Mid Aire Otters & Rivers
Project Officer: Don Vine
In July 2008 the Trust secured over £115k funding through the SITA Trust for a brand new conservation project in the Aire Valley of West Yorkshire which will run for the next 3 years.
The Mid Aire Otters & River Project was created to carry out otter and river based habitat enhancement and creation works on 5 sites along the middle stretch of the River Aire and canal corridor between Bingley in Bradford and Kirkstall in Leeds. The Project connects a stretch of the River Aire between the cities of Leeds and Bradford and runs through a landscape of old industrial sites, rural communities and more urban centres. However, significant stretches of the river are still bounded by farmland and woodland and therefore still supports a variety of wildlife including an active otter population.
In order to enhance and protect this section of river this project aims to focus work on 5 sites to create a chain of safe and secure habitats which will improve wildlife connections and strengthen the ecological network along the river and canal corridor. Appointed sites will include wetland, meadow and woodland such as Ryeloaf Meadows at Dowley Gap near Bingley a noted otter ‘hotspot’ and currently owned and managed by Bradford District Metropolitan Council, contained in a loop by the river with wet woodland and rough meadow. Plans here are to dig out flood channels and scrapes to improve the site for otter and wading birds and create new nesting sites for wildlife as diverse as sandmartin, barn owl, and various bat species.
Other sites include Buck Mills lying between the canal and river at Thackley near Bradford, where the main issues are water course maintenance and control of Himalayan balsam and Japanese Knotweed, both invasive non native plant species smothering bank sides and clogging water channels all over the country. In Leeds the project will include work on our own reserve at Kirkstall Valley and with our partners at Rodley Nature Reserve, a privately managed wetland site located some 5 miles from Leeds City centre. Formerly a Yorkshire Water water treatment site Rodley is now a mosaic of habitats, including reedbed, wildfowl lagoon, wet meadow, willow coppice and dragon fly ponds. The Project will help to create further wetland here through excavation and water level management and in addition extend the biodiversity value of the site through construction of an otter platform and holt and installation of nest boxes.
In order to create lasting benefits a project officer has been engaged who will help to deliver practical work on the ground alongside community groups and local volunteers, including some of our corporate members located in and around Leeds and Bradford. In addition support has been sought from the project partners including Bradford Motor Education Project, Friends of Denso Marston Nature Reserve, Friends of Buck Wood, Bradford Council Countryside and Rights of Way, British Waterways and Leeds City Council who will also help to deliver both practical and community aspects of the scheme.
An intrinsic part of the project will be surveying and ongoing monitoring of species and habitats. Although utilising existing professional surveys, to maintain up to date information and current data across the project area, volunteers will be trained on survey techniques.
