Thank you to everyone who took part in the children’s wildlife art competition at East Keswick Art Show at the weekend. It is always difficult to pick winners, as all of the entries were lovely and showed that a lot of thought had gone into them. We have however made a decision for the two age categories and the winners are Zoe and Verity.
Once again the Wildlife Trust have kindly been invited to the East Keswick Art Show. We will have a stand and will be sharing information on our recent conservation projects and our plans for the future.
There will be a children’s wildlife art competition and the opportunity to buy our 2027 calendar which features paintings by a local artist.
Coppicing is one of the oldest forms of wood management in the UK. Trees are cut down to their stumps, which are known as stools, to encourage new shoots to grow. The stools are cut in rotation and so the different areas of regrowth provide a wide range of habitats. Coppicing provides a renewable source of wood and the cycle can carry on indefinitely.
In Ox Close Wood, the hazel has been coppiced by Leeds Coppice Workers and the stools now need to be protected to prevent deer from eating the new shoots. This project has been led by two of our volunteers Nick and Lin. Stakes have been placed around the stools and cages made from brash placed around them. They have been assisted by Open Country, Leeds Wealth Fund volunteers and our Friday volunteer team.
Come and enjoy the annual bluebell spectacular in Ox Close Wood. Meet at the Crabtree Lane car park at 7pm.
All ages are welcome. Please meet at the Elliker nature reserve in East Keswick at 10.30am. The entrance is between numbers 21 and 23 The Paddock. Bring gloves, a drink and a snack.
Calling all nature detectives! For children there will be a scavenger hunt and owl workshop to participate in.
For older children and adults we will be be laying a floor in one of our storage containers and making guards to protect our trees.
Our first weekend work party got off to a great start with approximately 40 adults and children attending. The children initially learnt about the Yellow Fish campaign, that only water should go down the drain, as in our village the drains lead directly into the beck. They then made harvest mice homes out of used tennis balls and placed them on stakes around East Keswick Marsh. Other members of the work party tackled the snowberry which has become an invasive species in the marsh.
We collect seeds from our reserves in the parish, plant them and grow them in our nursery. Here our volunteers are planting on the wildflower seedlings to prepare them for planting out at a future date.
Our Friday volunteers continue to support the work being done in the Climate Change Garden at East Keswick Village Hall.
You are most welcome to join us for our winter bird survey. Meet outside St Mary’s Church, Moor Lane, East Keswick on Sunday 22nd February at 10am.
Wear warm clothing!
If you have binoculars, please bring them with you. We’ll stop for a short coffee break but if you wish to continue into the afternoon, please also bring a drink and packed lunch. We will be walking around the village, through the Marsh and then along Moor Lane and down to the river. There’s no need to stay for the whole session, you can join us for as long as you like.
It’s a good year for berries so we should see plenty of Fieldfares and Redwings that have been coming over from Scandinavia.
