26th April 2005
MEANDERING THROUGH THE MARBURY BLUEBELLS
Over the next 2 weeks a carpet of Bluebells will be seen sweeping
though the woodlands of the North West. Marbury Country Park near
Northwich is just one wooded area where the beautiful haze of blue
can be seen, but despite people's familiarity with this wildflower,
it was once much more widespread.
INEOS Chlor has pledged £7000 through its Landfill Tax Credits
to keep this beautiful flower in our future woodlands. Over the
past 8 years, the Bluebell Recovery Project in The Mersey Forest
has co-ordinated help from local people including the Friends of
Marbury and Anderton to collect and grow seeds and with further
support from Cheshire Bluebell BAP Group.
Native Bluebell seed has now been sown and bulbs planted in over
10 hectares of new community woodlands.
One third of the world's Bluebells resides in the UK and we have
seen huge losses of Bluebell woods over the past 3 decades. Bluebells
are seriously under threat, with only a fraction of ancient woodlands
remaining.
The Native British Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) thrives
in broadleaved woodland but has declined because of habitat loss,
physical damage from trampling and the theft of bulbs. Many of the
Bluebells that you now see are the Spanish Bluebell, which have
escaped from gardens and the two species readily hybridise.
Cheshire Wildlife Trust WATCH leader Virginia Hunt organising the
Marbury Bluebell Event with the Cheshire Rangers, said: 'Bluebells
are becoming rarer, people don't know where they can visit to see
this seasonal spectacle - the walks help to raise awareness amongst
local people and often many will help us later in the year to collect
seed'.
ENDS
Photo caption (left to right)
Cheshire Wildlife WATCH Leader Virginia Hunt, Cheshire Countryside
Ranger - Stephanie Hefferan, Cyril the Squirrel from The Mersey
Forest - present bulbs ready to plant at Marbury Country Park
Notes to Editors
If anyone is interested in getting involved in seed collecting please
contact Jo Sayers on 01925 859606.
- The Bluebell Recovery Project was set up in
1996 in partnership with Landlife, the wildflower charity. The aim
was to collect seed with the help of communities in The Mersey Forest,
and grow them in bulb fields. It takes up to 7 years to grow bulbs
from seed, and there are few legitimate suppliers of native bulbs
in the UK. Bulbs successfully cultivated, have been put back into
woodlands over the past 2 years, we are continuing to cultivate
stock for the future.
- Cheshire Bluebell Biodiversity Group support
the work in the Cheshire areas of the Forest (Halton, Warrington,
Vale Royal and Ellesmere Port) and cover areas outside The Mersey
Forest (Macclesfield, Chester and Congleton).
- Bluebells are found in deciduous woodlands hundreds of years old.
Due to woodland clearance for development, we only have 1% of these
woodlands left. On top of these losses, thefts on the scale of tens
of thousands of bluebell bulbs from a single wood reveal an additional
problem so severe, it is possible that some bluebell woods will
be destroyed completely.
- Recent amendments to the Wildlife and Countryside
Act mean that, if a trader is found to be selling illicit bulbs,
they face a fine of £1,000 per plant
- There are two types of bluebell that grow
in the UK, the native British bluebell and the more vigorous Spanish
variety. The British bluebell is smaller and more delicate than
the Spanish.
- Since The Mersey Forest project began, 2,500
hectares of woodland and 1,000 hectares of non-woodland habitats
such as greenspaces and wildflower meadows and ponds have been created
- an area the size of the City of Liverpool!
For further information please contact the
INEOS Chlor Press Office:
Janet Ward
Telephone: 01928 515227
Fax: 01928 569459
Email: janet.ward@ineoschlor.com
