Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Winter update

The winter has seen large scale habitat works on both the SITA Trust funded habitat creation and the Heritage Lottery funded access improvements.

• At Cromwell Bottom, the Your Heritage funding has paid one of our partners, Calderdale council to install 300m of disabled access and special kissing gates to enable people to come and visit the great site more easily.

• We have also been working on otter and water vole fact sheets and walks leaflets using the Your Heritage funding to help local people learn and engage with their local natural heritage. The leaflets will be available as downloads shortly. As it warms up you can take advantage of the new colour waymarked routes around the Southern Washlands Nature Corridor.

• At Matthews Foods volunteers from the Huddersfield Bird Group and Kirklees Friends of the Environment have adopted the site making use of the willow fedge to bird watch and building and putting up numerous bird boxes which is fantastic to see the site being looked after like this.

• Meanwhile the SITA Trust funding has paid for the restructuring and replanting of the riparian woodland at Colnebridge/Dalton Bank.

• At Thornhill Wetlands we have been building new scrapes and ponds to enhance the wetland in front of the fedge, as well as pollarding and ring barking willows to create some variety and structure. We even reinstated a section of culverted stream that ran through the middle of one of the sites.  Elsewhere on the site we have been coppicing hazel, on a near vertical slope which has been interesting but will be rewarding.

Southern Washlands Nature Corridor has been continuing to receive our attention in restoring the grassland by cutting back scrub and tree regeneration and the work is really starting to show dividends. There will also be more events this spring and summer that will help you to come and see the work we have done.

 "Using a willow fedge is a great way to bird watch!"