Water has been a major topic of interest for MCA, not only because we had chosen it a year ago as the linked theme for both Wild Week and HuG, but also more importantly because of the surfeit we had at the start of this year’s spring and summer season and the subsequent drought we had for most of July and August.

For some time now, a few of our members have participated in the Great UK WaterBlitz, a citizen science project run by Earthwatch Europe to test bodies of freshwater for excess chemicals, such as phosphates and nitrates, along with pH.  This is run twice a year in April and September and provides a good overview of water quality across the country. It’s proven so popular, registrations to get a testing kit for this September are now fully booked. However, anyone interested can find out past results on the project’s website and also register an interest in future testing opportunities.  We will report our September results in the next newsletter. Please let us know if you’re thinking of getting involved.

A more challenging but potentially more interesting and useful approach is Riverfly monitoring.  These invertebrates, sometimes described as the ‘canaries of our rivers’, spend most of their life cycles in a river, stream, pond or lake and as such act as valuable indicator species for the quality of those water bodies. The main groups are mayflies, stoneflies and caddis flies. There is now a Riverfly Monitoring Initiative set up by the Riverfly Partnership, which trains and supports citizen scientists to identify these flies and help to monitor them.  This involves monthly sampling and reporting sessions.  There are a few participating groups in and around the Moorlands, one of which is part of ManifoldCAN, whose open day at Upper Hulme some of us visited this August.  It was great to see the flies up close in their sorting trays.

A great opportunity to find out more about water locally and get hands-on experience will be the Moorlands Water Day at Moorlands House in Leek.  MCA will be having a stall and we hope to see you there.

Members of the group have been busy engaging with communities and volunteering throughout the Staffordshire Moorlands this summer. One key project has been the ManifoldCAN pop-up event at Upper Hulme, where visitors could see the numerous small beasts that live in the Manifold River, and discover how their presence can be used to indicate water quality.  An added entomological bonus was seeing a selection of beautiful moths found overnight in a local member’s garden.

Summer pruning took place in the community orchards that MCA is now managing. Although their fruit yield had increased significantly, several of the trees are suffering because of the high temperatures and lack of rain, a particular problem with relatively young trees. Members of the local community are now being encouraged to water the fruit trees in their neighbourhood and we’re very grateful to all those who have helped out.

Swifts of Leek reported that several new nest boxes had been occupied this year, which is very encouraging, and many swift lovers among us have been thrilling to the sound of screaming parties and admiring their low-level aerobatics. They’ve virtually all gone by now but we look forward to seeing them coming back next May.

Another very positive experience was the evening visit to Bernard’s Farm near Longnor to witness regenerative farming in action. Key highlights were the enthusiasm of the farmers alongside wildflower meadows and contented cattle. The farm is one of about 20 land holdings participating in the Morridge Hill Landscape Recovery Project, which aims to show that productive upland farming can go hand in hand with nature recovery, flood mitigation and carbon capture. 

Volunteering continues at Staffordshire Wildlife Trust sites, Swineholes and Rod Wood, to remove brambles and holly, whilst a Dane Valley Climate Action session removed plastic guards from saplings planted several years ago at Peak Wildlife Park.

Finally, we were thrilled to capture a photograph of a Wall Brown butterfly, which has been declining recently in parts of central England including Staffordshire.

It’s been a busy first quarter of the third year of the NIYN project. Spring and summer seasonal surveys were carried out at the Keele monitored sites of Ladderedge, Cecilly Brook LNR, Haregate Verge (Swifts), Biddulph Country Park, Tean Jubilee Park, Grindon and Rudyard Lake. Surveys were also undertaken at the community led sites at Ball Haye Recreation Ground, King’s Coronation Meadow (Longnor) and Endon Verge (A53). Many surveys were supported by MCA members.

The Westwood Recreation Ground and Hollington Road sites also did their Summer surveys. In both cases these surveys involved pupils from the local schools which is encouraging to see, as is the involvement of local community members at other sites.

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust continued to run training sessions associated with the site management aspects of the project. In mid-July, for example, a scything workshop was held at Cecilly Brook LNR which was attended by MCA members as well as representatives from the ‘Friends Of’ group. The session was led by two ladies from Staffordshire and Cheshire Scythers who took the group through the preparation stages of peening (sharpening) the blade, the correct way to set up the snath and nibs and finally the skilful art of scything itself when the group got to practice on a section of the wildflower meadow on the reserve. The training certainly came in useful as within a few days the skills were needed when volunteers mowed the Haregate Verge. 

Read more: Nature in Your Neighbourhood - Summer Update

As the Nature in Your Neighbourhood project came to the end of its second year, MCA members continued with their engagement with several of the Tier 1 locations that form part of the Keele University study. Having completed the last seasonal surveys of 2025, focus moved on to further formulating the Management Plans for the development of the sites.

For Haregate Verge (Carlton Terrace Crossroads / Swifts of Leek) this involved finalising the timetable for key tasks to be undertaken in Spring 2026. The main task was to select the best mix of plants and to source  the wildflower plugs. In addition, MCA member Kate Hamey (site sponsor) had to negotiate the complexities of public liability insurance and risk assessments. Kate worked closely with fellow MCA members, SWT partners and representatives from SMDC and Your Housing to ensure everything was ready to go for early April 2026. Immediate neighbours were kept informed of progress by individual letters and site specific signs designed to ensure the local community would be informed about the work being undertaken and to encourage their participation.

The plants arrived just after Easter and a small army of stalwart volunteers, together with SWT workers, worked hard to plant the 1500 plugs within a few days. Successful negotiations with Highways and the mowing contractors meant that the “Don’t mow, let me grow” signs were observed and the verges are now resplendent with the existing  dandelions, daisies and cuckoo flowers, while the new plug plants establish themselves.

Another site associated with MCA through member representation, is Cecilly Brook LNR in Cheadle. Again, the focus was on finalising the Management Plan. For this site, the local volunteer group wants to enhance the wildflower meadows as well as encourage willow tits to establish a stronghold by creating a wetland area through digging small scrapes. During early 2026, yellow rattle seed was sown in the meadow area and bramble removed and cut back.

Read more: Nature in Your Neighbourhood News

Following the news of our planned Pond Survey, we're happy to be able to launch the preliminary survey. The full survey will be launched later this year but for now we are inviting MCA followers to help plot the location of nearby ponds by completing the form below, using what3words to identify the location of each pond.

This initial survey also contains questions about the size, nature and setting of each pond. If you would like to record more than one pond, please fill in a separate Survey Form for each.  We aim to reveal the results of this preliminary survey at our HuG Green Arts Festival in late June.

If you would like to take part in the full survey investigating the wildlife that lives in and around the pond, please include your email below in the initial survey and we’ll contact you later in the summer.

Thank you for volunteering your time! 

SURVEY FORM

MCA is focusing on all things water this year and as part of that effort we are launching the first ever Moorlands Pond Map. Ponds are a vital part of the natural ecosystem but they are often overlooked. The map – based on a survey - will help restore ponds to their rightful place. The full survey will be launched shortly but for now we are inviting MCA followers to plot the location of nearby ponds by using what3words and then send the link to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  

These ponds could be in your garden, at your school or college, at your place of work, in your local park or field or on your allotment. The map will then be available on MCA's website and displayed at the HuG Moorlands Green Arts Festival on Saturday 27 June at the Foxlowe.   

We will also be gathering data on the wildlife that lives in and around the mapped ponds.  Precise details of how this will be done will be firmed up shortly but it’s likely that we will employ the easy-to-use iNaturalist phone app. This would ensure that verified wildlife sightings can be logged to the Staffordshire Ecological Record, the map and database that serves the backbone of all decisions on nature recovery and planning in the county.

Most of all, though, we hope that the Pond Map project will be a fun way of  reconnecting people with one more vital element of our natural treasures.