Wildflower planting programme launched at Ripon nature reserve

The Skell Valley Project is inviting people to help restore wildlife habitats at Ripon’s Hell Wath nature reserve.

The £2.5 million project aims to provide a sustainable future for 12 miles of the River Skell through Dallowgill Moor and Ripon an on to the vale of York.

Throughout January, the project team will be working with the Friends of Hell Wath and Harrogate Borough Council to carry out habitat improvements by restoring areas of grassland and continuing to remove areas of scrub.

The areas for clearance have been selected with the aim of creating a rich environment for a wide range of animal and plant species.

The conservation work is part of the Friends’ management plan for the site developed in liaison with the four-year Skell project, which is led by the National Trust and Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

On Saturday January 14, members of the community can find out more about the wildflower planting programme and how they can become involved by meeting at the Ripon City Panthers clubhouse at Hell Wath, where a drop-in session will be held between 10am and 3pm.

Following the public event, scrub clearance will continue throughout the week with various volunteer groups. Information boards and maps throughout the site are being put in place to provide details of what’s happening.

Red Admiral is one variety of butterfly playing a key role in pollination at Hell Wath. Picture: Ripon Photographic Society

Hell Wath is a designated local nature reserve important for its grassland and contains species such as the common spotted orchid and adder’s-tongue fern.

Work so far has helped wildflowers recover and rare bee orchids have reappeared in key areas. This month’s work will ensure these wildflowers are not swamped by the encroaching scrub and woodland, which will create more feeding opportunities for pollinating insects.

The project’s area ranger Gabby Crisp said:

“We’d love the local community to come and give Hell Wath a hand by joining us on Saturday January 14 at a drop-in practical session we’ll be holding on site.

“We’ll be hand-cutting some scrub to allow space for the grassland and the wildlife it supports to thrive. It’ll be a great way to kick off the new year with some fresh air and a chance to burn off some Christmas calories too!’.

Jeremy Dunford, secretary of the Friends, added:

“Growing the wildflower population of the large grassland meadows is a key part of the management plan for Hell Wath. This will increase the range and number of butterflies and other insects in this area which will in turn see a larger variety of birds and small mammals at the nature reserve.

“Those unable to make the public event can still get involved in helping nature thrive in this special place from the comfort of home. Friends of Hell Wath are asking the local community to help by cultivating wildflower plugs to plant on Hell Wath in the autumn.”

For a £5 donation, the Friends will provide a pack of wildflower seeds, a tray of 12 biodegradable seeds pots, peat free compost to fill the trays and an instruction leaflet for cultivating the seeds provided.

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Harrogate council to repeat Stray rewilding experiment

Harrogate Borough Council will again leave sections of the Stray uncut this year to improve biodiversity.

In 2021, the council’s parks team left grass verges close to the roadside on West Park Stray uncut until late autumn.

The new look was welcomed by many who saw it as a sign that the council, which manages parks and green spaces, is serious about improving biodiversity and attracting bees, birds and insects.

But those who cherish Harrogate’s long reputation for organised and elegant planting said it made the town look untidy.

Others suggested the move was down to cost-saving reasons, which the council denied.

A council spokeswoman said this morning:

“We will be repeating what we did last year and will leave the bulb areas on the Stray uncut until September/October time.”

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Stray Gardener: It’s a Bug’s Life

The Stray Gardener is written by Rudding Park’s Kitchen Gardener, Fiona Slight. Fiona has worked in horticulture for more than 30 years in the UK and abroad, and specialises in growing fruit and vegetables for fine dining. This month, Fiona explains how we can help wildlife in our gardens by building bug hotels. 

In recent years, the plight of insects in the natural world has come to the fore, and it has been recognised some horticultural techniques we have adopted over the years have a detrimental effect on them, such as pesticides that kill bees and other beneficial insects. Our obsession with having very neat and tidy garden means there are less hiding places for small creatures or our gardens are surrounded by impregnable fences or walls making it hard for animals like hedgehogs to move around. This doesn’t need to continue as we can all do small things to help wildlife return, while still enjoying our lovely gardens.

If you have fruit trees or vegetables it is very beneficial to have as many insects as possible in your garden. This helps with pollination to provide you with a bountiful crop to harvest, so it makes sense to help provide them with extra space to call home. Not only that, you can encourage lots of predatory insects and invertebrates such as lady birds, lacewings, frogs and toads into your garden to help control those pesky pests such as slugs, snails, aphids and caterpillars.

Bug hotels are a fantastic way to give all sorts of insects, invertebrates and small animals a home all year round, and for others a dry, safe and warm place to hibernate in winter.

The best bug hotels have lots of small spaces of different sizes and made from different types of materials. My favourite materials to use include: old bricks with holes in, bamboo canes that have been hollowed out, piles of leaves and pine cones, bits of bark, broken bits of terracotta pots or old terracotta pipes, rolled up pieces of cardboard, in fact anything natural or biodegradable that can provide places to hide will do.

The simplest type of bug hotel can be a pile of logs or sticks in the corner of your garden. If you want to try something a bit more decorative, they can be made from stacked up pallets, brick and stone, which then can have each layer and section filled with different types of material. You could even provide room for a hedgehog, toad or frog to hibernate in the bottom of it by raising the lower level up on bricks to make a nice dark, leafy hole for them.

Many insects prefer shady, dry and cool spots – although some insects, such as bees, prefer the sun. If possible, place your bug hotel so that it has a mix of both sunny and shady areas. This provides both dry and damp areas for the different types of creatures you want to encourage. If possible, place it in a quieter area of the garden to avoid too much disturbance as the bugs start to populate their new residence.

You can of course, buy some lovely ready-made bug hotels. But why not have a go at collecting up some of the materials during January when there is less to do in the garden. Most of them can be found around the garden already to make your own amazing hotel, for a lovely home ready for some very interesting and useful insects, animals and invertebrates to move into.

Happy building!

Fiona’s 5 Top Tips for January

  1. Plan your vegetable crop successions for the coming season to get the most out of your growing area.
  2. Check overwintering tubers such as dahlias, begonias and cannas for signs of rot and remove any if infected.
  3. Ventilate your green house on mild sunny days to help avoid fungal infections.
  4. Now’s the time to go and look at winter flowering shrubs and take note of any that you would like to add to your garden.
  5. Ornamental grasses can now be cut back, but can be left until later in February to provide cover for wildlife if they are still looking good.