LLOYDS BANK

               VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED

THANK YOU ALL THAT TOOK THE TIME TO VOTE AND SUPPORT US AND WE WILL INFORM YOU OF THE OUTCOME AS WE FIND OUT .gwh

Open Day

I would just like to reiterate what Bruce has said and thank EVERYONE for their help on Saturday for making it a great day. It would be wrong to single out individuals as everyone's efforts made it special, and we hope to have another one next year. I hope all of you that came enjoyed the day as much as we did and it was lovely to meet you all.
 The results of the raffle were:
1st    No   133                          collected
2nd           165   Sue Hall                "
3rd            107        ?            collection organised
4th            271   Christie      ( Eeyore   stuffed toy )
5th            202   Mrs  Shaw     ( collected )
6th 7th 8th 9th                        ( collected )

For those of you who didn't win the prints of your choice they are available at the same price as Saturday and all profits will go to the CBWG  please contact me on gwhaigh@blueyonder.co.uk  or on  07958163032 and I have your preferred choices if you cannot remember what they were. Please state if you just want a print or framed print.
 I will contact the winners this week. Christie I do not have contact details for you, if you contact me I will get your prize to you, if not I will pass on unwanted prizes to the Salvation Army for their Xmas Collection.

Yours Graham

Donations and collections totalled £417.62. We thank all who made this a success.

Bruce

Our First Open Day

We were blessed with fine weather for our first open day yesterday. 14 volunteers turned up very early to erect two marquees and set out the stalls. We had a good footfall all day. There was lots of food and also guided walks and practical activities for our next generations of Wildlife Volunteers.

A brilliant job done by everyone involved, well done.

We make a start

                                   


                                    Nearly there

The second marquee is easier now we know the basics.

The books, pictures and craft area is organised

                                  Bruce gets in shot at last

Plenty food and drink was available. Most of this was home made and delicious.

We had visitors all day. The children had bird drawing lessons given by Steve. Simon and Colin showed how to make fat balls for the bird feeders.

Above several big skeins of Pink Footed goose flew east.

Steve collected several mushrooms. A drawing of a Kingfisher in the background.

Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group

Chairman's newsletter

This year has been a great year for the reserve. After a slow start to the year everything kicked into gear and started to bloom. Orchids have had their best year ever with an estimated 600 + of different varieties, with a new species found for the reserve in the Broad Leafed Marsh Orchid, birds also have had a good year Goldfinch, Robin, Sedge and Reed Warblers, Wren, Willow Warblers,Little Grebe, Herons,Dunnock, Goosander, all the Tits, Whitethroat, not forgetting the King Fisher, all have had at least 1 brood and some have bred twice. We had a drop in from a Little Egret, Buzzards flying over as well as Red Kite. Frogs have had a bumper year, at one time the ground looked as though it was moving there were so many. Newts also had a good year on the pond dipping day, one scoop netted 37.
 Dragonflies were poor though plenty of Brown Hawker, a few Common Darter - one male, one female, Broad Bodied Chaser, one 4 spot Chaser, a good showing of Red darter but not much else, Damselflies had a fair year. 
 

On the work side we have made wheelchair access to the bird feeding area, cut the 3 hay meadows and the south facing bank on Tag loop, started the reed cutting, put up more bird boxes including the Sparrow farm area in the hope of getting Tree Sparrows back on the reserve, unfortunately these were vandalised but will be put back as soon as we can. The bird viewing area was also destroyed but this has been replaced and expanded. We also built and installed a floating raft in the hope of getting Terns to nest, everything else has used it at one time or another except Terns but that's nature!

Up and coming work for the next few months will be continuing the reed cutting. The Woodland Trust have given us 450 trees to plant a hedgerow and the Rotarians have obtained some trees from the same trust for us and these will be planted this year so if you fancy helping us plant a hedgerow keep your eye on the blog, it will be coming up soon so we would like to get everybody, especially family's involved, there will be name tags for children so they can watch their own tree grow over the years.

One of the projects we want to do is reline the 2 Newt ponds, we have and try and keep some water in them. This will be very expensive, the large pond will cost around £4000 to £5000 and this will be our objective for next year. We will also be putting in wheelchair access and a pond dipping platform as well as seating and a bore hole for water extraction.
 

On the money side we have been given a grant of £302 through the Co-Op - voted for by your good selves and we thank you all for doing this, it will go towards the pond liner. As I write this we are also in for a grant of up to £3000 from Lloyd’s Bank this is also a voting system and we are hopeful of getting funds, but we need everyone to keep voting. 

Some of the grant would go to providing tools as well as visual aids for the Cabin which is due next year as a visitor centre. Any donations are welcome towards this and if you know of anybody wishing to donate to a good cause please let them know about us, some businessmen do like to donate.

To finish I would like to thank you all on behalf of the committee for your support and to all who have put in their time and effort to restoring the reserve and hope you will continue to do so. 
Yours Graham

Recent Sightings!

A few from recently:

G.S. Woodie that visits feeders a lot recently.

 

I was at the lagoon & watched a nice moth type bug flying past, thinking that would make a nice subject I went for my micro lens & whooooosh! this Grey Wagtail had it away. Where was it ringed?

 

We have been getting many Magpies on the "green stuff" on the lagoon finding all sorts of things to eat - Check OUT this youngster DANCING to the Pubs "Bass Beat" in the background.

 An adult wondering what all the fuss was about?

 If you catch them in the right light, see the fantastic colours they actually have!

 As I mentioned - seen them catching beetles, bugs, newts & this one found either a chicken bone or some unfortunate birds leg bone - one gulp & gone!

The Magpies are also pretty quick to look around where I have been sat as I'm leaving, just in case I left some crumbs about.

Thought I'd remind all:
Open day this Saturday 26th Oct.

Refreshments, Raffle, Fun Quiz's, Guided Walks etc.

 

Garden Seat Needed

Hi all
We need a two seater garden seat (whatever the condition) to place in the wheelchair spot at the bird viewing area for carers to sit on. Please email us if you have one you don't require. We will pick it up from a nearby location and be very grateful for your donation.

Speak out for our Countyside

https://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=21&ea.campaign.id=21571&ea.tracking.id=facebook-cpre&en_chan=fb&en_ref=21937805

Saturday October 12th Work Party

There were 10 of us on site today. Sarah, Julian, Eddie, Robin, Graham, Mike, Simon, Allan, Barry and Bruce cleared a large area of reeds to open up some of the lagoon. Cressula is a problem and disinfectant for footwear was used.




Safety conscious Robin always gives a safety talk

The cut reeds are bagged and deposited nearby

Robin, with the help of Eddie make fantastic progress 

This looks like an old Reed Warblers nest found by Allan

The view from the path. We can actually see the lagoon now


More Pictures

Lloyds Grant

TO ALL

We are at the halfway point of the grant and are obtaining votes from the internet and text messages. Thank you to all who have voted already, but we do need more. Get yours friends and family to go on the web site and vote for us. All votes are crucial. Click on the links above for the easy way to vote. Yours Graham

Work Party Meeting

A reminder to our volunteers that there is a meeting on Saturday 12th. Nest boxes and reed management.

Meet in the car park at 9:30 am. Dress sensibly, it is October! Bring food/drink

Open Day

                                         OPEN DAY  

                                   26TH OCTOBER 

                        AT CROMWELL BOTTOM 

      BY THE INFORMATION BOARD AT THE ENTRANCE                                 (Full details to follow)

Come and join us for a fun day out, there will be Refreshments (Buns, Cakes and Drinks)  Raffle prizes of a picture of your choice etc.  Guided walks, Quizzes, Soft toy sale, Book sale,

                      Meet the Birds and the Group, 2 marques for shelter if it rains. 

  

                              OPEN  10AM                                      CLOSE 3PM                  

                                                        ALL WELCOME   

From the undergrowth

A few from the last week or so, I have been busy on other things lately so not many pic's but it is still quiet no influx of winter visitors yet so just the usual suspects.There appears to be a fresh stalk of Helleborine which is very late for these and a lot of fungi around. And for those who don't know the Morons have been back and destroyed some of the bird box's in the sparrow farm, we will of course repair and replace these, they will not beat us.

A Big Thank You to all who voted for us.

This is our first Grant funding and a big thanks to everyone for making it happen.

From the Co-operative press release

Overgate Hospice has been awarded £548.00 towards running costs. Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group has received £302.00 to buy equipment to maintain the reserve pathways, plant wild flowers and trees and plan to build a dipping pond. Cross Lane School has been awarded £150 

The three lucky groups won the chance to collect a share of £1,000 earlier this year, after being nominated by the Elland store team and a member of the West Yorkshire Co-operative Group Area Committee. The scheme invited members to vote for their  favoured cause on each purchase, with members casting their votes across a four week period.

             Yours Graham

It's Guessing Time!!

When will the Redpolls return to the feeding area?? Add your guess in the comments and WIN a mention on the blog...    TIP:  last year it was October 7th, Mike Henshaw won the bragging rights. Can you do better? Check the "comments" for dates already chosen.