Preparations have been taking place for weeks leading up to today. Except for missing one or two signs (which arrived this morning!), the reserve was looking splendid. Visitors from far and wide converged on the ballroom of Middleton Hall to be welcomed by the resident RSPB staff.
Coffee, biscuits, a quick chat and we were summoned in to the Great Hall where we listened to speeches given by a collection of dignatories including Mike Clarke (RSPB) and Les Sparks (HLF). It was soon evident we had arrived at a very significant milestone in the ongoing development of our new reserve here at Middleton Lakes and the processes involved in getting here were far reaching and dependent on an awful lot of people, organisations and bags of good will.
Project Manager Nick Martin explained the vision everyone had kept in mind over the past 4 years and that was that this reserve was to provide somewhere to enjoy nature of all types, at all levels and was for everyone.
Speeches over, we made our way after lunch to the play meadow where, to commemorate the occasion, an oak tree was planted along with native bluebells . We will watch their progress with interest as the reserve develops.
We took advantage of the unexpected but welcome sunshine and walked through the play meadow, along the Woodland Trail to arrive at our Canal View point where we looked over the newly established wetlands. Our visitors were delighted at the progress that had been made and they too shared out thoughts in that Middleton Lakes is a great place to visit now and can only improve!
Many thanks to everyone involved today, too numerous to mention but we had a really great day.
See you on the reserves,
Best regards,
Chris Edwards