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Secret garden is a hidden gem

by Emilene Coventry
2/ 7/2008

NATURE lovers are needed to tend a secret wildlife garden tucked away off an Ashton main road.

Just yards from the busy Oldham Road, the garden on Oaken Clough Terrace is a peaceful haven of mature oak trees, wild flowers and animal and bird life.

It was left to the Medlock and Tame Valley Conservation Association by conservationist Mildred Burlinson, who died in April.

She bought the house around 18 years ago because of its several acres of garden so that she could transform it into the wildlife haven it is today.

Chris Leah has been doing his best to maintain the leafy retreat but needs volunteers to help beat the brambles.

"It all needs maintaining so it doesn’t get overrun," he said."I try and do as much as I can but we need more people."

Mrs Burlinson created the garden as a series of different habitats.

There is a stream, ponds, a bog garden, wildflower meadow, beehives and a bramble and nettle patch. Piles of brushwood provide a habitat for hedgehogs and insects, as well as nesting material for birds.

Designated a site of biological importance, the garden is home to the rare stag beetle and great crested newt, as well as foxes and wrens and native butterflies the holly blue, brimstone and purple hairstreak.

Chris said: "It’s like a paradise. It’s brilliant to have somewhere that’s just for wildlife such a short way from the town centre. Mildred reckoned she even saw a badger here once."

Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Chris on 07931 952037.

Or go to the next meeting of the conservation association at 5 Oakenclough Terrace on 16 July at 7pm, when Paul Lythgoe from Oldham Beekeepers’ Association will give a talk.