Winter Bird Survey Saturday 14th January

We will be meeting at the entrance to St Mary Magdalene Church, Moor Lane, East Keswick at 10.00am. You are welcome to come and go throughout the day, please bring snacks and lunch, also binoculars if you have them. From the Church we will be walking through the Marsh, then along Moor Lane to the cricket field. We will then cross Harewood Road and walk down to the river, back up Fitts Lane and into the village. If time allows we may also include Ox Close Wood.

Bardsey Fields Campaign Update

We are delighted to let you know that our fundraising campaign has been a huge success and we raised a phenomenal amount of money in less than 3 weeks, enabling us to acquire Lot 2, totalling almost 24 acres of land in the centre of Bardsey village. The land runs from Bardsey Primary School down to Bardsey beck and beyond.

Unfortunately, however, we only raised sufficient funds to bid on one piece of land and prioritised the lower field, to the front of the school for a number of reasons. Firstly, we understood this to be the plot that we would most likely be successful with. Secondly, it is the plot with the best habitat, and it is the land which is very much in the centre of the community.

We are unable to share how much we bid as this information is confidential, but we can confirm that all donations received were used to secure this land.

We sincerely thank all those who donated to save Bardsey Fields – we couldn’t have done it without you!

If you have made a donation, please ensure you have completed a Gift Aid form, which enables us to claim back 25p for every £1 donated. You will find the form on this website in the Bardsey Fields Campaign, Donate section, or contact us at fundraising@ekwt.org.uk and we will send one to you.

The Trustees
East Keswick Wildlife Trust

Harvest Mice Hunt Results

On 29th and 30th October Ann Hanson and colleagues from the Yorkshire Mammal Group joined East Keswick Wildlife Trust to survey Fitts Fields for small mammals. 50 humane large Longworth traps were set on the Saturday evening and on Sunday morning we met to open the traps.

The children who had helped to set the traps were very excited to see what we would find.

32 of the 50 traps had small mammals in them, all looked healthy and were a good weight.

We recorded: 14 bank voles, 3 field voles, 14 wood mice and 1 common shrew.

This shows that there is a very good population of small mammals in these fields and although we did not find a harvest mouse this time, we do know that they are living here.

Family Day 10th July 2022

We had lovely weather and many families came along to Ox Close Woods and enjoyed all the activities.

Willow weaving

Deep concentration on the scavenger hunt!

Making sculptures with clay and natural materials

The highlight of the day delicious pizzas! Howard our EKWT resident chef worked hard all day, lighting the pizza oven at 7 in the morning and cooking over 50 pizzas in the afternoon.

Thank you to everyone who helped either beforehand or on the day and to everyone who came and made it such an enjoyable event.