St Nicks

Core Group Members Present: Eileen, Jonathan, Steven Exciting times on the Bearing Fruit project as after 9 months of research, planning, mapping and expert consultancy we have finally decided on the trees for the orchard! Trees ordered are a mix of top fruits including apples, plums and pears, hedging trees such as blackthorn, crab apple, […]

Group Members Present: Eileen, Steven H, Steven, Patrick, Ross, Paul, Richard, Vicki, Jonathan Monday 24th October saw Bearing Fruit’s Core Group host a family planting day at St Nicks. It was a little early for planting trees so wildflowers were brought which will help bring some of the orchard sites to life when they flower […]

Weather: Overcast, dull, cool, light breeze. Observers: Kaj, Kallan, Ian Our run of beautiful weather on Wednesday mornings couldn’t last! Today, the autumn colours were rather muted by the dull light. But, with very little wind, our bird population was quite active, and there were still a few flowering plants around. The water level in […]

Weather: Mainly sunny late am. Slight breeze. Lovely light – again! Observers: Jonathan, Kaj, Kaye, Ian, with rangers and reserve volunteers, and Alan Braddock, our guest naturalist. For the third Wednesday in a row, we have been fortunate with the weather, with, later in the morning, blue skies and lovely autumn colours. How long will […]

Weather: Mainly sunny, chilly breeze, beautiful light again Observers: Jonathan, Kaye, Rachel, Ian Another delightful morning, if a little cool. Autumn is definitely under way! And the autumn colours are getting stronger. Recent rain has raised water levels in the two becks, and Osbaldwick Beck is now flowing, instead of being a tangled mass of vegetation! […]

Weather: Sunny, cool breeze, beautiful light! Observers: Kaye, Jonathan, Ian A complete contrast to last Wednesday’s wet Wildwatch, with sunshine, beautiful light and lovely autumn colours. Water levels in both becks were still quite high, but not as high as last week. Birds: We conducted a slightly more formal survey of Robin territories, mapping the locations […]

Weather: Light, continuous rain; no wind. Observers: Kaye, Ian Water levels in both Tang Hall and Osbaldwick Becks were very high due to the overnight (and morning!) rain. Annual plants along Osbaldwick Beck are dying back noticeably.  There are still some berries on early fruiting shrubs – elder, bramble, blackthorn.  And there’s abundant rose hips, haws,  […]

Weather: Overcast; fresh, warm SW wind. Observers: Matt, Ian Birds: About 5 Robins were heard around the reserve, suggesting that we can soon start to carry out our plan to map Robin territories. We spent about 45 minutes at the “Kingfisher Culvert” on Tang Hall Beck, where Matt saw his first ever Kingfisher! It was the usual […]

Bearing Fruit is a new project all about growth. Growth in confidence, teamwork, skills and of course… fruit! This year and next, our Ecominds grant will enable the establishment of a community orchard. This will be part of a local nature reserve that is being developed on a site which was was once York’s landfill […]

Weather:  cool, breezy, overcast with frequent showers. In about an hour’s walk along the top of the meadow, through the thicket  to the culvert, and along the top path back to the centre, we saw very few birds and absolutely nothing else animate except a grey squirrel. A juvenile bullfinch with an adult female was […]