06/03/26 - Signs of spring

Last week we heard about the first record for the year of a Brimstone butterfly (male on the wing at Skipwith Common NNR), which is a sure sign that spring is on the way – or indeed it might have already arrived – certainly felt like it last week! 😄😎 

Brimstones are medium-sized butterflies with veined, leaf-shaped wings – making them one of our more unusual and eye-catching species. Males are a bright yellow-green colour (the colour of butter – and possibly where the generic name of butterfly came from) and in comparison, the females are very pale, but both sexes have a small orange spot on each wing 🦋

The butterflies appearing on the wing now will have emerged from their chrysalis in July last year and survived the winter, and are now searching for a mate, before laying their eggs on the larval food plant (leaves of buckthorn and alder buckthorn). Brimstones are one of the earlier species to be seen on the wing (this sighting falls six days earlier than the first one recorded there in 2025) and take advantage of various plant species, often favouring purple flowers early in the season (image from our NNR Base garden in a previous year in summer) 🪻📸

During the last week of February the first returning Woodlark was also heard singing at Skipwith Common NNR which is always a great sign of spring, and it was shortly followed by the first sighting of an Adder there a day later. Woodlarks and Adders are both associated with the Common and its remaining areas of lowland heath, with the site managed accordingly for both species - by maintaining extensive open heathland areas, sunny glades, pockets of scrub, basking sites, woody habitat piles, dead hedging and hibernacula locations. 

However, both species are also prone to recreational disturbance, so please try to stick to the footpaths and keep dogs on leads, and if you are fortunate to come across either species, please take photographs from a safe and respectful distance to avoid disturbing our local wildlife and giving them room to thrive.

01/03/26 - Curlew return

Last weekend our BTO Wetland Bird Survey count resulted in a pleasing total of 73 Curlew already back in the Lower Derwent Valley 🐦

Numbers have increased from 30 at the start of the month, to 50 by the 7th, and many individuals can now be heard displaying over the flooded Ings, with their excited, bubbling calls one of the sounds that we love to hear each year – so evocative, and a key sound and sight of the Lower Derwent Valley and surrounding area. It was also interesting to note that two birds spotted at the weekend were individually identifiable from their colour-rings, and from our records show that they have chosen the same territory that has been used annually now for the last five years 🐥

Sadly, the Curlew is one of our most rapidly declining breeding bird species (showing a 46% decline across the UK from 1994-2010) and with the UK holding 28% of the European breeding population, the species has recently been listed as globally near threatened, but... fortunately, we do have good populations across the reserve, with up to 70 pairs recorded in recent years, and unlikely many places in the country, good levels of breeding productivity have been noted. We have also been busy working with the local farming community to delay hay cuts, and through our Responsible Recreation Project, to minimise disturbance to try and help these birds and ensure they have a safe stronghold for the years to come 🪶 

Thanks to local wildlife photographer Stuart Campbell for the image, taken in a previous year in the Lower Derwent Valley 📸

17/02/26 - Skipwith Common NNR

Whilst the Lower Derwent Valley is currently doing a fantastic job of being a floodplain, our amazing volunteers have been hard at work on the slightly drier ground of Skipwith Common NNR. Armed with bowsaws, loppers and plenty of enthusiasm, they’ve been busy cutting back young birch and pine saplings to keep the heathland areas open and thriving. This work is being undertaken to make sure the site is in favourable condition for some of the key species that can be found on the Common such as Woodlarks, Adders, Lizards, Marsh Gentians and Round-leaved Sundew, not forgetting the Nightjar, who flies all the way from Africa to spend the summer on the heath! 🌍🐦

So far, we’ve worked our way through several hectares, and we couldn’t have achieved this without our ever-growing volunteer crew, as well as the brilliant staff from WSP/FPRC Ecology and the Natural England north-east team, who swapped their desks for fresh air and made a huge difference with us at the end of last year 🌳🌲

Since the turn of this year, our hardy crew of volunteers have continued this work, with only a little bit left to finish now before the breeding season commences next month, and our attentions turn back to the Lower Derwent Valley – when (hopefully) the floodwater will have receded, and we may be busy carrying out flood damage repairs 🪚🪓🪛

10/02/26 - Forge Valley Woods NNR

Over the last couple of months our team have been splitting their time between the Lower Derwent Valley and Forge Valley Woods NNR, where we’ve been teaming up with Raincliffe Woods Community Enterprise and Butterfly Conservation volunteers to help manage this special woodland 🌲🌳

Our team, who are not shy of a challenge, have been hard at work (and in all weathers) clearing fallen trees from public rights of way and tackling storm-damaged trees so that the boardwalk can be replaced with a safer and better surface for visitors to enjoy, and whilst one section of the boardwalk does remain closed for now, the northern part of the reserve is still open, with the planned work expected to be completed by the summer 🌞😎🥾

During this time we’ve also been busy working alongside the river, opening up glades and re-coppicing bankside trees to let more light in, which will lead to more spring flowers, and provide a much-needed boost for butterflies, moths and bees, and when the coppice regrows, it will then create perfect nesting spots for birds and hiding places for mammals like wood mice and field voles 🐦🐞🦋🐌🐝

More recently we've also been opening up the quarry faces for their geological interest and valuable invertebrate habitat, and strimming the calcareous grassland pockets which will hopefully help species like rock rose flourish. A full litter-pick has also been carried out at both quarries and along the roadside, making the site nicer and safer for wildlife and visitors alike - nice to also see spurge laurel and wild garlic, and the first snowdrops of the year 🌿☘️ 🌷🪻🌺

Huge thank you as always to our fantastic team for their efforts recently, without whom, we simply would not be able to achieve even a fraction of our work load. If you'd like to join our team and are interested in helping out on your local NNRs, please contact Lucy.Murgatroyd@naturalengland.org.uk for more details 📩

07/02/26 - White-fronted Geese arrival

This winter, especially over the last few days, there has been a considerable arrival of White-fronted Geese into the UK, including the Lower Derwent Valley – the first 20 were found on the reserve on Thursday, with numbers then increasing to around 400 on Friday and further to between 500-600 on Saturday. The arrival of these birds is likely to be due to a cold-weather movement, with them jumping across the North Sea from the Netherlands and Low Countries to escape the harsh weather. 

White-fronted Geese are most easily distinguished from other geese by the white flash on their forehead and around the bill, dark stripes on their belly and orange legs. These ‘pink-billed’ birds belong to the ‘Russian’ breeding population in tundra regions, and with Britain being on the western most fringe of their wintering range, numbers can vary greatly depending on how bad the winter weather is in any given year. 

Numbers wintering in the UK have averaged 2,000 in recent years (well short of the numbers present in previous decades) due to many birds now ‘short-stopping’ as climate change makes wintering in mainland Europe more attractive. The new ‘Birds of the LDV’ book reveals a similar scale of influx in February 1993 when numbers finally reached 830 later in the month (presently the record count for the site). Whilst visiting the reserve please do let us know if you come across any, and if you'd like to find out more about the species that visit the NNRs, there's still time to pre-order yourself a copy of our new book, just send an email to Lucy.Murgatroyd@naturalengland.org.uk