We are very sorry to say that we have decided to postpone our Family Day planned for this coming Sunday.
It must be a busy weekend as we have had very few people booking places. As the event takes a lot of preparation and organisation it seems sensible to postpone it.
We are sorry to disappoint those that have booked and we hope to welcome you to another EKWT family event in the Autumn.
Everyone is of course most welcome to visit Ox Close Wood and our other nature reserves at any time.
This event was very well attended and the children enjoyed making models of dragonflies, pond dipping, observing moths and drawing their own wildlife pictures.
We will be meeting at the woodstore in Elliker Wood at 10.30am. The entrance to Elliker is next to 21, The Paddock, East Keswick.
Activities will include making a dragonfly, looking at the wonderful world of moths, pond dipping and butterfly and wild flower identification. We expect to finish by 1pm. Please bring a drink and a snack.
Booking is required – please send an email with details of your party to info@ekwt.org.uk
We hope to see you there!
The weather was lovely and we had 25 people who came to see the spectacular spring flowers on the annual bluebell walk.
Wetherby U3A wildlife group visited Ox Close at the end of April. They were treated to the spring flowers and learnt about the management work undertaken in the wood.
Come and enjoy the beautiful bluebells in Ox Close Wood.
Meet at Crabtree Lane car park at 7pm.
All welcome.
We had a great family work party last Sunday and even had some sunshine after a rainy start. We planted over 200 hazel saplings in the newly coppiced areas which will be a source of early pollen and provide cover.
It was lovely to see such a range of ages working together and we’d like to thank everyone who joined us.
Please join us for a BBQ, to plant trees and join in the children’s events.
We will be planting a variety of trees into our newly coppiced area in Elliker Wood.
Please bring a spade if you have one and food for the barbecue.
The entrance to Elliker Wood is next to 21 The Paddock, in East Keswick.
Hope to see you there.
We have completed the French drain down Fitts Lane. Work on the drain had to be extended by difficulties in sourcing hardcore and by periods of wet weather which meant that it was impossible to transport any hardcore down the lane to fill the ditch.
The photo shows the last tonne of nearly 100 tonnes of limestone hardcore being tipped into the drain; covering the drainage pipe.
The drain feeds into a pond which we hope will be a habitat for aquatic plants and animals.
The drain itself is fed by a number of small springs from the field above. This ground water is relatively warm (the basis for ground source heat pumps for central heating) and it was noticeable that during recent freezing conditions the pond was frozen only around its edges!
This weekend we were joined by Ann and Robert from the Yorkshire Mammal Group to lay 50 humane mammal traps in Bardsey Field. We laid the traps on Saturday afternoon, making sure that any mammals caught had a cosy bed for the night and plenty of food. We then returned on Sunday morning to empty the traps, record and weigh the mammals and then release them safely. The weather was glorious and the event was very well attended. It was lovely to see the children lay the traps and then return the following day, remembering exactly where they were and so excited to see what was inside.
We recorded 1 common shrew, 1 field vole, 1 bank vole and 18 wood mice.
