On a bright autumn morning, I joined our Harrogate Supporter Volunteer Group at Staveley Nature Reserve. As the volunteers gathered, today’s task leader Matt Cross (North Central Reserves Officer) explained that at 82 hectares, the reserve is the Trust’s third largest. It’s cared for by the 60 volunteers who are part of the Harrogate Volunteer Supporters Group, formed 15 years ago. 

Volunteer co-ordinators and task day leaders Rachel Green and Andrew Dodd (who’ve been part of the team since day one) keep everyone in the loop with emails about the Tuesday and Thursday task days. That is when the group heads out to lend a hand at some of Matt’s beautiful reserves, like Bishop Monkton Railway Cutting, Burton Leonard Lime Quarries, Ripon City Wetland, Upper Dunsforth Carrs and Staveley. 

The group take on a wide variety of tasks depending on the reserve and the time of year. Today, eight volunteers were helping to herd two Belted Galloway cattle and then finish raking the reserve’s wildflower meadows. Below is a photo of some of the Harrogate Supporter Team volunteers with two of the volunteers spotting a frog at their feet!

Before we set off, Matt gave us a site health and safety briefing and introduced Trust staff members Karen McDiarmid and James Saxon from the Conservation Grazing Team. Karen briefed us on the Belted Galloways, stressing that they were calm animals, but big ones! She explained that after a summer at Staveley, grazing as part of the reserve's management plan to maintain diverse habitats, the cattle were heading to Spurn National Nature Reserve. Over winter, they would help control coarse grasses and invasive sea buckthorn there.

As we searched for the cattle, Matt explained that they wore smart collars, allowing fencing to be removed while still controlling where grazing occurred. We soon found them grazing at the far end of one of the reserve’s large meadows. Then we put Karen’s plan into action: while she shook a bucket of treats to encourage the cattle forward, we formed a line across the field and walked slowly behind them. This worked perfectly, and they were soon safely in a pen, ready for their transport to Spurn.

With task one complete, we collected our tools and moved on to meadow raking. As we crossed the reserve, we were watched by the Trust’s Hebridean sheep, also doing their part in vegetation management.

When we reached the meadow, flasks were unpacked and coffee poured before work began. Matt explained that raking and removing cut grass from a wildflower meadow is essential to keep soil nutrients low, conditions that wildflowers love. He added that the reserve is particularly noted for its dragonflies, being at the northern and southern limits for several species. It’s also home to bitterns, short-eared owls, otters, and many butterflies and dragonflies (including wonderfully named Willow Emerald Damselfly and Hairy Dragonfly), as well as occasional visitors like the recent Caspian Tern.

Brad, who has been volunteering with the Supporters group for 2 years, said he enjoyed working on all the reserves, but that that Staveley was perhaps his favourite. It was just lovely to sit somewhere on site and just listen to what was there. Barry, who had also been volunteering for 2 years agreed, adding that you can hear birds and insects and nothingness.

The group then set to work raking and the meadow was cleared surprisingly quickly, thanks to all the volunteers’ experience. This was the final day of several weeks of mowing, raking, and stacking. It was hard work, but there were plenty of smiles.

Barry showed me how the grass was raked into lines, rolled into bundles with a fork, and carried to the edge of the meadow. Pausing her raking for a moment, Wendy said that in the ten years she had been volunteering, the group had made a real difference — one example being the successful control of Himalayan balsam.

It was wonderful to see how our Harrogate Supporters Group bring their passion to volunteering. As I walked back across the reserve, I reflected that to make a wild place flourish, it takes people who care enough to lend a hand. If you’d like to get involved in a volunteering task day near you then please take a look at our latest Practical Conservation Calendar with hundreds of tasks days happening across Yorkshire.