Ripon City Wetlands is one of the Trust’s newest reserves, created at the side of Ripon Racecourse, where recent new islands have been created on both the Canal and Riverside lagoons. As well as its famous starling murmurations, Ripon City Wetlands is renowned for sand martins, lapwings and little ringed plovers in the spring, and these new islands will create the perfect breeding grounds for these spring visitors.
At Staveley, a vast wetland reserve nearby, even more extensive works have been taking place. The existing islands in the West Lagoon had become quite overgrown with vegetation, making them unusable for many nesting waders, and work has been underway to scrape the vegetation off, the spoil being put to the sides to increase the area of the islands.
The Trust then topped the islands with stone, providing a great renewed nesting habitat safe from the dangers of land predators. Common breeding birds at Staveley include summer visitors such as sand martin and several species of warbler, with common tern breeding on the dedicated rafts put out for them, and the work has created the ideal conditions for wading birds such as little ringed plover and oystercatcher which can also now able to breed on the exposed bare ground and islands of West Lagoon.
A butterfly bank at the site has been created by creating a small, gravel-based bank with open areas of short, dense and longer grass, mixed with areas of bare ground. The bank has been seeded with wild flowers which will attract a beautiful diverse range of butterflies and moths like small copper, ringlets and brown argus, and will provide valuable breeding space for the butterflies and moths. Staveley, once part of a plant-rich area called Staveley Carrs, has been restored from its role as a working quarry to a wild wetland paradise, with work ongoing to make sure habitats on the reserve provide the broadest appeal possible to wildlife.
Laura Harman, Nature Reserves Manager for North Central Yorkshire, said, “It has been exciting to step outside our traditional habitat management work to conserve existing habitats, and also create new and improved habitats to usher in a much broader variety of wildlife. We are hopeful that the ongoing work at Staveley and Ripon City Wetlands will create a much-needed space for our wetland wildlife. A big thanks to everyone involved!”
The extensive works at Staveley have been funded by the FCC Communities Foundation and the Trust’s recent Staveley Appeal. Our thanks go to the individuals who so kindly provided the third-party contribution to make our FCC application possible, and to everyone who gave to the coinciding appeal which raised an additional £19,000. Over the next few months, further work will include brand new interpretation across the Staveley site, new accessible picnic benches, and a raised pond for pond dippers to enjoy.
FCC Communities Foundation is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community projects through the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund.
Cheryl Raynor, FCC Communities Foundation Grant Manager, says: “We are delighted to be supporting Yorkshire Wildlife Trust with this project and pleased that our funding is helping to create a fantastic space for both wildlife and visitors alike. FCC Communities Foundation is always happy to consider grant applications for projects that make a difference to local communities, and this is a great example of what can be achieved.