This month: Badger culls to stop in England within 5 years; Environmental news from North Yorkshire Council; Hedge-laying poem; Meadow Magic updates; Meadow plug planting session: One Acre Meadow one year on: meeting summary; Reeth Arts Festival: report; Reeth Surgery community veg beds; State of Yorkshire’s Nature 2024; Tree of the year 2024; Tree planting checks; Tree seed collection; Water company controls promised; Wildflower seed propagation workshop; YDMT Seed to Sapling newsletter 2
Badger culls to stop in England within 5 years
The government has announced that it will stop badger culls within the next 5 years and concentrate instead on vaccinating badgers and developing a vaccine for livestock. A target has been set to eradicate bovine TB by 2038. The Badgers Trust has criticised the government for allowing culls organised for this year to continue while the NFU believes that culls have worked and should not be ruled out.
Source: BBC article
Environmental News from North Yorkshire Council
You can subscribe to a monthly climate change newsletter published by the North Yorkshire Council. It outlines the work that the North Yorkshire Council is undertaking to address environmental issues and also promotes events of interest happening in North Yorkshire. The September edition includes a focus on Sustainable Swaledale.
You can subscribe at: Sign-up to our Climate newsletter (dotdigital-pages.com)
Hedge-laying poem
This poem caught my eye at the Dales Countryside Museum, as part of the upland commons exhibition. You can see it online at: Poem: What you might learn when laying a hedge — Foundation for Common Land
Meadow Magic updates
A number of volunteers have helped cut and take grass off a number of small meadows in Arkengarthdale and Swaledale which are too small for large machinery but too large for scything or strimming. As it is essential to cut meadows and take the grass off each year as part of meadow maintenance, our grant-funded machinery has allowed us to offer assistance to landowners who might otherwise struggle to get their fields cut. We were able to cut and row the hay and then collect the loose hay into dumpy bags and take it off site for use elsewhere or store it nearby for landowner’s use. The variable weather over this summer has made our task harder as it always seemed to rain just as we thought the hay would be dry enough to process!
We have learnt a lot from this exercise including that hay making is very much weather-dependent and that it is time consuming to rake up hay once rowed so we shall have to explore how we might speed up the process.
Meadow plug planting session
One way of improving meadows is to introduce meadow flowers through plug plants. The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust are therefore funding plug plants for a meadow site in Swaledale, which already has some nice flowers including the melancholy thistle, but which would benefit from some attention. Sustainable Swaledale has been asked if we could provide some volunteer assistance to plant the plugs so watch out for our call for volunteers once dates and details have been confirmed. Looking at late October/early November.
One Acre Meadow one year on: meeting summary
A meeting was held at Reeth Memorial Hall on 2nd September following up on our One Acre Meadow project. Last year we helped over 30 residents around Swaledale and Arkengarthdale develop small wildflower patches in their garden or field to create a home for wildlife and pollinators, creating 2.3 acres.
The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) Hay Time Officer Cath Mercer gave advice on how to maintain the meadow which has grown this year from seed planted last autumn. She said that most of us should have seen four flower species: yellow rattle, red and/or white clover, and meadow buttercups as well as sweet vernal grass. Other plants frequently present may include ribwort plantain, hawkbits, eyebright, meadow vetchling and oxeye daisy.
Year One – Cath recommends several high cuts from July onwards. Year Two – one cut late July/August. Ideally one should graze the field in autumn and then in spring to help bring down the dominance of grasses but a cut in spring will help if grazing is not practical. Leave one strip uncut each year which you rotate to allow a wildlife refuge. Whether you use lawn mower, strimmer, scythe or tractor, the goal is always to remove the grass to prevent thatching and reduce fertility allowing the wild flowers to thrive. If you only have a few square metres or less, buying 100% wildflower mix will probably work better than the 50:50 grass and flower mix used for the bigger projects.
You can add additional flowers by seed collection or propagation. Always get landowner permission to collect seeds, only collect from local recognised species and only take a little from each area. Keep the seed dry once collected and label clearly. Plant the seeds in a mix of sand, soil and grit in seed trays or fruit punnets and transplant once the first proper leaves emerge. Yellow rattle doesn’t work as a plug plant so plant in location – you can always use a dibber so break the soil and push the seed down. The wild flower seed propagation workshop organised by YDMT (details below) will give advice on the process.
An alternative is to purchase plug plants – Cath warns that this can be expensive and carries a higher failure rate. Buy from local nurseries and plant in clusters as insects like to visit all the same at one go.
There are designated “weeds” which will require some controlling – thistle, ragwort, nettle and dock. Constant pulling up or beheading is the best way to control them if it can be managed.
A quarterly meadow newsletter is being planned, details of which will be circulated in following Sustainable Swaledale newsletters.
Reeth Arts Festival: report
Sustainable Swaledale had a stall at this free event on Saturday 31st August. Maggi Bridgeman joined us and offered some free twig and plant weaving sessions for children and the young at heart. We also encouraged people to add a piece of greenery, seed pod or wool to a large frame as part of a community art project – see photos.
The weather was good, the live music great and we made some good contacts with Reeth residents and local visitors. Many were aware of our projects and supported our aims and objectives. Thanks to Imogen for organising the event, Maggi for directing the art sessions and Sam, Cheryl, Rob and Margaret for staffing the stall.
Reeth Surgery community veg beds
Despite the variable summer weather, the raised beds have produced salad vegetables, herbs, potatoes and beans. The surgery has had some of the larger shrubbery cut back which benefits the beds. It will soon be time to tidy up the beds but the bees at the moment are enjoying the flowering herbs.
The gooseberry bushes from the middle bed at the back have been moved because it was difficult to get to the back bush. They have been replanted along the side wall so that the bushes can be cordoned or espaliered to make it easier to pick the fruit. The empty bed will be used for strawberries which are outgrowing their original home and are popular with visitors to the surgery. We have also been asked for turnips so Gail is going to investigate planting them. The school children’s bed is full of flowering nasturtiums which are attracting insects so rather than clear the bed now, the children will start some seeds in pots and then transplant them once the bed is cleared.
A check of the water tank reveals that it is full so it has been successfully filling up from the gutter. An overflow pipe will divert water back into the drain once the tank is full.
State of Yorkshire’s Nature 2024
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has published its first region-wide survey on wildlife. Iconic species such as swifts and curlews are in decline with the range of red squirrels and water voles also declining. Less than 20% of protected sites and rivers in Yorkshire are in a healthy state. At the same time, over 2/3 of all British species are found in Yorkshire including 32 out of 58 mammal species and 2/3 of regularly breeding and wintering birds. Read the report at: State of Yorkshire’s Nature | Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (ywt.org.uk)
Tree of the year 2024
The Woodland Trust is asking you to vote for your favourite oak tree – see Tree of the Year – Woodland Trust. Voting closes 21 October. The Woodland Trust points out these 12 oaks have very little protection.
Tree planting checks
All last year’s tree planting and hedging sites have been checked and are looking good with only a few saplings that haven’t taken. Sites from previous planting sessions were also spot-checked and are doing equally well. Many of the trees planted from the first season are now getting much higher than the tree guards. Thanks to Rob, Margaret Joe and Paul S for visiting the sites.
Tree seed collection
Sustainable Swaledale members have already started to collect local seed with landowners’ permission as part of the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust Seed to Saplings Project. The aim is to grow trees from local stock in the two dales for future planting projects.
We will be collecting tree seed at Ivelet Wood near Muker again this year – on Sunday 22nd September from 10am for a couple of hours. If you haven’t been before, you’re welcome to come along. If you’re interested please let Naomi know – naomi.j.meredith@gmail.com.
We will meet at Rampsholme Bridge at 10am. If walking from Muker, allow 10-15 minutes to get to the meeting point. The tree species we’ll be collecting are rowan, hawthorn, hazel, downy birch, alder. We will provide collecting bags.
Bring suitable gear for autumn in the hills. We’ll be on a path (mainly) but the terrain is sloping and if wet, it’s slippery in places.
Hope to see you there!
An event to pot up the seeds and willow cuttings is being organised – watch out for details. Hazels from nuts picked two years ago are now ready to be planted this season.
Water company controls promised
The government has announced that water company bosses could be banned from receiving bonuses and even sent to prison under proposals for new government legislation to combat water pollution.
The new Water (Special Measures) Bill will apply in England and Wales and will see harsher penalties for law-breaking, with prison sentences of up to two years for executives who fail to cooperate or obstruct investigators. The burden of proof in civil cases will be lowered so that the Environment Agency can more easily bring forward criminal charges against bosses. Regulators will also be given the power to stop bonus payments to water bosses if they fail to meet high standards to protect the environment, their consumers and their company’s finances. The new legislation will also give the regulators the power to recover costs from water companies for enforcement action. Ofwat will be required to set rules that ensure companies appoint directors and chief executives, and allow them to remain in post, only when they meet the highest standards of “fitness and propriety”.
Many campaigners argue that sufficient legislation already exists but that Ofwat and the Environment Agency just do not enforce it.
Source: BBC article
WIldflower seed propagation workshop
Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust are running a wildflower seed propagation workshop, hosted by Rachel Benson at Broadrake Bunkbarn, Chapel Le Dale on the 19th September. Directions can be found here: Directions to Broadrake
The session will run from 10am-2pm. Refreshments will be provided, but please bring along your own lunch. Rachel will cover methods for collecting, sowing and growing wildflower seeds. We will be both indoors and outdoors during the session, including a short walk to collect seeds. So please make sure you wear appropriate clothing and footwear (it can get quite chilly up at Broadrake!) Please share with anyone that you think might be interested and email catherine.mercer@ydmt.org to book your place.
YDMT Seed to Sapling newsletter 2
Eva Irving, the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) Community Conservation Officer, has produced the second newsletter updating us on what seed we should be collecting at the moment. The newsletter can be found on the YDMT website, the Tree Nursery WhatsApp group or you can view it here.
Group Meeting
The October Meeting will be on Thursday 3rd October at the Reeth Vicarage, Langhorne Lodge at the bottom of Langhorne Drive courtesy of Rev Canon Caroline Hewlett. Please get in touch if you’d like to join us.