St Nicks

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 […]

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 […]

As part of our work towards Zero Waste, four of St Nicks staff undertook a Zero Plastic Fantastic Challenge over the 2 months of April and May 2017. You can read up on the rules and what motivated us to avoid single use plastic and use as little non-recyclable plastic as possible over the time […]

Carrying on with our volunteer interviews, Volunteer Co-ordinator Maria Gill has caught up with one of St Nicks wonderful placement students to find out more about why he chose St Nicks for his placement and what keeps him coming back. Keep an eye out for more volunteer insights over the next few weeks! One of […]

Highlights Record number of hoverflies (including 4 new to St Nicks); scarce summer bird visitor returns (and two stunning juvenile water birds); the magnificent big yellow “L”! Weather Temperatures ranged from 14C to 19C. Some sun (especially on the 3rd and 10th). We stayed dry! Birds On the 3rd, A Whitethroat sang all morning near […]

It’s Volunteer Week! In honour of our fantastic volunteers Maria Gill our wonderful Volunteer Coordinator has put together a few blogs. Keep an eye out over the next few weeks to find out what volunteering at St Nicks is really like and what they get up to. Now the Volunteer Coordinator, I started my St […]

The month of June heralds the emergence of Skipper butterflies at St Nicks, bringing a welcome gleam of gold on flower heads, especially in the grassy areas. Of the eight British skipper species Small Skipper Thymelicus sylvestris and Large Skipper Ochlodes sylvanus can always be found on the reserve in summer, while a further two […]

Highlights New bumblebee and hoverfly species for St Nicks brighten up a cold month.. bird breeding season underway.. possible new breeding species? .. herbaceous flowers peak mid-April Weather Generally a cool month, around 14 – 15C, but dipping down to a chilly 6 – 7C on the 26th. Some sunshine, breezy at times – but […]

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. […]