Pickmere's Unique Selling Points
Pickmere Telescope
Pickmere is proud to home to one of the seven astronomical radio telescopes that make up Jodrell Bank MERLIN (Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network), linking the observing stations distributed across Great Britain that together form a powerful telescope with an effective aperture of over 217 kilometers. The telescope is managed by the University of Manchester and operates at various frequency bands in the range 151 MHz to 24 GHz, it is a 25m diameter E-Systems telescope equipped with L, C and K band receivers and was first connected to MERLIN on the 20th July 1980.
Pickmere Ponds
Ponds are an integral part of Pickmere’s rural environment and one of the unique features of the Parish that need recognising and protecting.
In total (not including the lake) there are 129 ponds in the 4.21 km2 that make up the Parish. The ponds range in size from a few square meters to the larger ones (such as behind Crofters Close).
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Background
The Cheshire plain is known for its proliferation of ponds, which have been able to exist due to the heavy soils, which allow water to build up and create ponds.
Ponds are recognised as an important habitat specific to the Cheshire Plains and, as such, they are recognised as a unique and distinguishing feature of the Pickmere environs.
Ponds are also recognised as an important habitat that needs conserving and protecting.
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Why are Pickmere’s ponds important?
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They are a recognised feature of the Pickmere rural environment.
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The ponds support an immense number of plants and animals (particularly good for invertebrates like the damselfly, dragonflies and the protected lesser silver water beetle).
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Homes for amphibians including the protected great crested newt, common toad, smooth newt and palmate newt.
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Homes for mammals such as water voles.
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Bats skim the water in search of insects.
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Homes for birds, such as swans, moorhens and tufted ducks. These rely on ponds for feeding and nesting, while waders like lapwing, redshank and snipe probe the muddy margins for invertebrates (the area within a five mile radius of a pond is home to 152 species of birds).
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Fish such as three-spined stickleback can be found in some ponds (about 17% of ponds)
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Ponds provide stepping stones that link wildlife corridors and isolated patches of habitat, allowing species to move about freely.
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Pond issues
Recent research shows that 80% of wildlife ponds in the UK are in a ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ state and we have lost almost half a million ponds in the last century (Cheshire wildlife).
Ponds are being lost to urban development, land use change, agricultural drainage and in-filling.
Since 1890 Pickmere has lost 30 ponds (19% of its total ponds).
Many of Pickmeres ponds are in danger of being lost if developmnent takes place and they are not conserved.
References: Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Sufflok Wildlife Trust, World Wildlife Trust