St Nicks

Our Volunteer Coordinator Maria summaries April at Derwenthorpe as well as explaining just what was involved in the Hedgehog day at St Nicks, how you can help the hedgehogs and what we hope to see in May… We had an interesting month at Derwenthorpe, changing the usual format of the sessions for a couple of […]

This blog has been written by the leader of our Creative Writing course, Emma Mckenzie. The creative writing course is one of the ways our Ecotherapy project may help those suffering from mental ill health. Ecotherapy recognises that being in green spaces and connecting to nature can be good for our mental health and wellbeing. […]

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) is arguably St Nicks’ most colourful bird – although Bullfinch is a close contender! These black, white, brown, yellow and red (yes, count the colours!) finches are present at St Nicks all year round, and they breed on the reserve. They are widespread resident breeding birds throughout most of the UK and […]

Here Sam Taylor, our Recycling Coordinator (and driving force behind the challenge), discusses the highs and lows of the first month of Zero Plastic Fantastic with the team. Living plastic free, even if the only plastics you are realistically cutting out are “single use”, is hard. I don’t think any of us had expected or […]

March saw not only the arrival of spring but the beginning of our regular Wildwatch sessions at Derwenthorpe. Although the sessions will be led by myself for the most part, I would like to say a huge thank you to our Nature Reserve Manager, Jonathan Dent, who has done all the hard work to get […]

Highlights The flowers that bloom in the spring (tra-la!).. the year’s first butterflies appear, and the Harlequinade begins.. mewing in the air and creeping in the garden! Weather Temperatures started to creep up during the month, starting with a cool 4C on the 1st and reaching 11C later on subsequent Wildwatch Wednesdays. There were some […]

In honour of today’s World Health Day on the theme of Depression, our Volunteer Co-ordinator Maria Gill has put together this blog. Maria works closely with our Ecotherapy project manager Kathy. We hope you find the information useful. What is depression? Depression can feel differently depending on who is experiencing it; generally it is thought of […]

Wordsworth’s once-famous poem “To the small celandine” is unlikely to hit the spot for most modern readers, but it’s interesting that he’s honest enough to admit that he’d been seeing this pretty little flower for thirty or more years before he realised what it was and finally took a good look at it. Once he […]

Highlights Winter birds still with us, but signs of Spring.. First hoverfly of the year enjoys the snowdrops, while beetle is one-in-a-thousand Weather Cool (4 – 9C) but with some sunny intervals. The Wildwatch team stayed dry! Birds Winter visitors are, not surprisingly, still with us! Two Redwings flew over on the 8th and there […]

A report on 8th March 2017 One Planet York Mingle, by Ivana Jakubkova (St Nicks Events Officer who co-organised the event.) Food is something that we all need and it has big impacts far beyond our plates. With around 200,000 residents in York, we are talking at least 600,000+ food choices every day. These choices […]