AN appeal went out to try to solve the problem of the incredible shrinking island back in 1992.

Six years previously, a 50-metre long artificial island had been created in the middle of Doffcocker Lodge. Designated a local nature reserve by Bolton Council, the island had played a key part in the area’s success in attracting wildlife.

But so many birds had nested on the island that its edges were crumbling away and it was getting smaller.

Bolton Conservation Volunteers had organised a major operation to stop the island from shrinking further.

“We intend to ppant marginal species such as flag iris and soft rush round the edges to stabilise the soil,” said volunteers ‘leader Rick Parker.

“The erosion has been made worse by humans who swim out to the island during the hot weather. There is no danger of the island disappearing but it is wearing away fast.”

Other schemes planned by the volunteers included improving the habitat around the marshy end of the lodge to attract snipe to the area.

Originally built as a lodge for a long-demolished mill in 1874, Doffcocker Lodge became Bolton’s first nature reserve in 1992