The site of the 19th century Pennant sandstone quarry behind the
Garden of Rest occupies about 0.75 acres in the centre of Nailsea. After
filling with domestic refuse in the 20th Century, this was neglected and became
a haven for local wildlife. With financial assistance from Nailsea Town Council
and North Somerset Council, a group - The Friends of Stockway North Nature
Reserve - was formed in November 1998 to manage this land for an initial period
of five years, involving the community in a project to enhance the wildlife and
to provide a resource for education.
One of our first tasks was to remove the rubbish that had
accumulated on the site.
Eventually we filled two skips with old fire extinguishers,
central heating radiators,
and other urban debris.
Under the terms of our licence we were obliged to rebuild the
Pennant Sandstone wall near the main entrance. This was completed by Roderick
Ellison in 2001 with funding from Yansec.
In January 2001 we obtained
a Bristol Zoo Gardens Millennium Award for Conservation for a pond and this was
installed by The Friends of Stockway North, Scotch Horn Conservation Group and
Nailsea School, with Avon Wildlife Trust acting as consultants. Children from
Four Oaks Primary School were involved at each stage of the project.
Nailsea Fire Brigade kindly filled the pond as
part of a night exercise.
The pond now attracts frogs, newts,
water-beetles, damselflies and dragonflies in abundance.
The dipping platform was financed by
Wessex Water, and the rocks were supplied by Shipham Quarries and transported
by Stowells of Yatton.
The most common dragonfly visiting the
pond is the Broad Bodied Chaser that has now been incorporated into our logo by
Rachel Hilton.
We have been fortunate to have the advice of Tony Smith in
the identification of some of our aquatic animals.
We
now have a circular path around the site that
allows
disabled access.
This
was constructed by North Somerset Council.
The
site has a surplus of Ash and Sycamore trees and it has been necessary to
remove some of these. This work was undertaken by Neil Hutton and his colleagues
from the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers with funding from Yansec.
We
have now planted many other trees and shrubs, and we have over 150 plant
species on site
Click to go to the Nailsea
Wildlife Wardens site
Our working party
meets on the first Saturday of each month at 2 pm on site.
Other open
days are listed on the webpage accessed below.
Click here to see the dates for the Open Days
If you have
any time, energy, skills or just enthusiasm that would further the progress of
the Nature Reserve, please contact Diana Nicoll (855095), Pat Robinson
(854628), Mike Thomas (853439), Andrew Town (858064), Grant Burleigh (856389),
or Terry Smith (854317), or email - t.a.smith@blueyonder.co.uk
When we are open, there is a yellow notice board on
the pavement outside
Updated 23/07/2005