ARGSL and Bangor University students are jointly organising a scrub clearance day, in order to open up a Great Crested Newt breeding pond, at Rixton Claypits SAC/SSSI, near Warrington, on Monday, March 2nd., meeting at 10 a.m. Anyone from NMARG who is interested in going along and helping with this is very welcome. Please contact David Orchard at argsl@btinternet.com if you are intending to take part in this important habitat management work, a change from sand dune habitat management !

Detailed directions to the site are below:-

By car from Warrington - follow Manchester Road (A57) out of Woolston, across both M6 roundabouts for approximately mile. Continue past Moat Lane, past the visitor centre about 400 yards on the left, and another 120 yards on the left is the car park. Please note that the visitors centre is set back 30m from the road and not well signposted, so it is easily missed.
From Cadishead- follow Liverpool Road (A57) through the traffic lights at Warburton Bridge Road and continue for another 420 metres. The car park is on the right between Chapel Lane and Moat Lane.

Please park on the main car park, not in front of the visitors centre.

The next NMARG habitat management task, on Saturday, March 7th, will involve trying to dispose of the remaining brash from previous tasks on the Sefton Coast, by dragging it to the fire sites and burning it. We will also be doing some removal of small Sea Buckthorn and Poplar suckers and regrowth. This task may carry on the following day (Sunday). Further details will be available at a later date.

A reptile and amphibian survey training day has been organised by 'The Biodiverse Society', a partnership project between Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Lancashire Environmental Records Network and Merseyside Biobank. This is in conjunction with NMARG, and will take place on Friday, April 24th, at Ainsdale Discovery Centre, between 1 - 5 pm. The aim is to encourage and assist volunteers with monitoring and surveying wildlife, and this session will mainly be 'in the classroom', with practical sessions to follow at a later dater. Anyone interested in attending, please contact Joanne Brierley-Moore, the Project Manager, at jmoore@lancswt.org.uk.

The Green Angels are holding a Bioblitz at the old Liverpool Festival Gardens site on Friday, August 14th, 7.30 - 11 pm and on the following day, Saturday, August 15th, 10 am - 4 pm. This will include some pond dipping sessions, searching for amphibians, as well as a bat walk on the Friday evening and small mammal trapping. If anyone needs further details, please contact Mike Brown on mb001b9658@blueyonder.co.uk

This event has been organised by South Lancs Amphibian and Reptile Group, but if any of our members would like to take part, they will be very welcome. The work involves tree and scrub removal in order to improve the site, which is a very important breeding site for Great Crested Newts. Anyone who would like to help in this task, please contact argsl@btinternet.com for further details.

This event has been cancelled, due to severe weather warning of possible storm force winds

This event will involve the clearance of invasive Sea Buckthorn at Ainsdale, on the Sefton Coast, in order to improve the habitat for Natterjack Toads and Sand Lizards

NMARG's next habitat management task is on Sunday, January 24th, when we will be removing scrub which is invading valuable Sand Lizard and Natterjack Toad habitat in the Sefton Coast sand dunes. For further details, please email Mike Brown at mb001b9658@blueyonder.co.uk

Our next habitat management task takes place on Sunday, January 31st, at Ainsdale, on the Sefton Coast. For further details, please email Mike Brown on mb001b9658@blueyonder.co.uk

Our next habitat management task will involve clearing Sea Buckthorn and other scrub which has regrown following large scale clearance two winters ago at a site on the Sefton Coast which is important for Sand Lizards and Natterjack Toads. For further details, please email Mike Brown on mb001b9658@blueyonder.co.uk