A few more April snap shots (including daffodils)

Ami Walker – Conservation Land Management Adviser

Pig troughs after wall repaired

Pig troughs before wall repaired

Following on from the bee boles in Glaisdale, here is another historic feature from the North York Moors. This is a row of stone pig troughs built into a dressed stone wall in a farmyard in Bilsdale. The farm is within the North York Moors Farm Scheme and through that scheme this wall has been repaired. Care was taken to retain the pig troughs and we think it’s worked pretty well. These small scale cultural features can easily be lost, but not in this case.

Mark Antcliff – Woodland Officer

This tree in Farndale just doesn’t know what it wants growing under it – to the left is covered in daffodils and to the right it is bluebells (yet to come into flower). This is part of a six hectare woodland project with the Farndale Estate where 500 oaks grown from acorns collected from local veteran and venerable trees (approx. 200 – 300 years old) were planted two years ago. With some on-going care from me virtually all the trees are growing nicely and I look forward to seeing the maturing trees shade out the giant beds of bracken – if I live that long or am still able to clamber up to the wood!

Alex Cripps – Conservation Graduate Training

I am well underway with the Rosedale wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) survey and after such a late spring the daffodils are now looking spectacular.

I have been visiting many landowners who have kindly been in touch to say they have wild daffodils on their land. I walk the sites and map out the distribution of the daffodils, categorising them according to whether they are have a dense or a scattered distribution, or if it is just an occasional plant. I also make notes on how well they are flowering.

Wild daffodils are growing really well along the banks of Northdale Beck and the River Seven, along various small springs and also on banksides that are often wooded. Wild daffodils favour these areas as they provide partially shaded habitats. Now we are having warmer days (although that may not be the case for next week!) there are lots of insects about which will be pollenating the daffodils, allowing them to produce seeds. Wild daffodils do however have a second method of regeneration by producing small bulblets around the parent bulb. Having two methods of regeneration is a great way to ensure their survival.

This is the first time we have carried out a detailed survey of the wild daffodils in Rosedale and it will be interesting to compare future survey data to build up a picture of what is happening to the population.

Clair Shields – Small Scale Enhancements Co-ordinator

A LEADER Small Scale Enhancements funded education project is underway in Hutton Buscel led by a local volunteer and Hedgehog Club co-ordinator called Tammy Andrews. The first session, at St Mathews Church in Hutton Buscel, involved 23 children from Derwent Valley pre-school. The children walked round the churchyard looking for the photos of birds which Tammy had hidden and listened to their songs using an app. The children then collected sticks, feathers and grass to make a bird’s nest collage. They even found an actual old bird’s nest! Back at the pre-school centre everyone helped to build bird boxes. The idea is to have another day for the children in a month or so to see the bird boxes installed on site along with bat boxes and ladybird logs.