In the New Year our monthly working parties in Hagg Wood have continued with renewed vigour. We would like to thank the new members who have joined us within the last few months. Our next conservation working parties are on Saturdays 6th April and 4th May between 10am to 1pm, so do get in touch if you would like to join us, for these or our other activities, via our website www.fohw.org.uk or https://haggwood.wordpress.com/contact/.
Recent working parties have focused on clearing rhododendrons and brash from Barbara’s Glade in the north of the wood, so that sunlight is now increasingly able to penetrate the more open woodland floor. The area is becoming very attractive and biodiverse. We are looking forward to bigger populations of butterflies and other insects, and there promises to be a wonderful profusion of foxgloves later this year. Some areas of the Glade are marshy and are ideal habitat for frogs.
Access to green spaces is an important objective of the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 and for which Britain’s extensive public footpath network provides a very valuable resource. However, a recent BBC investigation has found 32,000 points at which public footpaths in England and Wales are blocked to the public. The new Environmental Land Management scheme in which landowners receive public money for the public goods they provide could help to resolve this problem. The Open Spaces Society, of which we are members, has launched a new initiative to support this goal.
Our Spring programme starts with an illustrated talk on York’s precious colony of Tansy Beetles by Dr Geoff Oxford in the Reading Room on Thursday 4th April at 7.30pm, which is open to members and interested non-members. On Sunday 21st April we will visit the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s North Cave Wetlands Nature Reserve, for plenty of birdlife and fresh air. From quarries and lorries to avocets and bitterns, the ongoing transformation of this working sand and gravel quarry into a shining example of a 21st-century wetland is truly extraordinary. This 56 hectare site is of regional importance to birdlife. We are meeting at 9.30am at the Reading Room car park, with lifts available. Bring a packed lunch and binoculars if you have them.
Friends of Hagg Wood 