Broad Ees Dole
Broad Ees Dole, located in the northeast of Sale Water Park, is an important wildlife refuge. Major work was carried out in the 1980s to develop Broad Ees Dole into a wetland area that could be managed to improve the wildlife value of the park, in particular for wild birds, the main lake being too deep to provide food for many bird species. It was officially opened in 1987.
The amount of water entering and leaving the Dole is managed, maintaining its mud flats to make sure they are available for birds like snipe and little ringed plovers throughout the year. Migratory birds like redshank and sandpiper also use the Dole as a resting and feeding place on their route north for the summer. In summer and winter, water is allowed in, to prevent the mud from drying up; in spring and autumn, water is released, to expose the mud.
As well as the wading birds, mallards, coots, moorhens and lapwings nest in the reeds in the marshland surrounding the mud flats. Herons and kingfishers are also frequently seen. There are no footpaths through the Dole, but the wildlife can be viewed from the paths around its perimeter.
In 2003 Broad Ees Dole became the first site in Trafford to be recognised by English Nature as a Local Nature Reserve, primarily because of its importance to migratory birds and the diversity of its plant life.
From around 2000, the Dole started to became infested by the alien plant Crassula helmsii, also known as Australian Swamp Stonecrop. The plant began to significantly reduce the value of the nature reserve to wading birds, so in 2005 major work was undertaken to remove it. The Dole was drained, all of the surface soil was removed and the area treated with herbicide before being allowed to return to marshland.
As well as providing a habitat for wild birds the Dole also contains an orchid meadow in which Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza maculata) have established themselves, and there are breeding colonies of smooth and great crested newts.
The etymology of the name Broad Ees Dole perhaps provides a clue to one of the past uses of this area. Ees describes a wetland, and Dole describes a plot of land allocated to the poor.
Read more about this topic: Sale Water Park
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