This month: COP29; Gold awards for Hazel Brow Farm and Marrick Park at TSNC High Nature Value Farming Awards 2024; Mag North article on Sustainable Swaledale; Meadow wildflower plug planting; Reducing light pollution is beneficial to health; Seed boxes filled at the November meeting; Tree sorting; Volunteering opportunities coming up; YDMT Seed to Sapling Newsletter No 4; York Minster solar panels; Yorkshire Dales National Park active travel questionnaire; Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust Christmas auction 2024
COP29
World leaders are meeting between 11 and 22 November at the latest annual UN climate change meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan. While the British Prime Minister has attended, there are many leaders of the largest economies and/or biggest carbon emitters absent such as the US, Chinese and French Presidents, the Prime Minister of India, the Chancellor of Germany and the European Commission President, which it is suggested will impact on the conference’s ability to influence change.
This comes at a time when it is now “virtually certain” that 2024 will be the world’s warmest on record, according to projections by the European climate service. Global average temperatures across the year are on track to end up more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, which would make 2024 the first calendar year to breach this symbolic mark. 1.5C is significant as almost 200 countries pledged to try to limit long-term temperature rises to that level under the Paris climate agreement in 2015. These high temperatures are mainly down to human-caused climate change, with smaller contributions from natural factors such as the El Niño weather pattern.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the COP29 climate conference that he is committed to a more “ambitious” climate goal for the UK – an 81% emissions cut by 2035 (currently 68% cut in emissions by 2030). While the Prime Minister has said that he doesn’t want to tell people how to live their lives, the UK Climate Change Committee which advises the government has said that reducing the next chunk of emissions is going to be difficult to achieve without changes to the way people live, such as an elimination of petrol and diesel cars; a 20% shift away from meat and dairy products in the next five years; and less flying.
There is copious coverage of COP29 in the press and media.
Gold awards for Hazel Brow Farm and Marrick Park
Cath and Martin Calvert at Hazel Brow Farm were the winners of the public engagement award for continued commitment and enthusiasm in engaging the public with farming and nature at the recent Tees-Swale: Naturally Connected (TSNC) High Nature Value Farming Awards 2024.
Julia Carr at Marrick Park was awarded the gold award in the nature recovery category which is for a farm that has transformed the way it is managed, turning it into a place where nature has a chance to thrive once more. Grazing has transitioned from predominately sheep to pedigree highland cattle that are fed a 100% grass diet, and works have taken place to restore and enhance several hay meadows alongside the planting of trees to link to existing areas of woodland. Congratulations to the winners. Coverage on the Tees-Swale website and Richmondshire Today
Mag North article on Sustainable Swaledale
A lovely article by freelance journalist Emma Chesworth on the work that Sustainable Swaledale does has been published in the online journal Mag North. Entitled ‘Sustainable Swaledale: A Community-Led Effort To Protect The Dales’ Environment’, it is a great write up of what the group does.
Meadow wildflower plug planting
A group of Sustainable Swaledale volunteers helped Eva from the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) enhance a wildflower meadow in Low Row on 3rd November. Yellow rattle seed was sprinkled onto bare soil and plug plants planted randomly across the area in threes so that pollinators are easily able to move around a group of the same species. Plants added included vetch, yarrow, selfheal and ladies bedstraw. Thank you to all the volunteers and Howard who provided us with refreshments. As the enhanced meadow is alongside a footpath, we will be eagerly looking out for a splendid display in June.
Volunteers have also helped Tees-Swale: naturally connected enhance meadows at Marrick Park and Ellerton Abbey with yellow rattle and plug plants
Reducing light pollution is beneficial to health
Research has shown that getting as much light as possible during the day and ensuring that the stretch of time when you sleep is as dark as you can make it is significantly beneficial to your health.
It is not only humans that benefit from dark skies – research has shown excessive lighting has an impact on nature and we can all do our bit by reducing our lighting impact. Some of us attended the Yorkshire Dales National Park Dark Skies event where advice was available on dark skies compliant lighting. There are several easy ways to reduce light pollution by avoiding dusk to dawn lighting by using proximity sensors; not having more lighting than required; and ensuring that lights are angled down, installed at the lowest possible height and only point where light is needed. This all helps to avoid light spillage. Lights should be less than 500 lumens and below 3,000 Kelvin. We were shown several examples of lights and also several case studies where dark skies friendly lighting was able to meet the needs of the building owners at the same time as saving them money and reducing the building’s impact on the landscape.
Lighting can only be addressed as a planning issue for new builds and conversions with increasing weight given to protecting special qualities such as the YDNP being an international dark sky reserve. More advice on lighting can be found on the YDNP website.
Seed boxes filled at the November meeting
Eva at the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust kindly provided us with some germination box kits which we used to make some more boxes for this year. Pre-cut wood, mesh and instructions were provided for construction and a number of volunteers including Chris, Rob and Margaret made up the boxes which were taken along to the Reeth Memorial Hall for the November meeting where we had a session transferring alder, birch, hawthorn, hazel, large-leaved lime and rowan, all collected this autumn, into boxes which people took away to look after. Boxes were filled up to a third with a mix of 50:50 compost and sand mix and then seeds, nuts or berries added following instructions based on guidance within the YDMT Seed to Saplings newsletters. Some of the seeds will take two years to germinate so patience is required.
The boxes will be kept outside all winter in a sheltered spot and with the exception of alder which does need to be kept damp, they won’t need much attention. A potting-on event will be arranged early summer next year when emergent seedlings can be transferred into root trainers for transfer to our Tree Nurseries and then eventual planting. Some of the seedlings to be potted on will include hawthorns from 2023 which are now starting to emerge after two winters.
Although boxes were labelled when filled, experience has shown that labels fade over time so details were also added to the Tree Nursery spreadsheet (Sustainable Swaledale Tree Nursery – Google Sheets). Each collection site and species has its own code so 24-1-A indicates that the seed planted in the seed box comes from a collection of alder made in 2024 at Ivelet Woods, 24 being the year, Location 1 is Ivelet Woods and A stands for Alder.
All the seeds, berries or nuts are collected with the kind permission of the landowner.
We are always interested in the opportunity to collect rarer species and have noticed that the Wild Ingleborough team has collected some rock whitebeam berries from a site in the southern Dales. There are very few rock whitebeams left in the Dales and only 4 at the collection site. Rock whitebeam is well adapted to mountainous habitats and can grow at high elevation, in rocky conditions and withstand exposure to strong winds. Seedlings will be kept at its nursery for up to four years before planting out. More information on the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Facebook site. (20+) Facebook
Tree sorting
We have the first delivery of trees for our planting season arranged. Even before a tree goes into the ground, a number of tasks need to be completed from negotiating funding, compiling an order and negotiating that the trees and guards are delivered in a vehicle that can access the dop-off site (always more difficult than it should be). Thanks to Charlotte and Stewart who have volunteered to help Rob and Margaret sort the trees into batches for each planting site.
Sorting out the trees is an exercise in problem solving because not all the bundles of whips are labelled, so we have to sort into species by visually matching bundles of unlabelled trees against the labelled trees. This task is harder when the leaves have fallen and we need to rely solely on buds and bark. The nurseries also tend to provide the trees in certain multiples irrespective of the number we order so we either end up with too many or too few of a particular species so our planting schemes need to be adjusted. Sometimes a particular species is completely unavailable so we have to make substitutions or accept lower tree numbers for a site. Once all the trees are sorted, we have to ensure that all the bundles for each site are properly labelled with species information. Lastly we then count out enough tree guards and stakes for each site and then store everything for up to two months. The trees have to be watered during storage and protected against nibbling.
Volunteering opportunities coming up
Sustainable Swaledale has a mixture of tree and hedge planting, hedge laying and woodland maintenance tasks, with a mix of weekend and weekdays to choose from in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale.
Tasks are advertised via the Sustainable Swaledale Facebook page and our volunteers email list. You can also visit this link to access the spreadsheet detailing the task dates and sign up. If you have any problems filling in the spreadsheet, please let Rob know via info@sustainableswaledale.org. If you don’t want to display your email address but would like to sign up, add your name to the spreadsheet and get in touch with your email details so that we can forward instructions.
If spaces have already gone, keep an eye on our facebook/volunteers email list where we might advertise vacancies at short notice. There will also be a second tranche of planting from Mid-January to March which will open for booking after Christmas.
YDMT Seed to Sapling newsletter 4
Eva Irving, the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) Community Conservation Officer, has produced the fourth newsletter updating us on what seed we should be collecting or planting at the moment. The newsletter can be found on the YDMT website, the Tree Nursery WhatsApp group or you can view it here.
York Minster solar panels
BBC News item on York Minster installing 184 solar panels on the south quire roof which once operational should provide 1/3 of the Minster’s electricity requirements and reduce annual carbon emissions by 13 tonnes of C02. Future plans include a heat pump allowing the Minster to move away from gas boilers. Minster staff say that increasing rainfall as a result of climate change is causing problems for the stone work and changing the hydrology of the precinct so that the building is moving.
Yorkshire Dales National Park active travel questionnaire
People are being asked to share ideas on how active travel (journeys that involve some sort of physical activity eg walking; wheeling with wheelchair or active mobility aid; cycling; and horse riding) routes into, and around, the Yorkshire Dales National Park could be created or improved. Suggestions could range from infrastructure changes such as a crossing point on a busy road, a better link from a housing estate to a school, or the creation of a traffic-free right of way between towns and villages.
The aim is to create a draft Active Travel Plan by next March, to be refined and approved by the end of 2025. Once the plan has been finalised the intention is to identify potential funding so that the Plan can be implemented over a 10-year period. Further details and the questionnaire can be found on the YDNPA website. The closing date for suggestions is the 22 November 2024.
Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust Christmas auction 2024
The Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust (YDRT) is running its Christmas auction again with prizes donated from more than 40 Yorkshire based individuals and organisations. From Friday 22 November to Sunday 1 December you can bid on foodie experiences, picturesque cottage stays, bespoke jewellery, days out, guided fishing days, afternoon teas, vineyard and distillery tours and ‘money can’t buy’ experiences and opportunities. The YDRT is hoping to beat its previous record total of £6,500 and all money raised will mainly support the Rivers 2 U education project which saw the Trust engage with more than 1,250 children in 2023, helping to inspire the next generation of environmentalists.
Group Meeting
The December Meeting will be Thursday 5th December. Please get in touch if you’d like to join us.