Tag: wildlife
How can I help wildlife thrive in my garden over winter?
Many of us would like to find ways to support our local wildlife, especially when the weather is cold. Here are some of our top tips. Shelter Let (some of) your garden grow wild and leave piles of leaves or long grass to provide shelter for animals and nesting spots for birds. Think about building […]
Developing York’s Green Corridors – and a big welcome to new volunteer Beki
By Jonathan Dent, St Nicks Natural Habitats Manager. We know that so-called “green corridors” are important. By connecting fragments of green space in the urban landscape, these corridors link access to habitats and reduce the isolation of wildlife populations, enabling plants and animals to flourish and improving biodiversity. They also provide benefits for humans by […]
Love Letter to Heworth Holme
By St Nicks Volunteer, Tessa McClary Look under a leaf, and you’ll spot a bright red ladybug. Dig under the carpet of grass, and you’ll see a worm inching its way through the mud. Watch the puddle next to the bund, until a golden frog lopes his way down to the water. If you […]
With a little help from our friends: St Nicks volunteers making a difference
Our hard working and hardy volunteers have been at it again, day and night, come rain or shine. Apart from our regular weekly sessions, we offer plenty of drop-in opportunities if you’d like to volunteer with us to look for wildlife or to help York to bloom and buzz. Here is a summary of recent […]
Spotlight on… Tawny Owls
Our brilliant Meadow Keepers intern, Eithne Phillips, has written Octobers spotlight, giving us insight into the wonderful world of Tawny Owls. The Tawny Owl is one of Britain’s most familiar species of owl and has been heard throughout our forests, woodlands and parklands for thousands of years. Our relationship with owls has often been a […]
Spotlight on… Common Carder Bumblebee
The Common Carder Bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum, is the most frequently seen Bumblebee on the reserve at St Nicks, though the Tree Bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum, is rapidly catching it up. Tree Bumblebees first arrived in the south of England in 2001 from continental Europe, and have since spread northwards, reaching Yorkshire in 2010 and Scotland three […]
Volunteer Insights: Jacob
For our final volunteer insight blog, I spoke to Jacob who has been volunteering since September 2017 as part of his studies. Currently at sixth form at Archbishop Holgates, Jacob volunteers to get experience away from the classroom. As a young student still in school education, I thought it would be great to see what […]
Volunteer Insights: Kaye and Cliff
For the fourth installment of our volunteer insights, I spoke to Cliff and Kaye who, along with Ian, lead our Wildwatch sessions, to find out more about their volunteering experience. What is your role at St Nicks and what does that involve? Kaye: Currently three of them: serving as a trustee; a founder member of the […]
Why Litter Pick?
Nature Reserve Manager Jonathan Dent tells us why we should care more about what happens to rubbish washing away down the river. Have you ever noticed the litter that is piling up in your local river or stream? Perhaps not: the following week, it has often disappeared. It’s more than likely that, rather than being […]
Ecotherapy diary: participant stories
Absorbing and relaxing, helpful, welcoming and friendly, and giving people the chance to learn new things about nature are just some of the ways people describe the Ecotherapy programme at St Nicks. In this blog, three of our participants share their personal stories about their Ecotherapy journey, showing that we really do help people in recovery from […]
