Vision Projects
Eyam Delf
Eyam
Delf is being managed as an informal
local nature reserve by Eyam Delf Action Group with support from the landowner, Eyam School, the Vision
Project and Peak District National Park Authority ranger service.
Funding
has been provided for the site directly by the Vision Project and more recently by the BBC Breathing
Spaces programme.
Taddington Mere
Taddington
Mere has recently been restored in a collaborative effort between Taddington Parish, Taddington School,
the Vision Project and Peak District National Park Authority ranger service.
Funding from the Local
Heritage Initiative was given for the works on the mere and for an interpretation panel.
Calver Marshes
Calver
Marshes is being managed as an
informal local nature reserve with a steering group including landowners, local naturalists and community
representatives overseeing an annual programme of awareness raising and conservation action.
Children
from Curbar School have helped to produce a series of information panels about the site.
Silence Mine
Following
compulsory purchase by the Authority and transfer to a Village Trust, Silence Mine is being managed
by people from Foolow and Great Hucklow villages. The site supports areas of very high quality grassland
in association with old mine remains and includes numerous cowslips and orchids.
A programme of practical action and awareness raising is being implemented in addition to the dedication of the site as open access land.
Furness Quarry
Climbers generally enjoy their sport on someone else’s land. How about climbers welcoming local people and visitors alike to enjoy quiet recreation on their land?
That is exactly what the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) has done through its acquisition of Furness Quarry – known to climbers as ‘Horseshoe’ – in Stoney Middleton Dale. It all happened after a chance conservation in 1998 between BMC Patron Sir Chris Bonnington and Tarmac’s Land and Minerals Director Chris Dobbs.
Parts of the site remain in private ownership, and there is no right of access to these. But after lobbying for more open access the BMC has been true to its convictions and designated its landholding here as open for everyone to enjoy – on foot – under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (2000).
There is another side to it too. Some have tried to characterise climbers in the past as damaging vegetation and disturbing birds in the single-minded pursuit of their own objective. This is not the case at Horseshoe, here a nature reserve is being managed to show how wildlife and recreation can happily co-exist. It’s a super place to see a complete succession of vegetation cover from bare areas through grassland to climax vegetation (the final stage in the development of an area from bare ground through colonising vegetation to the most appropriate vegetation for the climatic conditions).
And there is more. Clearly visible on the quarry floor are ancient coral beds whilst the vertical faces exhibit mineral veins, feathering from blasting, fossil remains, chert deposits and clearly defined bedding planes.
It’s right in the middle of the Vision Project area. Why not drop by and have a look for yourself?.
Please remember to keep children well away from the unfenced cliff edges, and from the base of cliffs too.
