Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s newest Doncaster nature reserve is set to provide huge benefits for rare and declining wildlife, including turtle doves, yellowhammer and newts, thanks to generous grants from FCC Communities Foundation and LNER Community Investment Fund.

Covering 104 hectares, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust have been transforming the land to the west of the iPort into a mixture of wetland, grassland and woodland mosaic. The new habitats at Parson’s Carr nature reserve have also been carefully chosen so that they are in keeping with the surrounding arable landscape.

Generous funding from the FCC Communities Foundation has helped the Trust to purchase native breed highland cattle, and install fencing and associated infrastructure, to allow conservation grazing at the site. Conservation grazing is a traditional form of land management, and the way that cattle browse and move for the landscape creates lots of different grass heights and bare patches perfect for encouraging a huge range of different species. In time, the grassland at Parson’s Carr with be blooming with wildflowers like spotted orchids, bursting with butterflies, and buzzing with birdlife, such as lapwings and curlews.

FCC Communities Foundation is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community projects through the Landfill Communities Fund.

Cheryl Raynor, FCC Community Foundations grant manager says: “We are delighted to have worked with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to support this exciting and important project. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard on bring it to fruition.”

Further funding from the LNER Community Investment Fund has enabled the creation of three new dew ponds, traditional features of the agricultural landscape. These will attract wildlife like great-crested newts and dragonflies, and increase the diversity of the wetland habitat on-site for rare species like turtle doves that rely on it to breed. Ex-arable areas of the reserve have been seeded with flower mixes to create cover for farmland birds such as yellowhammer to nest and breed, and 650m of native hedgerow has also been planted to increase shelter on site for small mammals and birds.

Sophie Pinder, Nature Reserves Officer for South Yorkshire, said, “Parson’s Carr is a vitally important new addition to Doncaster’s green wildlife spaces. Creating a large extension to nearby Potteric Carr nature reserve, one of our flagship reserves for Yorkshire, the site will create a much greater space for wildlife and its close connection to such an established reserve should mean a much broader diversity of species.

“We also hope this additional space will provide a valuable outdoor area for local people to enjoy – interpretation panels have been installed around the site to help people discover what wildlife they can spot, as well as benches to sit and wildlife-watch.

“Please do respect the new fencing boundaries on the reserve and around the old fishing ponds – these have been put in to help wildlife flourish undisturbed, and to keep our grazing cattle safe. We hope the residents of Doncaster will love this reserve as much as we do.”

Part of the funding from LNER has also helped the Trust to improve the visitor experience on site by installing a number of benches for visitors to relax and enjoy their wild surroundings, and interpretation panels to highlight the very best of the wildlife at Parson’s Carr. With surfaced paths circling the reserve, visitors can enjoy an hour or so amongst the grassland flowers – and extend their walk to neighbouring Potteric Carr should they wish.

If you would like to help the Trust look after Parson’s Carr, there are a range of different volunteer opportunities available – from checking on the roaming livestock herd to practical conservation days on-site.  Our thanks go to the individuals who so kindly provided the third-party contribution to make our FCC application possible.