Chairman's
Report 2015-16
Another year has past and we as a group have gone from
strength to strength, our membership is up to just short of 150 ,
The blog has viewings from all over the world form as
far away as Brazil to Russia, Usa to Austrailia
Although we have spent a lot of money this year our
balance is still in the black thanks to 2 grants from the event fund
from Calerdale Council and Aviva and my thanks go to Margaret for her
efforts on securing those grants, if anyone has done this you will
know how hard it is .At the last agm Shelagh kindly accepted the role
of secretary and has done an exceptional job in that role and again
not an easy task and my thanks to her also for her hard work . A team
is only as good as its players and although we are not in the
premiership yet we are pushing for promotion and are probably the
main pressure group in Calderdale at the moment so a big thank you to
all our member's and volunteers for their suport and hard work.
Some of the things we have achieved this year started in
April with repairing the car park , and a great turnout for our
annual Newt Night where we found around 200 palmate and smooth newts
,
May we planting 1000 trees on North Loop,
June was our yearly battle with Balsam,
July we sighted the cabin and toilets and painted them
in a very fetching shade of Green,
August was our Open day which started ominously with
dark clouds and rain but by the time we had set up the sun came out
and a great day was had by all with the birds of prey being a star
attraction and a steady foot fall made it interesting for all , all
the profits for the day went to help our efforts over the year .
September had our Bat night which had a good turn out
and also a change to the layout on the feeding station which again
has proved popular with all our visitors.
October was our first major project where we excavated
the 2 large ponds around tag loop canal area these had become choked
and overgrown and in need of some TLC, once things have settled down
and regenerated this area should see a marked improvement in wildlife
. We also have opened up the top pond by clearing a lot of the
undergrowth that will help with the damasel and dragonflys.
November was Pixie Wood and sphagnum bog area where we
cleared approximately half an acre of scrub .
December saw the devastation of the floods ,our thoughts
go out to all those who were effected a lot- lot worse than we were.
As a reserve we got away quite lightly losing the bridge between the
lagoon and wet woodland ,and also the floating pontoon , but it also
had the bonus of a cleaning effect on the river , and as a group we
helped out in Copley ,Mytholmroyd , and Hebden Bridge with the clean
up and also cleared 2 wagon loads of rubbish from the reserve . The
one effect it has had on us is loosing the bridge to the reserve ,
this has ment everything has to be carried in and has put a hold on
some of the projects planed for the future.
January we replanted the area under the pylons that had
been cleared by the power company , this has been planted with low
growing shrubs like Hawthorn , Blackthorn, Holy and plans for more
Elder to go on the reserve to increase the amount of berry shrubs for
winter feeding .
February and March have seen us around the Cabin and
toilet area ,after submitting plans and obtaining the lease for the
area one of the requirements was to make the area suitable for all
before we can open to the public ,and to comply we have been fencing
and making a disabled platform for here and hopefully this area will
be open by April / May 2016 .
Wildlife saw ups and downs bird life saw 93 species
over the 12 month period where some of the highlights been Ring
Tailed Hen Harrier , Common Scoter , Wheatear , Osprey , Little Egret
, Red Kite , Merlin to name but a few , other s like Roe Deer , Fox
, weasel, though Dragonflys and Damasel,s were in short supply again
but it all make's up the diversity of the reserve .
We have always had an open policy where all our
meetings are available to all but because of the restrictions to the
amount of people at any one time in the cabin( restricted to 20) this
may not always be the case , we are proposing to alter this to every
other meeting with the open one an update on previous meeting , we
have out grown the cabin before it has opened but it will fulfill our
needs for visitor's
As a group one of our main concerns over the last year
was the surprise announcement of the Councils plans to turn Cromwell
Bottom Nature Reserve in to a Country Park , this is at odds with all
we have done over the last 5 years, however after the consultation
process the majority of people would like it to remain as a nature
reserve , but Councils being what they are may not
ad-hear to the majority ,on that note we have been in
consultation with them and had 2 meetings so far at the town hall on
the last meeting we submitted our own proposal for the reserve which
is for wildlife but so that everyone can enjoy it rather than for
people with wildlife as a secondary .This for members is on our blog
as the 5 year plan .At the moment we have had no feedback as yet .
For those of you who like to get involved we have a
program of events this year the highlight for me is the open day and
all of which will start from the Cabin / Visitor Centre .
After 5 years as chairman it is now time for me to hand
over the mantle, I have enjoyed for the most part my time as chair
there have been a few hick ups along the way but in the main its been
enjoyable , and I wish the next 5 years be as prosporious as the last
5 it has been a pleasure to steer the group to our present stature
and a pleasure to work with you all but its now time for a break ,
I will still be around for any advice or help you require .
Yours Graham
