WHAT WE DO
We, the Friends of Pickerings Pasture are a dedicated, constituted group that meets weekly throughout the year aiming to conserve, enhance and maintain this important, special reserve on the banks of the River Mersey for its wildlife. With our long standing knowledge of the reserve and its past we seek to promote its value to the greater community and give people the opportunity to discover the natural beauty of their local landscape and the wildlife that lives in it.
We focus on habitat management by pruning hedges and cutting back vegetation and overhanging branches, increase its biodiversity by planting bulbs, shrubs and hedges beneficial to pollinators and wildlife, build and install bird, bee and bat boxes, provide hedgehog houses and ensure drinking/bathing water is available to the wildlife via its little ponds; we lay dead hedging re-inforcing the reserve boundaries and making additional habitat .
We're vigilant to damage or dangers in the reserve and will rectify if possible or report situations to Halton BC
We make repairs to the reserves infrastructure ie. repairing and painting fences and benches, making good walking paths with wood chip or grano, clean and update notice boards, regularly litterpick the entire reserve, including areas not accessible to the public.
We provide additional support to our resident and migratory birdlife by putting out food daily in the feeders around the reserve from October to March and keep records of all local bird species along with mammals, butterflies and dragonflies on the BTO Birdtrack App Link to the BTO Birdtrack site
We continue to maintain and develop the two nature/memorial gardens next to the cafe, planting for pollinators and providing a pleasant visual experience for visitors to the reserve and those passing through, cycling or walking the Trans Pennine Trail.(Coast to Coast, 215 miles between Southport and Hornsea)
Collaborating with Halton Open spaces, Merseyside Biobank, RSPB Liverpool, the Mersey Estuary Conservation Group , BTO's Wetland Birds Survey
