In 2021 we were successfully awarded a £109,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery as part of their Green Recovery Challenge Fund to carry out a habitat restoration project along the Bollin called ‘Bollin Biodiversity’.
Working in partnership with the River Bollin Environmental Action and Conservation (BEACON) group, Cheshire East Council, Tatton Estates, National Trust and Natural England, the funding helped us to boost the biodiversity of the River Bollin and help bring it back to health.
As part of this project, we engaged with local communities to improve their connection to their local river for health, wellbeing and recreation.
Working with our partners and local volunteers, the funding helped us to reverse the decline of native plant species along the River Bollin, by planting native trees and wildflowers to improve river valley habitats, and using natural materials to restore some priority river reaches that are prone to erosion or siltation. We also removed invasive non-native species, and restored habitats such as heathland and upland by controlling trees.

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund funding allowed us at Mersey Rivers Trust to retain two full time members of staff, and employ one young person as a full time, paid trainee. The Bollin Biodiversity project also enabled us to recruit four young people as long-term volunteers, and support them with developing skills and acquiring training to start careers in the environmental sector. Our Volunteer Trainees worked with us to develop training programmes relevant to their specific career interests. They joined us on working parties, obtained formal certified training, professional career mentoring, accessed networking opportunities and learned practical conservation skills.

One of the main activities to help secure the legacy of the Green Recovery Challenge Fund Bollin Biodiversity project was to engage local people in volunteer “working parties” to help improve the water environment and access to the river. We have held a total of 46 volunteer working parties with volunteers contributing 1026 hours to the project. We have also managed to recruit 27 new volunteers to join our established group. Our working parties covered a wide range of activities, but the main focus was on practical conservation skills, such as habitat improvement work, river restoration, wildflower and tree planting, invasive species control, scrub clearance, and river clean ups. Work also included repairs to access routes and steps, along with improving access to the river for the local community through vegetation management. This project also allowed us to support our existing volunteers with more training opportunities, and provide new and different working parties where they can learn conservation skills, meet new people and network.

Over the course of this project, we were able to restore river corridor habitats through riverbank restoration work, tree and wildflower planting, birch control and invasive non-native species control working parties. We were able to tackle several invasive non-native species: Giant Hogweed, Himalayan Balsam, Japanese Knotweed and Rhododendron. All of this work was done with staff from Mersey Rivers Trust and partner organisations, as well as several dedicated volunteers. We also planted over 5,000 trees in the upland area of the Bollin catchment to complement a flood reduction scheme that was completed in 2021 to prevent flooding to properties, businesses and the local school. We also planted plug plants, reeds, wildflowers and native bulbs to support meadow restoration projects in partnership with the National Trust and Cheshire East Council.

During this project we have recruited, equipped and trained 10 new “River Guardians” to carry out regular citizen science monitoring of water quality and river insect life in the River Bollin. They have been undertaking monthly sampling of the Bollin and surrounding brooks to monitor water quality and aquatic invertebrate populations using the ARMI Riverfly methodology. Regular surveys will help improve our understanding of river health and whether our habitat enhancement works are bringing environmental benefits. Results from monthly river guardian sampling efforts can also act as an early warning system for pollution incidents and highlight issues impacting water quality on the Bollin. Mersey Rivers Trust and our new volunteers are committed to continuing long term monitoring through the Catchment Monitoring Co-operative Project providing further funding and support for the River Guardian network started as part of this project.

This funding also supported our work to create wetland and restore historic areas of peatland in Dunham Massey, improving the condition of the internationally important Dunham Parkland SSSI site. This involved the creation of wetland areas, leaky dams, and restoration of small patches of peatland which are incredibly important areas for biodiversity, water and carbon storage.

Peatland is a rare and threatened habitat, with over 80% of peatlands in the UK having been lost or damaged. Peatlands are unique ecosystems formed on peat, a type of soil that is created in waterlogged conditions where dead plants are unable to rot down. Mosses that grow on peatlands act as sponges, holding in water and maintaining the wet conditions. Peatlands are home to many rare plants, insects and birds, and also act as huge carbon stores. We therefore think they’re worth saving.

Contractors created scrapes and channels to facilitate water storage and to form new wet areas in valuable peatland habitat. Volunteers were also involved in the creation of leaky dams to help with water attenuation. Habitat creation and enhancement work at Dunham Massey was completed in March 2023 with large volumes of water are already collecting successfully in the excavated areas!

We are extremely thankful to the Green Recovery Fund for awarding us this grant. Sally Potts, Mersey Rivers Trust Senior Project Manager said, ‘We are incredibly grateful to the Green Recovery Challenge Fund for supporting this project as it has enabled us to make a huge difference for people and nature in our catchment. We’ve been able to further progress our work on river and habitat restoration, support our new and existing volunteers, and build on the success of previous years’.

For more information or to get involved in similar projects, please contact us here

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund is short-term competitive fund to kick-start environmental renewal while creating and retaining a range of jobs in England. 

The Government's Green Recovery Challenge Fund was developed by Defra and its Arm's-Length Bodies. The fund is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England, the Environment Agency and Forestry Commission.

You can find out more about this fund here.