Tomorrow the Great Yorkshire Creature Count is beginning across the county and there is still time to sign up and take part.
The event runs from midday Saturday to midday Sunday June 20. People can join in for as long as they like, whether for just a few minutes or a whole afternoon.
Any wildlife they see over the 24 hours, whether that’s a sparrow perched on a windowsill, a slug among the vegetables or a moth attracted by a streetlight, can be counted towards the total.
A boy using a magnifying glass to look for bugs (Photo: Adrian Clarke)
There are three ways to join in: by downloading the iNaturalist app, uploading any sightings to the website or downloading a checklist with 20 popular species to spot, which has extra space to make notes or draw pictures of any other creatures.
The checklist is a new feature for 2021 and is aimed at younger children or people who prefer a more traditional way of recording data.
Bilton resident Angela, who has taken part in previous years, has already downloaded the iNaturalist app. She said:
“The app is fairly easy to use: you basically take a photograph of a creature and it comes back with suggestions and gives feedback.”
People can submit their results online or download the iNaturalist app to log sightings.
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Last year 4,500 people took part and 13,638 observations were made of 1,471 species. The most-sighted creature was a blackbird, followed by a woodpigeon and a house sparrow.
The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust said:
Harrogate flower display celebrates 100 years of soroptimists“Our gardens make up more of the UK’s green space than all the nature reserves combined. And the past year has shown us how much we need nature in our lives.
“But nature needs our help. The 2019 State of Nature Report (a health check of the UK’s wildlife) reports the devastating effects of human impact on our wildlife. Of the 8,418 species assessed, 15% are now at risk of extinction.”
Harrogate Borough Council have created a flower mural in the town centre to celebrate 100 years since the founding of the Soroptimist International women’s organisation.
Soroptimist International is an organisation aimed at empowering and improving the lives of women worldwide. It tackles issues such as domestic violence, child marriage and human trafficking.
The organisation has its’ own Harrogate and District branch which is reaching its 90th anniversary.
It consists of 37 members who work locally to support women’s refuges, food banks and other women’s causes.
In July of 2019 they held a Zoom conference for women in the organisation to speak to their ‘friendship links’ worldwide during lockdown.
The name ‘soroptimist’ comes from the Latin for ‘better sister’.
The mural can be found in Harrogate town centre on Montpelier Hill.
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Ripon’s Quarry Moor play area to be upgraded for summer
One of Ripon’s favourite play areas is to be refurbished in time for summer.
New equipment will be installed in Quarry Moor park, funded by the 2021-2022 parish precept.
The park, just off the A61 on the southern approach to Ripon, was donated to the city in 1945 by Alderman Thomas Fowler Spence.
It currently includes an activities centre for children as well as outdoor play equipment.
Ripon City Council leader, councillor Andrew Williams, told the Stray Ferret:
“The play equipment, that adds to the park’s attraction for families with young children, has been in need of replacement for some time.
“With the prospect of the covid lockdown being lifted later this year, we want to ensure that the work is completed in readiness for the summer months.”
The land, which includes woodland walks, was left in trust by the former mayor on the understanding that it would be:
“Kept for Ripon children for all time.”
The 24-acre site was a limestone quarry for hundreds of years until the 1950s. It was also used for military training during the Second World War.
In 1986, after extensive conservation work by volunteers, it was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Quarry Moor Activities Centre
The area includes species-rich calcareous grassland and a protected wildflower meadow.
A woodland path was added in 2019.
Ripon prides itself on being child-friendly and for many years the city council has supported free family events.
These include the St Wilfrid’s Day procession in August, the switch-on of Christmas lights and New Year’s Eve entertainment on Market Square.
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The coronavirus crisis and social distancing requirements, in place since last March, caused the cancellation of mass participation activities.
For the upcoming financial year, £100,000 is being allocated for public events from summer onwards.
It is hoped that covid will be under sufficient control to allow them to go ahead.
Ripon’s parish precept for 2021-2022 will generate £400,000. Council taxpayers in the city will pay £70 towards it, in addition to council tax paid to North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council.
Plans for new discovery walks at Ripon wetlands
A new scheme to encourage residents to explore the beauty and heritage in their local area is heading to Ripon.
North Yorkshire County Council is expanding ‘Discoveries on Your Doorstep’ after the success of its walks in Scarborough and Selby.
They range from castle the canal towpaths and give local residents a glimpse at areas they might otherwise overlook.
Wetland walks is the title of the new scheme, which is due to be launched soon at Ripon City Wetlands.
It will focus on nature rather than the heritage theme of the two existing options elsewhere in the county.
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The county council has said it is trying to help areas which have been struggling with exercise since coronavirus struck.
A co-ordinator for the project, Josh Wood, said:
“Research suggests that for some people motivation for wanting to be outside and exercising was driven by discovering the local area, rather than wanting to be outdoors for health.
“Since the coronavirus pandemic struck, data suggests some communities are more affected than others by a lack of physical activity.
“So we think it is most appropriate to target the communities which have missed out most.”
“We want to leave people with fond memories of being outdoors while exercising and being active without that being the main reason for being outdoors.”
It is another boost for nature reserves near Ripon after the Nosterfield Nature Reserve won a £132,000 government grant to enhance wildlife.
Former Ripon Grammar student publishes poetry to protect wildlifeA former Ripon Grammar School student has published a book of illustrated poetry in aid of a wildlife conservation charity.
Writer, artist, photographer and film-maker Alicia Hayden has launched ‘Rain before Rainbows’, a collection of illustrated poems written over the past ten years.
Sales of her book will help to raise money for the Tiggywinkles wild animal hospital.
She said:
“These poems are about wildlife and the natural world, its beauty and its fragility – and why it’s essential we protect it.”
The 21-year-old, who is now in her third year studying biological sciences at the University of Oxford, also makes films.
The wood mouse that features in one of Alicia’s short nature films
One of Alicia’s recent films, which featured a wood mouse, was broadcast on Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin’s Self-Isolating Bird Club on YouTube:
Alicia commented:
“That was really exciting. They said some lovely things about it too, which was very encouraging.”
Alicia won the RSPCA Young Photographer of the Year award, when she was ten years old, with a stunning picture of a hoverfly mid-air.
She was inspired to publish her poems after watching Sir David Attenborough’s 2020 documentary, Extinction: The Facts, about the devastation humans have wreaked on the natural world.
She said:
“I knew I wanted to raise awareness about the environment, and also donate money to a conservation charity.
“It was a lot of work, as well as a lot of fun.
“I really liked the fact Tiggywinkles works with British wildlife, which is what I like photographing and drawing.”
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Alicia hopes to pursue a career in wildlife conservation and communications, to help inspire others to protect the natural world.
Having been encouraged by her parents, who are also wildlife enthusiasts, and her teachers at RGS, Alicia said:
“All of my work is inspired by the natural world in some way, as I think there is so much intricacy and incredible behaviour to observe in nature.”
*Rain Before Rainbows, £10.99 (with 50 per cent of profits going to Tiggywinkles) is available from Little Ripon Bookshop and aliciahaydenshop.bigcartel.com.
Showcasing the beauty of Nidderdale through artMany of us have come to appreciate nature more during lockdown, including Nidderdale landscape artist Sarah Garforth.
In normal times, Nidderdale’s rivers, reservoirs and footpaths are Sarah’s muse — but the last year has given her breathing space to look at where she lives in a new way.
She said:
“Even though I’m very much about the countryside and nature I’ve noticed more things this year. I’ve taken the time to look at things properly, and we all feel we’ve had that time this year.”
Sarah works from Ramsgill Studio in Upper Nidderdale, which she bought nine years ago as a derelict barn to convert into a contemporary space to showcase her work and that of fellow artists.
She said she is fortunate to be able to call Nidderdale her home and to be able to use creativity as a tool to get through this strange year.
She said:
“That was a conversation that often came up amongst my friends. Also, how lucky we are to have a creative mind. A lot of people found the solitude as something really hard for them to cope with.
“Being creative people, we’re also quite happy setting ourselves a project and cracking on with it. We get a lot of pleasure making things and producing things.”
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Nidd Gorge by Sarah Garforth
Sarah has had lots of commissions during lockdown. She said more people were coming to Nidderdale to take inspiration for art, to explore or simply relax.
She said:
“Up here it really is all about nature and the countryside. It’s encouraging that people are tapping into that a little bit more and starting to notice what’s free and around us all the time.”
An exhibition based on Nidd Gorge will take place from December 12 until spring at Chantry House Gallery in Ripley. It is also being held online for people who cannot attend due to lockdown.
The exhibition includes art from Sarah as well as Hanna Kerwin, Mark Sofilas, John Thornton and William Watson.
Sarah added:
“It’s a cracking topic. It’s to showcase the beauty of it and how picturesque the woodland and the gorge itself are.”
Ripon hedgehog rescue centre forgotten in coronavirus crisis
It is six years since animal lovers Jacqui and Peter Morrell set up the HAPPY hedgehog rescue centre in Ripon.
Since 2014, they have saved the lives of hundreds of the endanger creatures through Hedgehog Appreciation Prickly Pals Yorkshire – an acronym that Jacqui thought up on a day out in Scarborough.
From that trip to the coast, the couple could hardly have expected the demand that there would be for their services, which have seen them involved in the rescue of up to 1,000 hedgehogs.
Jacqui told the Stray Ferret:
“We get calls day and night from people in many parts of the country who have found an injured or poorly hedgehog. If they are calling from somewhere that is a long way from Ripon, we refer them to the hedgehog rescue centre that is closest to them.”
HAPPY is part of a nationwide network of hedgehog rescue and preservation organisations and Jacqui and Peter can also refer callers to centres in Italy and Cyprus if required.
In good hands – a hoglet that is being looked after by HAPPY
The need for these organisations has increased year on year. In July The International Union for the Conservation of Nature put hedgehogs on its Red List for British Mammals classified as being ‘vulnerable to extinction’.
It is ironic that the announcement should come in a summer when rescue centres across the UK have had fears for their own survival, as fundraising and awareness events, including Hedgehog Awareness Week in May, were cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis.
Jacqui, pointed out:
“We feel we are the forgotten victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the fact that the need for our services has increased.”
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HAPPY, which is registered with the British Hedgehog Society, has achieved a 75% success rate in the rehabilitation and return to the wild of creatures that are among the country’s best-loved animals.
Jacqui and Peter, who have become skilled in the care and treatment of the animals in the HAPPY Hogspital Unit and the hedgehog hotel they have created in their garden, are thankful for the support received from Bondgate Pet Supplies, Bishopton Vets practice and the Ripon community.
With fundraising activities such as talks to community groups currently suspended, the need for help in cash and kind continues and anybody who would like to help them in their work can find out more on the HAPPY Facebook page.