Author Archives: committee

Winter Bird Survey Results

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Yesterday 21 adults and children joined us for the annual winter bird survey and it was lovely to welcome a number of people who had not been before.

We saw a total of 39 species, which is a good count for a survey in winter, although we did not see some species that would have been expected such as Goldcrest, Lapwing, Goosander and Collared Dove.

Here is a list of the species seen:

  • Heron
  • Canada goose
  • Greylag goose
  • Mallard
  • Mandarin duck
  • Moorhen
  • Herring gull
  • Black headed gull
  • Common gull
  • Kestrel
  • Sparrowhawk
  • Red kite
  • Buzzard
  • Crow
  • Rook
  • Jackdaw
  • Magpie
  • Jay
  • Starling
  • Wood pigeon
  • Feral pigeon
  • Bullfinch
  • Chaffinch
  • Goldfinch
  • Greenfinch
  • Chiff chaff
  • House sparrow
  • Dunnock
  • Greater spotted woodpecker
  • Robin
  • Wren
  • Blue tit
  • Great tit
  • Blackbird
  • Song thrush
  • Redwing
  • Fieldfare
  • Pheasant
  • Skylark

Winter Bird Survey Saturday 1st February 2025

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You are most welcome to join us for our winter bird survey. We will be meeting outside St Mary’s Church, Moor Lane, East Keswick on Saturday 1st February at 10am. If you have binoculars, please bring them with you and also a drink and packed lunch. We will be walking around the village, through the Marsh and then along Moor Lane and down to the river. There’s no need to stay for the whole session, you can join us for as long as you like.

Autumn Talk

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Dan Carne, who has visited us before is giving the Autumn Talk at 7.00pm on ZOOM. “My trip to the wood pastures of Europe and lessons on how we can integrate good practice in a local context”.

Please use this link and passcode to join the meeting

https://zoom.us/j/5641407160?pwd=WSe8Ix7Rpb9VS2kvgOqvTSnXs4TqdZ.1&omn=91935324917

Meeting ID: 564 140 7160

Passcode: Pu47Bd

Dan is an expert ecologist and will be working with the Trust for a year on a part-time basis. He will help the Trust update its reserve management plans. Dan has a background in habitat restoration so will be a valuable addition to our work, especially in the development of Bardsey Fields.

Over the winter months, with Yorkshire Water’s support, we will be breaking out some surface water drains and installing some leaky barriers in Bardsey Fields. This will make the upper part of the field wetter. By providing a more natural pathway for the water this will reduce the flow of water into the beck, improve water quality and help to alleviate flooding downstream. Alongside this we will be planting hedges and some trees across the slope and putting three small woody leaky barriers in the Mill Tale. Together, these actions will help to increase the habitat diversity and biodiversity across the field and the health of the beck below.

If you have any concerns, please contact us at info@ekwt.org.uk

Tree Planting Party

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On behalf of East Keswick Village Hall and East Keswick Wildlife Trust, we invite you to our ‘Tree planting party’ on Sunday 24th November from 10.30am – 2.30pm at East Keswick Village Hall Climate Change garden.

This coincides with National Trees Week which takes place from November 23rd to December 1st.

In the Village Hall’s drive to tackle climate change and provide homes for wildlife, we look forward to welcoming you to participate in planting our orchard, cherry blossom trees and hedgerows.

Come along with your family and friends to help develop a greener, tree-filled legacy for future generations to enjoy. It might be wet, muddy and a bit chilly, but there will be plenty of hot tea, coffee and biscuits to keep us energised and toasty warm. Please bring a spade if you have one, suitable footwear and gloves – plus food to barbeque.

Bardsey Small Mammal Survey Results

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Many thanks to Ann, Robert and some of their colleagues from the Yorkshire Mammal Group who came to Bardsey Fields last weekend to carry out small mammal trapping. This work will give us a baseline for the species of small mammals living there. We laid 50 humane mammal traps on Saturday afternoon, ensuring that any mammals caught had a cosy bed and plenty of food. We then returned on Sunday morning to empty the traps, record and weigh the mammals and then release them safely.

44 people came to set the traps and 50 came to see what had been caught. This was phenomenal as the weather on Sunday morning was very cold and wet!

The children had a great time and were so excited to see whether the traps were closed and what would be inside.

The results of the survey were: 20 woodmice, 6 bank voles and 1 common shrew. This compares with 18 woodmice, 1 bank vole, 1 field vole and 1 common shrew in last years survey.

Family Event at Bardsey Fields – Small mammal trapping, October 19th & 20th

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We will be joined by the Yorkshire Mammal Group to put out humane mammal traps on Saturday 19th October at 4.30pm. The following morning, Sunday 20th October we will meet at 9.30am to open the traps and record, weigh and release whatever we find. On both days we will be meeting outside Bardsey School on Woodacre Lane.

This event is suitable for all ages to attend one or both sessions – a great family event. Please bring stout footwear/wellies as the long grass will be wet. If you would like any more information, please email info@ekwt.org.uk.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Family Pizza Day Sunday 7th July – Postponed

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We are very sorry to say that we have decided to postpone our Family Day planned for this coming Sunday.

It must be a busy weekend as we have had very few people booking places. As the event takes a lot of preparation and organisation it seems sensible to postpone it.

We are sorry to disappoint those that have booked and we hope to welcome you to another EKWT family event in the Autumn.

Everyone is of course most welcome to visit Ox Close Wood and our other nature reserves at any time.