St Nicks

Weather: Cool, with a breeze at times. Early morning clouds cleared to give a mainly sunny morning. Observers: Ian, Kaye, Kaj, Linda, Roger After the recent flooding in York and elsewhere in North Yorkshire, both Osbaldwick and Tang Hall Becks were still very high, but levels had fallen in the past day or so. We […]

On Monday, I edited the short pieces I wrote for the booklet and talked over what I have left to do with the book in the time I have left here in York. After lunch, the Bearing Fruit project went out to turn compost. Trees need to be planted soon, but some compost had to […]

Weather: Absolutely foul! A band of heavy rain, which caused flooding in SW England today, covered St Nicks for most of the morning. It was mild, and with a light breeze.. but very, very wet! Observers: The intrepid trio.. Hannah, Ian, Kaye (see rain-sodden photo of two of them right!) We set off, with gritted […]

On Monday, I started my first interview for a new booklet to be coming out soon. It’s going to be about St. Nick’s through the seasons and the people that are involved. I sorted some papers and in the afternoon, went out with the only two Bearing Fruit volunteers that showed up because of the […]

Weather: Overcast. Calm at first, increasing breeze later. Coolish! Observers: Hannah, Ian, Janetta, Kaye, Linda We had a very leisurely stroll round the reserve, spending quite a bit of time looking closely at very small things – such as galls! We strolled along the Bund Path and followed our normal route from there along the […]

Last week, Bearing Fruit went out to plant wildflower bulbs, garlic, and seed packets near the south entrance to the reserve and in a few planters close to the centre.  Also, a bunch of tree saplings of Rowan, Hawthorne, Birch, Cherry, and others arrived that day from the Forest Trust. They needed to be temporarily […]

Weather: Cloudy, fresh cool breeze Obesrvers: Diana, Ian, Janetta, Kaye, Kaj, Linda, Tom – and “Chairman Meow” (aka “Ginger the Cat”)! OK, not as silly a session as we reported on last week – except that, thanks to some local people, we found out that Ginger the cat, is actually called “Chairman Meow” – if we […]

I recently was able to go to a series of workshops hosted by York CVS, a local group that helps people find what kind of volunteering projects they’d like to get involved with. We learned hints on how to make our events better known and how to use social media more effectively. Last Tuesday was […]

Weather: cool, dry, stiff breeze Observers: Ian, Janetta, Linda, Nicole, Kaye OK so it was Halloween, and there were old scores to settle, so perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised to find the European Pygmy Flame Owl flashing ominously at us from its perch beside the culvert…  That and the persistent attentions of Ginger the […]

The Bearing Fruit group went out to transplant young Hazel trees that were growing up close together by the recycling site. If left alone, they would grow over the trail, blocking it. There were two sites in the reserve that had just enough room for some hazels to grow, one that was partially burned. The […]