BARDSEY FIELDS
THE WILD GREEN HEART OF THE PARISH
November 2022 – a once in a lifetime opportunity!
It was at the beginning of November 2022 that a very rare opportunity came up to buy two important parcels of agricultural land in the heart of Bardsey with the aim of managing the land for wildlife and providing an invaluable community asset.
The land was to the front and rear of Bardsey primary school, comprising almost 50 acres in total and for sale in two lots.
At the time, David Smith, Chairman of East Keswick Wildlife Trust, explained the significance of the land – “We have surveyed this land and consider it is absolutely essential that it is saved from the threat of potential future development. Not only does it form a key part of the local wildlife corridor, it is the wild green heart and lungs of the parish and contains some exceptional flora and fauna. It’s also the most important site for carbon storage in the whole parish. With so many of these important local green spaces disappearing all around us we hope everyone will come together to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity to save this precious land. We need to move quickly though, as bids have to be submitted by 24 November.”
East Keswick Wildlife Trust was faced with the incredible task of raising the money to buy these fields in just over three weeks. A massive fund-raising campaign supported by Bardsey Parish Council, Bardsey School and many other groups and individuals began. The target was around £500,000 with the immediate aim of saving these fields for the local community and wildlife and long term aims as follows:
- To enhance nature and wildlife on these valuable fields
- To facilitate public access and link up walking routes through our village
- To inspire people and in particular children in our local community to enjoy and learn about nature and our climate
- To investigate opportunities to work with nature to help manage water on the fields to reduce flood risk in our community
- To work with many others in our community to develop ideas for the site which overlap with our vision
What happened next?
At the end of three weeks of frantic fund-raising, the Trust was able to bid successfully for the 24 acres of land running from Bardsey primary school down to Bardsey Beck and beyond, a wonderful green space in the heart of the village and overlooked by many Bardsey residents.
The Trust then began submitting grant applications and also consulting with residents at Bardsey Gala and Bardsey Green Fair. This was followed up by two surveys, one covering residents’ hopes for the site and the other on water quality in the beck, both conducted by undergraduate students at Leeds University.
Site visits by Trustees also identified certain hazards at this time such a small bridge over the beck which needed repairing and some large, deep, hidden ditching which needed to be made safe.
At the same time, nature was flourishing on the site and ecological survey work was carried out to ensure well informed management decisions could be made to protect and improve the habitat diversity of the site.
Why was only one plot purchased?
Only sufficient funds to bid for one piece of land were raised and the lower field was chosen for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Trust understood a bid for this plot would be most likely to succeed. Secondly, it is the plot with the best habitat, and it is the land which is very much in the centre of the community.
What’s been happening in the winter of 2024/25 in Bardsey Fields Nature Reserve?
With partial funding from Countryside Stewardship, hedges have been gapped up, stock proof fencing, gates, holding pens and gravel hardstanding have been installed at the entrances.
Natural flood management project 2024/25
In July 2024, EKWT met representatives from Yorkshire Water and The Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, who were overseeing the Natural Flood Management project along with EKWT at Bardsey Fields.
Originally, two drain pipes took the surface water from Bardsey School’s roofs, playgrounds and car park under Bardsey Fields Nature Reserve into the mill tale below. (The water that flows from a millwheel after turning it, or the channel in which the water flows.) With permission and funding from Yorkshire Water these two drain pipes have been broken and the water diverted up on to the surface of the field. 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 alleviate flooding downstream.
Before these works took place certain criteria had to be met.
1. Eight cross slope leaky barriers were installed below the break out points to slow the water flow. For the construction, through the ongoing Trust management works in Ox Close wood, the volunteers were able to supply 400, two metre logs, 130 fascines and 440 willow cuttings from Keswick Marsh Reserve. With the addition of some sheep’s wool, all were wired together and stabilised by wooden posts.
2. Three in-stream leaky barriers were installed in the mill tale. During normal water flow they will have no effect, but in high rainfall they will hold back and slow the flow downstream to Bardsey and Collingham.
3. Three woodland copses were planted at strategic points to help absorb the surface water with post and wire fencing for protection.
4. Two new cross slope hedges were planted, with post and wire fences to protect them from cows and deer.
5. Eleven 8x3m parkland enclosures with post and rail fences were erected across the site to protect a mixture of what one day will be mature trees and shrubs.
In the future these actions will help to increase habitat diversity and biodiversity across the field, slow the flow of water and improve the health of the beck below.
In time, the reserve will develop into a wood pasture and parkland habitat. This is characterized by open-grown, often old trees in a grazed environment, representing a rich mosaic of habitats including grassland, fen and scrub with messy edges, managed through grazing to maintain its open structure.
Some of you may have heard and seen our cooperative of Trust members’ herd of 11 Dexter cows on site. They are having a real impact by removing the thick dense grass which will allow wild flowers to bloom in the summer.
We would like to thank all those who have given their time to make this project possible. Grateful thanks go to Yorkshire Water for providing the funding; to our friends, the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust who have overseen the project; to Dan Carne, our self-employed consultant from Woodmeadow Makers; to The National Wealth Fund; the Yorkshire Rewilding Group; Bardsey Primary Academy students; Open Country, and our local community families and individuals who along with the Trust’s army of Friday volunteers have given their time to support all the tasks including the planting of 3,000 trees and shrubs of 27 different native species across the site.
What’s next?
Keep an eye open on our website and social media for the news of the next stage for Bardsey fields which will focus on the important Fenland habit.
Flora and Fauna of Bardsey Fields
The fields are locally and regionally important as over 99% of these types of flower rich pastures have been lost to intensive agricultural practices. They are home to many species of plants and animals that are under threat from habitat loss.
Bird Species
Visits the previous summer recorded over 30 species of birds nesting, including many rapidly declining farmland species. A nesting buzzard was recorded which is quite amazing in the heart of the village. During the summer, the songs of summer migrant warblers such as the whitethroat and lesser whitethroat, chiffchaff and blackcap could be heard from the bramble scrub and meadows.
Butterfly species
Over 20 butterfly species were recorded in 2024, many of which breed on the site. The land holds the only colony of Common Blue butterflies in the local area, having disappeared from all other surrounding parishes due to habitat loss. Moth species have not been recorded, however the day flying Chimney Sweeper was recorded in large numbers along with day flying burnet moths in the grasslands, both species indicators of good habitat and unimproved grassland where they breed.
Carbon storage
Bardsey Field is one of the most important sites for carbon storage in the parish consisting of lowland fen, lowland wet grassland and unimproved pastures which can store as much, if not more, carbon underground than woodland.
Wildlife corridor
The fields form an important wildlife corridor connecting the whole Bardsey Beck catchment and adjacent valleys. Roe deer breed here, three were seen on a recent site visit by the Trustees of East Keswick Wildlife Trust, while during the summer bats were recorded using the site as a wildlife corridor between the two adjacent valleys.
Events at Bardsey Fields 2024/25
Although the site is still not safe for general public access, there have been a number of managed events at the site.
Small mammal survey
In October 2024 Ann and Robert from the Yorkshire Mammal Group visited the site to survey Bardsey Fields. With their expert guidance, over 40 adults and children laid humane traps, ensuring that any mammals caught had plenty of food and a cosy bed for the night. The following morning, despite it being cold and damp, 50 adults and children came to see what had been found.
The traps were emptied, the mammals weighed and recorded and then safely released. The children were so excited to locate the traps they had laid the night before and to see what was inside.
50 traps were laid and 20 wood mice, 6 bank voles and 1 common shrew were recorded, giving the Trust a baseline for the species of small mammals living on this reserve.
Seed collecting
During August and September 2024 a group of volunteers collected a wide variety of wildflower sees from all Trust nature reserves. All wildflower and tree seeds are collected within a five mile radius of the village to keep the gene pool of seeds local.
The reason for collecting the seeds is to increase biodiversity on the reserves. Different native wild flowers, trees and shrubs support a wide range of mammals, plants and micro-organisms and are necessary for healthy ecosystems. For example, dandelions support more than 50 species of insects, birdsfoot trefoil over 130 and oak trees more than 2,300.
Seeds collected and propagated will be planted in Bardsey Fields, now that grazing, cutting and scarifying has removed the dense grass sward. This enables wildflower seeds and plug plants to become established.