ECOLOGY

Delamere prides itself on presenting one of Cheshire's finest golf challenges whilst preserving the nature  of the course its surroundings and wild life (flora and fauna) to the more discerning, by the use of as little pesticides and fertilisers as possible, yet enough to ensure that the course is presented in a manner acceptable to the members. The course features in the R&A web site as one of its exemplar courses. See  www.bestcourseforgolf.org

Wildlife.

Delamere is home to numerous birds both permanent and transient we know when the good weather is coming by the return of the swallows around the club house.

I shall make use of links to the RSPB web site for the information relating to birds seen around the golf course. If you as a bird watcher have seen any that I have missed please e-mail me jjmulder@ic24.net and I shall include them in the list.

The most obvious and apparent as he takes some missing is the biggest the Buzzard (Buteo buteo) there are numerous pairs residing in and in close proximity to the course. Another hunter is the Kestrel (Falco tinnuncullus) who can often be seen sitting in the Rowan by the 16th Tee. The last of the daylight hunters is the Sparrow Hawk (Accipiter nisus). In the evening after dark it is possible to see the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) and the Little Owl (Athene noctua) on cold dark nights on my rabbit forays they are  sometimes seen in the lamp light.

Around the clubhouse as many of you are aware are the Swallows (Hirundo rustica) and House Martins (Delicon urbica) that visit regularly and take such pleasure in decorating our cars and the club house windows. Regularly seen on the front of the clubhouse is the Pied wagtail (Moticilla alba) as they scurry about, they have nested under the bar window in past years. The Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) can be seen on the bridges over the stream mostly by the stewardess as she walks her dog early in the morning. We often have Ducks Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) on the stream and also at times of heavy rainfall on the newly formed pools of water. We have had a pair that for a few years,  have been seen walking their young through the course after hatching. On odd occasions we have Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis) and the odd Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) resting on the pond at the sixth hole before carrying on with their journeys..

Around the course we can see and hear the Skylarks (Alauda arvensis) scared from their nests, as we search for balls in the rough. We hear around us the beating of the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) and in the spring wait for that first call of the Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) always a first. We come again to the ponds at the 6th and 15th both homes to Moor hen (Galinula chloropus) and Coots (Fulica atra) and often seen flying over the Grey Heron (Ardea cineria) the bane of all pond lovers.

The Woodcock (Scolopacidae) is disturbed now and again as will be the Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) and other game birds, thanks to the gentleman up the lane, who fetches them in for sport and then never manages to shoot them. Numerous of the pigeon family are resident around the course mainly the Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) but also Collared Doves (Streptopelia decaocto) and even occasionally thoroughbred racing pigeons.

Nesting in the gorse which is now recovering nicely is the Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinela) and also around the course a host of the so called bad guys. The Magpie (Pica pica) and his cousin the Jay (Garrulus glandarius) the other members of the Crow family, The Crows (Corvidae) are guilty of pulling up huge sections of turf in their hunt for the chafer grubs to feed their families.

Increasingly we are getting increasing numbers of sea birds which we think are attracted by the large lakes in the quarries and also attracted by the insects from the turf .

Mother duck and eight chicks set off down the stream another of Anne's

photographs, another absent father. Can anyone tell what it is?
                                                                                              

The Course,

The following information is taken from the R&A best practice web site.

This delightful heathland course may only be 6359 yards in length,but it hosts many attractive and challenging holes to be played off tight indigenous turf, onto firm greens dominated by browntop bent grass. The push up greens benefit from the drainage qualities of the native sandy loam soil, which lies over sandstone bedrock. The course has not closed for years and the main greens remain in play throughout. This is achieved through the natural drainage being allowed to perform to its full potential by the implementation of a management programme aimed at promoting firm, dry turf. The consequence of this is fine textured turf and excellent year round playability.

Overseeding with browntop bent cultivars has been carried out in recent years each September, but the quality of the growing environment suggested potential success with fescues and this was achieved in 2004 and will continue in the years ahead.

The native heath land fescue and bent grasses dominate green surround and fairway turf. The colour of these grasses changes with the weather and the course takes a brown hue during prolonged periods of dryness. This gives the course its character and the amount of run on fairways and the type of shot to be played into greens, and off surrounds, will vary depending on the prevailing weather, tightness of the turf and firmness of the ground.

Below is a close up of the dry fairway turf which presents the golf ball for a clean strike. Note the Mottled fairway turf after dry weather and the heather - a combination of indigenous plants which makes for great golf and sustainable course management .

The following information is taken from the Course Policy document..

Delamere Forest Golf Club was founded in 1910 on Crown wasteland in Delamere, West Cheshire. The golf course lies in undulating heath land, the soil type being sandy loam. The indigenous trees are conifers, stunted oak and silver birch. The rough is predominantly made up of heath land grasses including bents, fescues, annual meadow grass and Yorkshire fog. Heather and gorse are a feature of the deeper rough, also reeds provide an unusual hazard in a few damp areas. The greens are of the original push up construction. They comprise a mixture of grass species including bent grasses (Agrostis spp), fescues (Festuca spp) and annual meadow grass (Poa annua).

 The weather patterns in West Cheshire provide an annual average of 35 inches of rain (figures for Little Budworth averaged over 7 years) with frequent frost and occasional snow through the winter. Springs, in recent years, have been poor and late resulting in slow pick-up of growth to greens.

This work will be continued as and when time allows.

As a recent new member of the RSPB I feel that if I can recruit a few new members all will benefit. Should you wish more information about the RSPB click the link on the left.

Copyright Delamere Forest Golf Club 2004

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Latest Update 25 August 2008