Strenuous Leader : Malcolm Distance : 10 miles
Lucky dip on today’s walk. We’ve got a map and some rough ideas!! We will cover parts of the Delamere Way and Sandstone Trail.
Moderate Leader: David Distance : 7 miles
We start off walking through part of the forest and then go through Primrosehill Wood of broad-leaved trees and conifers and then open countryside and farmland before coming back to forest trails. The walk is undulating with no really steep bits. Mostly good underfoot but some short sections might be muddy and slippery and very few stiles. Towards the end of the walk we may go up into Pale Heights where there are great views if the weather is good.
Easy Leader: Peter Distance: Approx. 5 miles
We will do a circular walk of Delamere Forest on cycle tracks starting and ending at the Visitors Centre. The paths are all good and should be free of mud whatever the weather.
NOTES ON THE AREA
Delamere Forest is the largest area of woodland in Cheshire, covering in excess of 1,300 acres. The name is derived from the French ‘de la mere’ and refers to the meres and moss lands in the area. These resulted from the massive ice sheet which once covered the countryside in the county. Ten thousand years ago the retreating glaciers left enormous blocks of ice behind which gradually melted to create deep hollows, which over the intervening centuries, developed into the area’s famous wetlands.
Delamere today is all that remains of the great Norman hunting forests of Mara and Murdrum which stretched from the Mersey in the north to Nantwich in the south. At the heart of the forest lies the deep hollow of Blakemere Moss, an ancient wetland drained by French prisoners-of-war during the Napoleonic Wars. Trees have been grown there ever since. It remained as a royal hunting ground until the reign of Charles 1 in the seventeenth century. During his years on the throne all the remaining deer were culled, and, in later years, the great oaks were used for the building of warships. In the mid-nineteenth century the area was replanted but the seed proved to be of inferior quality and little growth took place.
After the First World War the area was taken over by the Forestry Commission and coniferous species were planted to maximise timber production. These included Scots and Corsican Pines, Larch and Western Hemlock. In more recent years, in accordance with changing policy, the forest has been developed as a recreational facility which has resulted in the planting of more broad-leaved species, the provision of car parks, picnic areas, a visitor centre and forest trails and is a wonderful place to bring children so that they can run and let off steam. There is also a Go Ape facility.
The forest provides a habitat for birds, including the greater spotted woodpecker, the green woodpecker, nuthatches and tree creepers. In winter crossbills and siskins prise the seeds from the pinecones. In summer dragonflies and damsel flies are widespread around the marshy pools and the floor is carpeted with bluebells in Spring. The area is also well blessed with small mammals which attract the attention of the tawny owls and other raptors, while the grey squirrel is everywhere. The flora includes species of ferns including the shield fern and bracken.
Two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) lie within Delamere Forest, Black Lake is an example of the rare quaking bog, a type of bog in which bog vegetation forms a raft which floats on top of water. The site is particularly notable for including the very earliest stages in quaking bog development from open water to consolidated helped by the colonisation of Scots pine. The second, Linmer Moss is unusual within Delamere Forest in having a fen environment the vegetation is tussock sedge and reedmace. Marsh fern and white sedge, which are rare in Cheshire, are found here. The site has experienced rapid changes in water levels during its history and contains the trunks of birch trees which died when the area flooded. It is now being colonised by alder and willow.
This year’s Forestry Commission event for lighting the forest for Christmas runs from 25th November until 31st December 2022 and can be booked online for the selected evenings.