04 Sep
Review of “Haybox Cooking – Save Energy with Fireless cookers”
Written by Ivana Jakubkova, Events Officer Simply put, haybox is an insulated box which turns part cooked food into a finished meal without using any extra heat. Hay, the early insulating material, can be replaced with a variety of other materials and various forms of haybox cookers are saving firewood or gas around the world. […]
30 Aug
Highlights A mouse and a mouse-like bird.. best month ever for hoverflies.. we seek him here, we seek him there – but we didn’t find him! Weather Dry, 16C – 20C with some sun on the first three Wildwatch Wednesdays.. rain on the 26th. Birds Our summer visitors were recorded every Wednesday in July. At […]
29 Aug
Wednesday afternoons throughout July were generally overcast yet it was still very warm with temperatures around 20 degrees most weeks, though the 26th was slightly cooler at 17 degrees. Still, we had a very successful month and came across lots of exciting species. Birds Around the pond this month, we were not disappointed by our […]
25 Aug
Coffee: it’s about so much more than taste…
Recycling Coordinator Sam Taylor looks at the factors you may not think about when you buy coffee… Whenever we buy anything we are telling manufacturers and producers we are OK with how they package it, how they market it and even how they produce it. You may have heard the term “voting with your pennies” […]
31 Jul
Spotlight: How they climb
Most of us go up and down steps and slopes without stopping to think about it, unless an injury or advancing age turns it into a conscious effort. Some of us enjoy the physical challenges and rewards of hill walking. A few serious mountaineers get kicks out of trying to get up sheer rock faces. […]
31 Jul
Derwenthorpe Wildwatch: May & June 2017
May brought us varying temperatures from 12 degrees on a particularly wet afternoon to 23 degrees on a particularly sunny afternoon. Still, there was plenty to see around the site throughout the month with some old, familiar species being spotted along with some new arrivals as well. June was a slightly warmer month with temperatures […]
27 Jul
Green Myths Busted
You asked for it, so here it is! We hope you find this blog a useful resource for busting common misconceptions about being or going green. If there’s something you’ve heard conflicting things about, please let us know and we will do our best to clear it up for you. And if this blog does […]
13 Jul
Highlights More breeding bird evidence, including juvenile Blackcaps.. 10 butterfly and 18 hoverfly species.. meadow now carpeted with colourful flowers (and the flower that looks like a bee!) Weather Temperatures stayed below 20C on all the Wildwatch Wednesdays. Sunny intervals and light breezes for the first two Wednesdays. The final Wildwatch of June – the […]
28 Jun
On Friday 16th June we launched our Scything for Grassland Management Project, Tim attended and wrote up this brilliant blog (originally posted here) that summarises the project and the day really well. The Grasslands Management Project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. A bit about Tim: I work in ecology and biodiversity in North […]
23 Jun
The story of the Painted Lady Butterfly Vanessa cardui is full of surprises, and some facts about its life have only recently been discovered. We don’t see them every year on the reserve at St Nicholas Fields, but when they do appear, as they did in 2013, 2015 and 2016, they charm us with their […]
