Brackenhill Urban Landscape Area

Building a gate
We manage this space to maximise the wildlife potential of the site

Environment Agency staff volunteering at Brackenhill ULAEnvironment Agency staff volunteering at Brackenhill ULABEES have a mangement agreement with the Council's Countryside and Rights of Way team to manage Brackenhill Urban Landscape Area. It is the area adjacent to Brackenhill Park in Great Horton and is managed to maximise the wildlife potential of the site. Our key jobs in the past year have been to repair the drystone wall along Greenfield Lane, to uncover and repair footpaths and steps and to control the litter and Japanese Knotweed.

In the forthcoming year we plan to further repair sections of pathway and to improve the quality of the pond. The Environment Agency carried out a survey of the pond last year and found, despite first appearances, that there is sign of invertebrate life in the pond. We hope to improve the amount of oxygenating and marginal plants.

Brackenhill Pond Survey

Geolocation

53.782423, -1.787295

Conservation Work

Friday 29th January 2010: Brackenhill Urban Landscape Area, Westcroft Road, Great Horton, Bradford, BD7.

making a pleachermaking a pleacherToday we were clearing litter and hedge laying. We split into two groups and one group went off to inspect the site and find the litter hot spots. The hedge layers first cleared out the hedge line removing, litter, brambles and lower branches. Pleachers were then made which allowed the the tree to be bent over. By using a stake the trees are made to form an effective and living barrier. The cut trees will regrow from the cut stump and provide a habitat which has been severely reduced over recent decades. The other group found more than they expected cleareding fly tipping and litter from many areas of the park.

Today we worked with 21 volunteers.

Click here to see other photos of the day.  

Friday 21st May 2010: Brackenhill ULA, Westcroft Road, Great Horton, BD7

attaching the railsattaching the railsToday we worked on the post and rail fence along side the hedge that we finished laying earlier this year. It was pleasing to see that the hedge was leafing up with only a few exceptions. This will provide a really good habitat for wildlife. We replaced the broken and damaged sections of the fence, which involved removing some rails, replacing a few posts and then securing the new rails. After this was completed we had time to go into the site to collect litter and remove Japanese Knotweed that has been growing in two areas.

Today we worked with 11 volunteers.

Click here for other photos of the site.    

Friday 19th Aug 2011: Brackenhill ULA, Westcroft Road, Great Horton, Bradford, BD7

Raking the cut meadow.Raking the cut meadow. Today we will started ambitious task of cutting and raking two of the meadow areas near Westcroft Road, this will benefit the annual flowers like meadow cranesbill and grasses by reducing the nutrients in the soil and spreading the seed. The area was cut using the autoscythe and then raked by hand. We also removed the area of japanese knotweed near the stream. We collected flytipping, which included 3 shopping trolleys, a bed, television and 40 bin bags, which were collected by the Council.

Today we worked with 14 volunteers.

Click here to see other photos of the day including the shopping trolley revovered from the pond.

Friday 18th January 2013: Brackenhill Urban Landscape Area, Westcroft Road, Bradford, BD7

Friday 18th January 2013The weather was a factor today with a cold blast bringing snow for us. Still a good number of hardy souls turned up for the task and we were able to get out as planned. But the Countryside Service was unable to join us due to the conditions. At site we were able to get warm with the work of cutting back the overhanging willow trees. These have been causing an obstruction for a while and someone had started to cut back in the summer causing all sorts of poor regrowth.  We cut the back the stumps using bow saws to allow the tree to regrow better, then we cut some of the bigger branches to allow more light into the area. At the end of the day the area looked much improved and we could see the wall and the fence line once again.  The timber that we cut was harvested and will be used for making charcoal later in the year. We also had time to collect several bags of litter and connect with a local resident who is a regular site visitor and will keep an eye on the site.


Today we worked with 7 volunteers.

Click here to see other snowy photos of the day.