Twenty-two students and three University staff volunteered to work with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the Buglife Urban Buzz scheme, at Water Haigh Woodland Park this week. 

Students from Barbados, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Spain and the United Kingdom thinned out existing woodland, created a new wildflower meadow, and planted various bulbs in the surrounding area.

This work will help to create a habitat which will support all kinds of pollinators, allowing them to thrive. Given the concerning decline of insect populations globally, creating and supporting these habitats is absolutely crucial.

Elspeth, Reserves Officer at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, says: 'I would like to thank all the students and staff from Leeds uni who worked tirelessly, lopping, sawing, litter picking, raking, planting, and sowing to enhance the site for wildlife. What a difference a day makes!'.

The event was part of the National Student Volunteering Week, which is running between 11th – 17th February, but was also part of the ongoing partnership work between the University of Leeds, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and Buglife’s Urban Buzz scheme in Leeds.

Thank you to Tesco's Bags of Help scheme for funding the seed in our “Wildflowers for Woodlesford” project.

If you're interested in getting your community involved with practical conservation work, why not consider one of our Wild Work Days?

You can explore what Buglife do as part of their Urban Buzz project via their Twitter.