Autumn 2002 edition of the Blackwater Valley Volunteer.
Blackwater Valley Goes Live!
This summer saw two blockbuster films about spiders hit national cinema screens, but at BVCS we are celebrating a much more local web success story.
Due to staff effort over the past few months and with the hard work and help of two volunteers in particular, many thanks go to David Georghiou and Terry Durrance, Blackwater Valley now has a fantastic new website.
The site contains information which ranges from contact details for local conservation groups, to information about the different wildlife habitats, nature reserves and recreational sites that can be explored in the Blackwater Valley.
With 200 pages to present, one of the main challenges faced was how to display the variety of valleywide information collected, in an attractive and accessible format that people would want to read. A website is only as good as a mouse click!
Much thought was given to the layout and visual look of the site and it was in this time that a great feature of the site was developed - the use of maps (taken from the Blackwater Valley Path Guide) to help people navigate around the sites. Pictures were also used throughout to make the website visually come alive ('a picture speaks a thousand words').
Top of page
Tongham Community Woodland
Plans are afoot that will hopefully lead to the establishment of another local conservation group in the Valley.
Tony Anderson of BVCS has been working with Surrey County Council, Tongham Parish Council and community groups within Tongham to set up a project to improve and restore this small area of woodland adjacent to the Blackwater Valley Relief Road. Although rather neglected at present, the wood has great potential as a wildlife site and is a valuable community resource for recreation and education.
Tony made a successful application to the Forestry Commission for funding the project and this grant was kindly matched by Surrey County Council.
The first community meeting to discuss the project was held in July. This meeting helped to establish a Work Plan for the woodland and a timetable for events and tasks over this autumn and winter. For more information please contact Tony on 01252 331353
Top of page
Local Groups Forum
The aim of the Blackwater Valley Local Groups Forum is to give volunteer conservation groups in the valley a chance to meet up, exchange expertise and information, and to raise issues and ideas that are relevant to other groups.
A meeting held on the 28th May 2002 was kindly hosted at the Blunden Hall by the Cove Brook Greenway Conservation Group. This was the first meeting for some time, so each group gave a brief introduction to themselves: the sites they manage and their activities. Some of the main issues discussed were:
Insurance
The meeting was well timed, as with the collapse of the BTCV insurance scheme for conservation groups, each group had to address and review their relationship to the local authority regarding the land they manage. Some groups had already arranged alternative insurance cover, others were still looking at the possibilities. A reprieve was found for some groups when BTCV managed to re-launch their own scheme.
Volunteer Demographics
Several of the groups found that they had high membership but very few active volunteers. There was a general feeling that as most of the active volunteers were newly retired this was a good group to target. Watch out if you are retiring soon, the conservation groups are out to get you!
Fleet Pond
Recent work on Farnborough Airport and on heathland regeneration in the catchment area for Fleet Pond drastically increased the flow of silt into the pond. The continued long-term survival of this SSSI site is threatened. Colin Gray of Fleet Pond Society estimated it would cost £1.5 million to dredge the pond. The Society is negotiating with the MOD to provide a plan to stop the flow of silt and then aims to dredge the pond itself.
Training
Courses that have been run this year at Ash Lock Cottage are tree felling, strimmer use, volunteer leadership, grassland monitoring and water vole surveying. Thanks to Rowhill Conservation Volunteers, BTCV (Hants) and Hampshire and Surrey Wildlife Trusts for providing skilled trainers for these courses. These courses are open to all local volunteers.
The strimmer and leadership courses are to be repeated towards the end of September and the beginning of October while Rowhill is running a Life Saver Plus First Aid course.
We are happy to organise further courses and pass on details of other venues in the area. Let us know what you are interested in - some possibles include: Woodland skills; tree felling, Tree identification (winter/summer), Wildflower and Grass I.D, Pond Surveying, Risk assessment, First Aid, Fencing and Hedgelaying.
Parish Surveys.
Contact BBOWT for details of their scheme to encourage parish nature conservation surveys and joined up thinking at the Parish level.
Tractor.
The idea of a tractor for use in the Valley was proposed by Rowhill group. Something to ponder further, perhaps in association with Rushmoor?
Date of Next Meeting: Tuesday 12 November 2002, 7.30pm Rowhill Nature Reserve Centre. Representatives from all local groups in the Valley are welcome.
If you have anything you would like to discuss at the meeting, let us know on 01252 331353.
Top of page
Focus On Brickfields Country Park
Brickfields Country Park is situated off Boxall’s Lane, Aldershot, Hampshire and is probably one of the British Isles smallest and least known country parks (unless you know of one under 8.5 acres!).
Records for Brickfields Park date from about 1175 when the monks of Waverley Abbey were donated 31 acres of land for sheep grazing, roughly bounded by what is now Church Lane, Church Road and Boxall’s Lane. Another 29 acres to the west was rented by Margaret of Overscumbe. For about 300 years the area was worked by the monks and clerics of the Abbey and following the dissolution of the monasteries, it was bought by Robert White of Aldershot who amalgamated the land into one farm administered by John Faunteleroy, one of Aldershot’s main landowners, until the early 1600’s.
About 1650, the Boxall family came into possession of the land, but in 1703 Sarah Boxall was taken to court in London for non payment of taxes, and as a result the area was broken up into smaller portions, of which Boxall’s Farm was the largest. Soon after the Army’s arrival in Aldershot the pit that became Brickfields Park, was dug to make the bricks used for much of the then rapidly expanding town. Manufacturing continued upto the late 1930’s when the site then lay unused except for a few brief periods as a concrete works and storage area, eventually becoming a refuse dump. About 25 years ago the Brickfields housing estate was built on the site of the brick works and drying ovens, and more recently Brickfields Park became completely enclosed by the new housing estates on the Highfield playing fields and Water Board lands.
Opened on the 7th June 1985, by Councillor Colin Balchin, the then Mayor of Rushmoor, Brickfields Country Park was the result of over two years of work carried out by Rushmoor Borough Council and The Manpower Services Commission, transforming what had become an eyesore into a unique recreational facility for the local community, creating an oasis in the middle of Aldershot.
The Friends of Brickfields Country Park were formed in 1992 by a group of local residents wanting to become involved with the furtherance of this local amenity. Operating under license from the Rushmoor Borough Council as part of the Parks Department, we carry out a range of conservation works from rubbish clearance to building new paths, on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month, from 1:30pm onwards. We welcome involvement from anybody, as members of the group or occasional volunteers and no special skills are needed, just some strong footwear! We have been very fortunate this year to have had the help of the Blackwater Valley Volunteers and also the Army, in our continuing efforts to control Bramble but there is at least another acre of the stuff to be bashed for anybody who would like to let off steam.
The park is used on a regular basis by several local schools and groups for nature studies and is open everyday of the year. Please help us to keep the park tidy: take your litter home, do not light fires, and Please do not fish in the pond.
Over the years we have managed to compile a brief history of the park and the immediate area with old newspaper cuttings, aerial photographs of the brickworks, staff and historical documents.
If you have any information relating to the park, anecdotes (a lot of local residents used to play in the old brick diggings in their younger days), photographs, press cuttings etc, then please let us know (details below). We would like to hear from you.
How to find us
Boxalls Lane can be found of either off the Lower Farnham Road (B3208) or Weybourne Road (B3007). From Weybourne Road pass under the railway bridge into Boxalls Lane and park in our car park opposite the Post Office, approximately 1/4 mile from the bridge. From the Lower Farnham Road turn into Boxalls Lane at the new mini-roundabout by Southleigh surgery (in front of a small parade of shops), this is opposite the Post Office, approximately 1/2 mile from the shops.
Ref - Land Ranger SU866495.Ordnance Survey X = 486677,Y = 149590. Latitude / Longitude N = 51:14:18, W = 00:45:30
Our web site, www.brickfieldspark.org has 600 pages of information - history - links - past / dates - photos and descriptions of nearly 250 species of fauna and flora to be found in the park. There is also a gallery of 500 photos of plants - flowers - animals - trees - views - park events and more from Brickfields Country Park, with many more to add in the future. A notable page from the site has been the recent sighting of Homo sapiens stupidus, a fortunately very rare species with bizarre rituals. Feel free to e-mail any comments and suggestions for our site.
Contacts: For further details of Brickfields Country Park, e-mail Mike Hatch on mike@dmassoc.globalnet.co.uk , phone 01252 330966 (eve) or fax 01252 659533.
Volunteer profile
Mike Hatch, Chairman, Brickfields Country Park
Mike is a Design Draughtsman for a local motion control company in Camberley (Mike asked for no puns, but what can we say? - Ed). 51, Mike says he has spent far too many years in various engineering jobs trying to keep the bank balance afloat. He has worked on many varied projects including Olympus 593 and Pegasus engines for Concorde and the Harrier, has designed microprocessor control systems, pcbs, photographic studios and anti-vandal coin mechanisms.
He has always been interested in wildlife and related subjects having grown up in Heath End on a nursery, and spending many hours in Rowhill Copse as a youngster. He joined the Friends of Brickfields Park about 7 years ago after answering a call for volunteers in the local paper. Latterly he started an O.U. degree course in Environmental Management to gain more knowledge in the subject to help with Brickfields Park.
He lives with Laura, in Aldershot just a few hundred meters from the Park, they are going to retire to Italy (where Laura’s roots are) in the future.
Top of page
Blackwater Valley Conservation Volunteers
The last 6 months (March till August) have been a very busy period for the Blackwater Valley Conservation Volunteers (BVCV). Both Ian Wrenn and Simon Lohrey have moved on to pastures new. Simon having gained valuable experience, which helped earn him an environmental education post.
Other of our regular volunteers have been putting into practise their recently acquired strimmer training (through the BTCV) improving access along the Blackwater Valley Path, and managing grassland on a number of sites.
The BVCV’s also helped with the work of other local groups including:
Rowhill where we cleared areas of Rhododendron to encourage the re-establishment of native woodland ground flora.
Brickfields Country Park where bramble scrub and rank grasses were cut and removed to expand areas for wildflowers.
Bluebell Wood near Sandhurst is a site that the BVCV’s have helped manage for several years and recent works have concentrated on coppicing hazel and dead hedging around the copses to help keep grazing animals at bay. Roy Tigwell who owns the site has contended with Rhododendron and bamboo over the years but appears to be winning the battle.
The volunteers also work on other sites such as the Eelmoor Marsh SSSI, and Brentmoor Heath which provide ample opportunity to fell trees and clear scrub. This never-ending task emulates our forbears, who lived upon the heaths and harvested their timber for shelter and the creation of fire for warmth and cooking, thus maintaining the habitat.
Many thanks go out to the 3 student placements we had this year. Billy, Barnie and Tracey. Billy and Barnie, in their 2nd year of a BSC, worked together on a project monitoring the pollution status of a number of ponds within the Blackwater Valley. Tracey, on a work placement as part of her MSc. helped with the production of site management plans and carried out survey work during her stay. All 3 helped out and volunteered on the Tuesday tasks and Billy and Barnie made themselves particularly useful with repairing post and wire fencing around Hawley Meadows prior to the site being grazed by 20 cattle (a much easier method of managing grassland).
Ian Wrenn helping out on one of his last tasks at Moor Green Lakes. He left the group in May for pastures new after a well deserved send off at the Queens Head in Dogmersfield. He now lives in Herefordshire and lives the dream with a small plot of land that he is managing for wildlife and pleasure. Can we come too?
A big thank you to our volunteers. In the last 6 months the Blackwater Conservation Volunteers have undertaken:
- 24 Tuesday Tasks
- 15 other volunteer days
- A total of 256 Volunteer Days
And that’s an amazing amount of work we could not have achieved without you. Thank you to everybody who has helped. We look forward to your continued support and friendship.
Hawley Meadows
Many hours of hard volunteer graft went into opening the car parking area at Hawley. The previously enclosed and secluded car park is now much more open, and looks much better. Unfortunately the unsavoury behaviour (covers most sins, a lot of which seem to go on there!), fly tipping, car dumping etc. continues. We are seriously considering locking the main car park area, leaving enough room for dog walkers to park but no cover for anything else (we hope?).
Lakeside Park LNR
Lakeside takes a lot of work, but with such a nice site it is hard to begrudge it. On-going work has included: scrub clearance, clearing vegetation from path edges, orchid counts, cutting and raking grass/flowers off the meadow etc. We have also replaced the stolen rails along the fence next to the Blackwater Valley Path - we hope the missing ones made a nice shed. The heaviest task of the year so far so definitely improving the path through to the reedbed. As always the volunteers performed an exceptional job. Special thanks to Brian Parnell (Guildford Borough Council Ranger) and his team who helped on the day and supplied timber for path edging and boardwalks, and to GBC for the stone, terram and the hire of a whacker plate.
Shepherd Meadows SSSI
Spoil-sports that we are we dismantled the remains of an impressive den (des res really) from the SSSI (it had already been largely burnt out). In the process we cleared a lot of rose and scrub to open up this area as grassland again.
Moor Green Lakes
The new site Management Plan is now up and running, a testament to the hard work and perseverance of Ken Crick the group chairman. The plan puts the regular work on the site into context - cutting viewing slots, maintaining the grassland areas and water edges free from scrub, keeping paths open, etc. Recent sightings of adders in a pile of weed cleared from a bird scrape were a plus and encouragement that those habitat piles do have a use!
Grants Moor
This thin strip of heathland sandwiched between the BVR and the railway has recently been given a new lease of life by the combined efforts of Greenleaves contractors and volunteers clearing pine, birch and willow. The site has revealed a few gems during this period including sundews, common lizards and slow worms.
Blackwater Valley Path
The volunteers have helped with the ongoing management of the BVP at Frimley Business Park, Frimley Bridge Lake south through the Hatches and of course in Lakeside Park. Much of the work has recently involved the clearance of small trees and scrub adjacent to the path, with stumps being treated with herbicide to prevent re-growth. This work will enable contractors to carry out regular path maintenance using tractors and/or ride on mowers in the future, thus freeing up the BVCV’s for more sensitive habitat management tasks.
Top of page
Newshounds wanted - Can you help?
We would appreciate keeping track of any press coverage about the Valley. If you get a local newspaper regularly and can spend a few minutes each week checking for articles about the Blackwater Valley and the work we do it would greatly help us. We can supply prepaid envelopes for you to send in the cuttings of stories when you spot them.
Papers we wish to keep a regular check on include: all variants of the Newsgroup - ie: The Aldershot News, The Aldershot, Fleet, Farnborough Mail (or your local equivalent), The Surrey Advertiser, The Farnham Herald, The Courier and The Star. If you can help contact01252 331353.
Top of page
Volunteer Events
November 2002
Friday 8th at 7:45pm. Talk: Indonesia: Birds and Conservation in the World’s Longest Archipelago. Dr A Knystautas. Contact BBOWT, C Winder, 01753 854393. Parish Hall, Heath Hill Road, Crowthorne.
Thursday 14th at 7:30pm. Talk: Illustrated talk on Iceland by Andrew Cleave, Rowhill Nature Reserve Field Centre. Contact: Rowhill: 01252 319749.
December 2002
Sunday 1st at 2pm. Christmas Tree Collection at Wildmoor Heath. Help to clear invading pine trees and collect an environmentally friendly Christmas tree to take home. Meet in car park on Crowthorne/Sandhurst Road or find them on the heath. Bracknell Forest Countryside Services, 01344 354441.
Thursday 12th at 7:30pm. Talk: Midwinter Celebration by Lyn Fomison. Rowhill Nature Reserve Field Centre. Contact: Rowhill: 01252 319749
January 2003
Thursday 9th at 7:30pm. Talk: The Blackwater Valley by Steve Bailey, leader of Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership. Rowhill Nature Reserve Field Centre. Contact: Rowhill: 01252 319749.
Top of page
Local Groups regular task days.
(for contact details look at each groups entry on the volunteer groups pages of this website)
Sunday: 2nd of month. Cove Brook Greenway Group.
Sunday: 2nd week of month. Fleet Pond Society.
1st and 3rd Sunday of the month. Friends of Brickfields Country park.
Sunday: Once a month. Friends of Farnham Park.
Sunday: 2nd of month. Moor Green Lakes Group.
Sunday: 1st, 3rd and 5th of month. Rowhill Conservation Volunteers.
Sunday: Last of month. Yateley Society Conservation Volunteers.
Tuesday: Every week. Blackwater Valley Conservation Volunteers.
Tuesday: Every week. Bracknell Conservation Volunteers.
Thursday: Every week. BBOWT, Berkshire Midweek Team.
Various days: Once a month. Frimley Fuel Allotments Conservation Team
Various days: Hampshire Wildlife Trust, Friends of Queen Elizabeth Park, Surrey Heath Borough Council Rangers, Surrey Wildlife Trust.
Top of page
|
