News

Humber Forest and East Riding of Yorkshire Council are marking National Tree Week (November 23 – December 1) with a series of activities across the region.

East Riding Libraries are hosting ‘Tree Parties’ featuring woodland-themed activities. North Bridlington Library will offer Woodland Friends Duplo Storytimes and Marvellous Microscopy sessions, while both North Bridlington and Hedon Libraries will hold woodland-themed Lego Art sessions. No booking is required for these events.

During the week, Humber Forest will plant over 4,000 trees at sites in Cottingham, Arram, and North Newbald. The initiative, supported by Defra’s Nature for Climate Fund, is part of the community forest network covering Hull, East Yorkshire, and North Lincolnshire.

The organization provides grants covering up to 100% of planting costs and five years maintenance for farmers, landowners, businesses, and communities interested in planting trees or hedgerows. Volunteers carry out the planting work, with many reporting benefits to their physical and mental health.

“At a time when our climate is truly in crisis, it is really helpful to be able to feel I am doing something to help,” says Gillian Darton, a tree planting volunteer with The Conservation Volunteers.

The Humber Forest team aims to plant over 250,000 trees by March 2025.

For Tree Party event information, visit www.eastridinglibraries.co.uk/whats-on and search “trees.” To learn about tree planting opportunities, visit www.humberforest.org or email humber.forest@eastriding.gov.uk.

The global decline in pollinator populations has become a pressing environmental concern, largely driven by human activities that reduce flower-rich habitats. But there’s good news for urban conservation efforts: new research from Warsaw suggests that small, cultivated wildflower meadows in cities can effectively support pollinator populations.

The recent study compared two types of urban meadows – artificially sown wildflower patches and natural meadows – examining their impact on three key pollinator groups: wild bees, butterflies, and hoverflies. The findings bring encouraging insights for urban planners and conservationists.

Key findings:

• Both meadow types supported similar plant diversity and pollinator species richness
• Butterflies showed a strong preference for natural meadows, appearing in numbers twice as high as in sown meadows
• Wild bees and hoverflies thrived equally well in both environments
• Small sown meadows proved just as effective as larger natural areas in supporting pollinator diversity

The research highlights an important solution for fragmented urban spaces: properly maintained wildflower meadows, even in small patches, can effectively compensate for the loss of larger natural habitats. This is particularly valuable for city centers, where space for natural meadows is limited.

Our friends at Wolds Hedgehog Rescue have put out a call for help:

Calling for people in the Bridlington, Driffield, Beverley and surrounding areas.

As we are attending more training courses and our volunteers are becoming more experienced we are able to offer more of our cages as medical care cages. This means we are now experiencing a shortage of foster cages and foster people.

If you think you would be able to help you will need a garage that isn’t used for vehicles or an outhouse or shed. They must have a window and electricity and suitable shelving for cages to be put on. We will provide all the equipment you will need and are a very friendly bunch of people.

Training will be given and there is a lot of support at all times.

If you would like to talk about this please ring 07722483845 and Ann will be happy to explain things.

You might be looking at your beautifully carved pumpkin and wondering how best to dispose of it.

Please do not just throw it in your garden or compost heap. Did you know that pumpkins are actually really bad for the opportunistic hedgehogs that stumble across them and decide to tuck in?

Much bettter to get them into your brown bin on this occasion, even if your compost heap normally takes your kitchen leftovers!

For more details have a read of this BBC Countryfile article!

Location: Tang Hall Community Centre , Tang Hall Community Centre, York, YO31 0UG, York, North Yorkshire , YO31 0UG

Date/time: Sunday 17 November 2024, 12:00

Have you ever wished you could make your area better for wildlife?
Be inspired by information stalls, presentations and practical workshops to develop your ideas, grow your knowledge and build your skills to take the action nature needs.

More information on the YWT event page!

Beverley Repair Café is for the benefit of the whole community. A team of volunteers will do their best to repair broken items, on a ‘donate-as-you-can’ basis, with the aim of reducing the amount sent to landfill and improving people’s financial and mental wellbeing.

The next session for BRC is Saturday Morning (26th October) at 9.30am to 11am at The Armstrong Cafe.

The second annual Bulb Planting Day will take place on Friday 25th October, thanks to funding from East Riding of Yorkshire Council – Do It For East Yorkshire. Beverley in Bloom will be planting along North Bar Without/New Walk from 10am. People are invited to join the effort and plant bulbs which will flower every Spring for years to come.

We love the amazing St Mary’s Cemetery, for its biodiversity potential, but also because of the stories woven into it. If you’ve been to any of the Commonwealth War Graves tours that have been running, you will know exactly what we mean.

EICSP (a Scottish non-denominational charity that provides events around global spiritual traditions) is running an online Zoom meeting covering the many aspects of our graveyards and culture around them.

Event: Cemeteries: Spiritual, Therapeutic, Social, and Cultural Perspectives.

Date: Wednesday 30 October 2024.

Time: 7pm-9pm (UK time).

Format: There will be five talks, each of 12 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of discussion among the speakers and the chair, followed by Q & A. Sign up here! https://www.eicsp.org/events/event-details/1208-online-zoom-forum-cemeteries-spiritual-therapeutic-social-and-cultural-perspectives-30-october-2024

This autumn, help Plantlife find the UK’s most colourful and important fungi – waxcaps.

The UK is home to some of the most important waxcap grasslands in the world. However many species are becoming rare and declining; they need identifying and protecting.

Waxcaps are an indicator of rare, species-rich grassland. Knowing where waxcaps and other grassland fungi are thriving helps us pinpoint where fragments of ancient meadows survive, so they can be protected for the future.

Not just important for the hundreds of wildflowers they can be home to, these ancient grasslands are also crucial in the fight against climate change. Species-rich grassland can store up to a third more carbon than areas with just a few species. You can help the Plantlife effort to record waxcaps here.

MWN certainly know that a diverse array of species are thriving in our historic churchyards and cemeteries, as a quick glance at our St Mary’s Graveyard iNaturalist project will attest!

You may remember the Bioblitz that was run in association with Hull Natural History Society. Well the results of this UK wide survey are now available! From the article:

In June communities across the UK united to celebrate Love Your Burial Ground Week, Churches Count on Nature, and National Cemeteries Week, with more than 300 events highlighting the unique blend of history, nature, and community found within local churchyards and cemeteries. 

The Churches Count on Nature initiative, organised by Caring for God’s Acre and supported by the Church of England, the Church in Wales, and A Rocha UK, has generated an impressive collection of wildlife records that are still coming in.

Participants contributed by visiting their local churchyards and cemeteries to record the wildlife they encountered, from wildflowers to insects, birds, and mammals. During the last four years more than 43,700 records have been submitted, with more expected this year as data continues to be processed.

Read the full article here.