We are still looking for donations to support our purchase of Bardsey Fields, to cover additional costs such as legal fees.
Donations can be given through our bank, please follow the link above for details.
Your support has been amazing, this is the final push to achieve our goal!
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
Many thanks to Abi from Leeds Salsa Club for organising a salsa dance class in East Keswick Village Hall to raise funds for the Save Bardsey Fields Campaign. Everyone had a great time!
Once widespread, this plant is now very rare with over 99% of its population found on just 5 sites in the United Kingdom. The plant is small and can be inconspicuous except when it flowers in Spring around Easter time, hence the name Pasque flower, Pulsatilla Vulgaris.
The Pasque flower was thought to be lost in Yorkshire, until in 1984 a single plant was discovered in a heavily grazed grassland near Leeds. English Nature took over the lease of the site and work was done to increase the population, but this was unsuccessful, and the viability of the plants seed questioned.
How East Keswick Wildlife Trust became involved
In 2016 East Keswick Wildlife Trust were contacted by a senior officer from Natural England who suggested that we take on the project to help save the plant from extinction in Yorkshire. He knew of East Keswick Wildlife Trust’s successful conservation projects and developing expertise and success in germinating uncommon native wild plant species.
The Trust initially took 2 seeds from the plant and proved their viability by propagating 2 healthy plants which were then protected and kept safe in East Keswick. In 2019, East Keswick Wildlife Trust put together a project team and applied for a 5-year license from Natural England to secure the Pasque flower’s future in Yorkshire. The license was approved, and seed collected, with some deposited at the Millenium seed bank at Kew.
A resounding success
We continue to nurture more seedlings with a view to plug planting them in the future and consider this project to be a resounding success.
Please follow the link below to watch a short film by the Natural History Museum about this lovely flower
We use Dexter cows to conservation graze on our reserves. Dexter cows are a small very hardy breed that are very efficient grazers.
Advantages of this type of grazing are:
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.
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.
Saturday 29th October
Meet at Fitts Lane footpath entrance on the A659 opposite Cleavesty Lane at 4.30pm to put down 50 humane large Longworth traps.
Sunday 30th October
Meet at the same place at 9.30am to open the traps and record the weight and sex of the small mammals which will hopefully include harvest mice.
In August Trust members worked with the Yorkshire Dales River Trust to create leaky dams in Thorner. The dams are designed to slow the flow of water during flooding.
We had lovely weather and many families came along to Ox Close Woods and enjoyed all the activities.
Deep concentration on the scavenger hunt!
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.