban Wildlife Reserve, Kings Road, BD2

Boar's Well 1st May 2009 1Boar's Well 1st May 2009

 After carrying out a site visit during the week we found that the meadow area contained a number flower species like Kidney vetch that would not of benefitted from a cut of the grass and this would of affected the butterflies that feed on them. However there was plenty to do on the site as we found out. First we started by clearing the pathways in our attempt to maintain them at their original width, this involved the unpleasant task of clearing the dog mess and general litter picking. We placed posters at the entrances to request that dog walkers clear up their dog's mess and we spoke to as many dog walkers as possible. Spink's Well was given a clean up and the photo shows this historic feature. We then turned our attention to the central steps and carried out weeding and topping them up with crush and run. Our final task was cutting of Japanese knotweed near the Coleman Street entrance which was bigger than this time last year as we remember, which gives a clue as to how we spend our future visits.

Today we had 6 volunteers.  

See more photos of the day in the gallery.

 

Friday 14th August: Boars Well Urban Wildlife Reserve, Kings Road, BD2

Friday 14 August 2009: Mowing the path edgesMowing the path edges

 Today there was a number of people who were new to the site, so we gave a general introduction to the site and walked part of it pointing out the main features. Then we tackled more of the invasive plant species and concentrated on keeping the walkways open. The main path egdes was mowed, overhanging branches cleared, the central entrance way was tidied up and more work was carried out on the Bolton Road steps.

We were joined by 12 volunteers.

Click here for more photos of the day.