MEMBERS of Environment and Wildlife have been busy collecting wildlife information on the Barracks lodge in Elton with the aim of ensuring that when development plans come before the planning control sub-committee they will have no doubt as to the correct level of value to place on the lodge.

The lodge supports at least four species of amphibians: frogs, toads, smooth newts and palmate newts. Good populations have been recorded and four species in one pond is not common.

The lodge attracts a valuable variety of water birds: little grebe, kingfisher, mute swan, heron, mallard, tufted duck, coot, moorhen and reed bunting. These species need the deep water habitat and swamp margins.

The lodge is a good bat feeding habitat and the air above the water is alive with bats at night.

It also supports a rich assembly of water invertebrates - 45 species were recorded in March, which is an excellent total for any time of year. We would expect a summer survey to produce an outstanding total.

So far Environment and Wildlife - on a voluntary basis - have found more, and scarcer, species than have staff from Bury MBC, the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit, the Environment Agency and the planning applicant's ecological consultant combined!

MICHAEL WELLOCK,

Environment and Wildlife candidate,

Church Ward.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.