VISITORS to a Bolton beauty spot will be able to enjoy the wildlife more easily thanks to a major improvement scheme.

Walkers can now stroll all the way round Doffcocker Lodge thanks to the creation of a new track leading from Marsh Fold Lane to the Causeway.

And workers recently spent six weeks improving the pathways around the lodge in order to give better access for disabled people and parents with young children.

More than 500 metres of paths have been resurfaced, drainage improved and pathways strengthened with edging boards to make them safer.

Wheelchair users also face a less hair raising journey around the lodge now the gradient of one of the existing paths has been reduced.

Flora and fauna have also benefited from the improvements with invasive Himalayan Balsam and other vegetation cut back to allow young trees to survive.

Members of the Friends of Doffcocker Lodge have raised £5,100 to go towards the improvements.

Group member Ken Dixon said: "It's a paradise in an urban area."

More than 200 new oak, alder and hawthorn trees have been planted in order to produce a greater variety of habitats for wildlife.

Bolton nature experts are hoping to encourage a greater variety of wetland birds to make their home at the lodge by introducing a willow coppicing programme which will allow the common reed to grow.

The reeds are an ideal habitat for the birds, which include sedge warblers, reed warblers and water rails.

At this time of year, nature lovers also look forward to the arrival of winter migrants from the Arctic Tundra such as Snipe.

And following the success of Wigan Flash in getting the Common Tern to breed there conservationists are hoping to repeat the exercise at Doffcocker.

Until recently the birds would not breed inland but workers at Doffcocker are hoping to increase the numbers reproducing with the creation of an island and breeding mats laid out with gravel.

Bolton Council cabinet member for culture Cllr John Byrne said: "This is the only nature reserve in Bolton. It's nice we can keep it maintained as a little oasis in Bolton." Much of the improvement work, a joint project between Bolton's leisure services, Bolton Countryside Service and Bolton Wildlife Project, was carried out by Bolton Wise.

The contractors are a training agency specialising in working with the long term unemployed and those working on the Doffcocker project used the experience to work towards NVQs in Landscape or Practical Conservation Skills.