We will be meeting at the entrance to St Mary Magdalene Church, Moor Lane, East Keswick at 10.00am. You are welcome to come and go throughout the day, please bring snacks and lunch, also binoculars if you have them. From the Church we will be walking through the Marsh, then along Moor Lane to the cricket field. We will then cross Harewood Road and walk down to the river, back up Fitts Lane and into the village. If time allows we may also include Ox Close Wood.
Once widespread, this plant is now very rare with over 99% of its population found on just 5 sites in the United Kingdom. The plant is small and can be inconspicuous except when it flowers in Spring around Easter time, hence the name Pasque flower, Pulsatilla Vulgaris.
The Pasque flower was thought to be lost in Yorkshire, until in 1984 a single plant was discovered in a heavily grazed grassland near Leeds. English Nature took over the lease of the site and work was done to increase the population, but this was unsuccessful, and the viability of the plants seed questioned.
How East Keswick Wildlife Trust became involved
In 2016 East Keswick Wildlife Trust were contacted by a senior officer from Natural England who suggested that we take on the project to help save the plant from extinction in Yorkshire. He knew of East Keswick Wildlife Trust’s successful conservation projects and developing expertise and success in germinating uncommon native wild plant species.
The Trust initially took 2 seeds from the plant and proved their viability by propagating 2 healthy plants which were then protected and kept safe in East Keswick. In 2019, East Keswick Wildlife Trust put together a project team and applied for a 5-year license from Natural England to secure the Pasque flower’s future in Yorkshire. The license was approved, and seed collected, with some deposited at the Millenium seed bank at Kew.
A resounding success
We continue to nurture more seedlings with a view to plug planting them in the future and consider this project to be a resounding success.
Please follow the link below to watch a short film by the Natural History Museum about this lovely flower
We use Dexter cows to conservation graze on our reserves. Dexter cows are a small very hardy breed that are very efficient grazers.
Advantages of this type of grazing are:
We have recently welcomed two Brownie packs to spend an evening in the Ellikers and learn more about our local reserve. Last Wednesday the East Keswick and Bardsey Brownies joined us and on Thursday the Brownies from Moor Allerton came to visit. Volunteers from the Trust explained about the Yellow Fish Campaign and all the Brownies now know that it is ‘only rain down the drain’. We also helped the Brownies identify wildflowers and butterflies, while finding out more about the birds and other creatures that live in the Ellikers.
The Bradford Botany Group held a field meeting in Ox Close Wood in early May to see and record the spring flora.
Meet in the Crabtree Lane car park on Wednesday 4th May at 7.00pm for a walk around Ox Close Woods, all welcome.
Volunteers from the Trust recently joined with members of the Yorkshire Dales River Trust to plant trees alongside Keswick Beck. It was lovely to have so many volunteers of all ages taking part and learning more about the River Trust and their natural flood management plans.
After initially being cancelled due to bad weather, the winter bird survey took place on Sunday 27th February on a gloriously sunny day. A total of 38 bird species were recorded along with Roe deer, rabbit and fox.
Birds recorded:
Blue Tit, Blackbird, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Coot, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Lapwing, Nuthatch, Redwing, Robin, Red Kite, Rook, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon, Wren.
The family hedge and woodland tree planting days in January at the Fitts Lane reserve had a great turnout, particularly on the Sunday, when approximately 30 people of all ages were there.
A big thank you to everyone who came to help and planted hedgerows that will be a haven for wildlife for years to come!