Wildlife trail

In 2018, The Mersey Forest secured a Tesco Bags of Help grant for the Ranger Service which has enabled the creation of three brand new trails for Risley Moss Local Nature Reserve.

Orienteering

Thanks to the Tesco Bags of Help grant we've been able to renew and update the old orienteering course. 

If you fancy having a go at our redesigned orienteering course, you'll take a map and an answer card from inside the Risley Moss Visitor Centre. Once you've got your map, follow the trail and look for the orienteering posts. You'll find the locations on your map; then you'll need to copy the letter and the symbol shown on the red and white square onto your answer card for each post you find.

Risley Moss Wildlife trail

Our new Wildlife Trail focuses on over 20 species of flora and fauna found on the reserve. It has a separate map to the orienteering trail, and it's also available inside the visitor centre which like the orienteering map, shows the location of the wildlife posts. 

Fill in the crossword on the reverse of the map when you have worked out where to put your answers.

Access the wildlife information via NFC technology

The rangers have worked with Birchwood's three local primary schools to record voiceovers for our wildlife trail videos. We've used NFC technology to store all these wildlife trail videos so that you can watch them as you're traversing the trail! 

To access the information while you're on the trail, make sure you enable NFC on your phone. Once you've done this, touch your phone to the NFC tag on the wildlife post and the information will open up on your phone. Make sure you have your internet switched on!

The Boggarts and Friends trail 

Our Boggart and Friends trail is also new to Risley Moss Wildlife and Nature reserve. In case you didn't know, Boggarts are ancient mythical creatures said to inhabit peat bogs. The Risley Moss Boggart family are a series of chainsaw sculptures together with their wildlife friends dotted around the reserve.  

However, there's a problem. Mother Boggart has lost her three children and needs your help to find them! Grab a leaflet from the visitor centre to help you find your way around. Good luck!