Encouraging a biodiverse parish
It’s No Mow May! Plantlife’s #NoMowMay is back this year.
It’s a great chance to save some money, create a feast for pollinators, tackle pollution, reduce urban heat extremes, and lock away atmospheric carbon below ground.
If you want to commit be sure to sign up to Plantlife’s initiative and register your participation.
You can also see how many people across the UK have comitted to No Mow May on this interactive map!
The Yorkshire Rewilding Network is running its Summer Site Visits for a third year, and it’s a very varied and exciting programme. The rewilding sites vary from wetlands to wildflower meadows, beaver ponds and country estates to community projects and urban gardens.
This year the visits run from April to September. The next two are:
To view the whole YRN programme on Eventbrite and to book please click here
The Wildife Society covers a recent paper in Scientific Reports where researchers found that spending time in places with a diverse range of natural features and species is associated with stronger improvements in our mental wellbeing compared to places with less diversity.
We definitely agree with this conclusion, before we even heard about this paticular study!
We were delighted with the success of our event on the 6 th April at the Molescroft Pavilion. 150 people showed up supported by 20 volunteers. There were nine stalls and activities, and five talks. Several hedgehog winter nests were built by Grant and Andy with the help of visitors. We will use these on our sites and donate to local schools. Many new volunteers came forward to join our group.
Ann from The Wolds Hedgehog Rescue Centre was our key speaker, explaining how to care fo hedgehogs, and over £300 was made on their stall. Jo from #TeamWilder told us all about wildlife gardening, and one of our volunteers, Nigel, enchanted everyone with his magnificent home-reared Emperor moths. Lucy from NEYEDC (North East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre) taught visitors how to use iNaturalist to record local wildlife, and plotted hedgehog sightings in Molescroft. Anthony from Smile Foundation Green and Blue Social Prescribing explained the role of nature in improving
everyone’s mental and physical health.
We are especially grateful to the Hey Smile Foundation and East Riding Council for their Communit Action Grant which made this event and our publicity leaflets possible. Thanks too to the team from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust who designed the leaflets and to the many volunteers who helped deliver these across Molescroft, including the Beverley Wombles.
A huge thankyou from us, to all our volunteers, speakers, and especially all of those who came to the event, we can’t wait to see you again for another event in 2025!
MWN have set up a number of projects on iNaturalist to help us monitor biodiversity across the parish, and at some of our sites of special interest. If you are an iNaturalist user your observations in the area will automatically fall under these projects, but we’d welcome active participants to join the groups!
The Forestry England Podcast has 6 episodes up now, concluding the first series.
Each week, host Bex Lindsay visits a different Forestry England site to discover the hidden joys and wonders of wild spaces. From arts to history, wellbeing to wildlife, she’s on a quest to learn more about the nation’s forests and the people who spend time in them.
The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust have just published their 2024 “Wild Events Guide” that runs from April through to September this year.
Brimming and buzzing with exciting places to explore across Yorkshire and stunning wildlife to discover with the YWT team. Find glimmering glow worms in Leeds, enjoy the soothing sounds of the dawn chorus in Doncaster or meet Flamborough’s colourful puffins.
Download the guide from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
Molescroft Wildlife Network has had a busy few months. Thanks to a Community Action Grant from East Riding Council & HEY Smile Foundation we:
The funding received from Molescroft Parish Council has enabled 2 Ecological Recovery Management plans to be commissioned. Recommendations are being drawn up by:
Thank you to Molescroft Parish Council, St Mary’s Church and ERYC for their support with these.
It has been remarkable how friendly and supportive individuals and organisations have been, it’s inspiring, thank you.
The Wildlife Trusts want to hear your opinions on some of the biggest questions surrounding nature and our collective role in caring for it.
The Wildlife Trusts are running this survey to find out what people in the UK really think about nature and how we, as a society, should protect it. Results also help The Wildlife Trusts to hold the government to account over its environmental policies and priorities.
Please take the time to fill in the survey!
You can now watch the Yorkshire Rewilding Network’s panel discussion featuring Karyn from MWN on Youtube! Or rewatch it if you want to enjoy it again!