Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Summer update

The summer is well and truly here and we are now starting to see the fruits of all the labour through the winter and spring. In the first part of this update we will look at the rewards of the work we have been doing with the money from SITA Trust.

• The large pond we built at Dogley the Kirklees Council nature reserve has gone from being a 'mud pie' to a full pond that will greatly enhance the biodiversity of the site and the adjoining beck.

• The greatest fun has been in going back to see the areas where I have been restoring the grassland in the Southern Washlands Nature Corridor between Stanley and Heath east of Wakefield. All the tree and scrub clearance has started to show great returns with flushes of orchids and yellow rattle popping up on what last winter was pioneer woodland.

• It is always a great comfort in this business to see that any damage caused to a site was indeed justified and that practical management was the right option to take. The result here, has been the return of some balance to the site as grassland reappears along with its characteristic flora.

Please do come down to the site and experience this very unique site owned by Wakefield Council. We have been transforming the site as part of our Living Landscapes programme by creating way marked routes funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, interpretation panels thanks to Natural England funding and habitat restoration over 2 years through SITA Trust funding. The Matthews Foods part of the Thornhill Wetlands has had a make over including new ponds funded by SITA Trust which have largely filled up and vegetated over and have already had breeding frogs and damselflies.

"I am sure frogs can fly, as they arrive instantly the minute I build a pond, even if there are no other ponds for miles."