04/07/26 - Himalayan Balsam

It’s that time of year again when Himalayan Balsam is starting to takeover and start flowering, and whilst we know it’s good for our bee species, unfortunately it forms dense carpets which shade out native ground flora, and so creating a serious problem (reducing diversity of flowering plants) and therefore having an adverse knock-on effect for many species in the food chain 🦋🐞🪲🕷️🐟

Also, due to this species being shallow rooted it fails to bind the soil together, and after having excluded almost all of the other plants from being able to survive, the ground alongside riverbanks, ditch sides and elsewhere in the floodplain becomes at risk of eroding away. However, good news is that the seed produced by such vast stands is usually only viable for a couple of years, so if we can prevent it from flowering and seeding then it is possible to reduce its competitiveness and restore a more diverse native vegetation cover 🪻

Our teams will be hard at work over the next few weeks hand pulling and strimming vast areas of balsam, as will many other people – residents, birders and groups have taken it upon themselves to pull it on their daily or weekly walks, and the Bubwith ‘balsam bashers’ have made huge progress clearing it from around the riverbanks and elsewhere in the Parish (after just one season the results are fantastic with balsam few and far between), and in its place patches of Marsh Woundwort and Figwort can be found. The Pocklington Canal Society are holding task days along the canal this summer, so there’s plenty of options if you’d like to lend a hand –  to join in or organise a group task in the LDV please contact Lucy.Murgatroyd@naturalengland.org.uk or for tasks along the Pocklington Canal please contact PCAS direct, or for Bubwith, please contact Louise Smith at the Jug & Bottle – or if you’d rather work solo, why not simply spend 10-15 mins clearing a patch when you’re out and about, and you’ll be amazed what a difference it can make! 😄

We wouldn’t be able to manage the balsam around the LDV without the extra help provided by our regular volunteers and corporate groups, so a huge thank you to our team (some pictured below) who were hard at work tackling it last summer before it went to seed 🌿 

25/06/26 - Corncrake/Aviva update

🤩 HUGE THANK YOU! 🤩

Over the last few weeks the response to the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley’s new Corncrake Aviva fund has been incredible and quite simply has blown us away – the money donated is going to make a massive difference to the reintroduction project, making sure the sound of crex’ing Corncrakes from the Ings meadows is once again a common sound of summer. The money raised will also allow greater local community engagement and work with schools in producing a new children’s Corncrake book (following on from the success of our Whimbrel and Nightjar books) – so watch this space for more details 👀

 

It’s an exciting time to be part of the LDV team and the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley, with the charity going from strength to strength each year thanks to your generosity. With another 15 days left of the project is there a chance we may reach £15,000 we wonder… here’s hoping! Raising this amount of money would be incredible – the more we raise the more we can deliver to make this reintroduction project a real success, and not just for Corncrakes, but for a whole host of species that thrive in the Ings meadows – if we get the management right for Corncrakes we will also be helping species such Curlew, Corn Buntings and Reed Buntings, not forgetting our population of harvest mice 😁

Please remember every donation made will be matched, with Aviva generously doubling each donation – if you haven't donated yet but would still like to, please use the link below – thank you 💰

Lower Derwent Valley Corncrake Reintroduction - a Community crowdfunding project in York by FoLDV

12/06/26 - Responsible Recreation

Over the past week, our Responsible Recreation Team have been busy replacing some of our signs across the reserve with new information boards, detailing how we can all help protect wildlife during the ground-nesting bird season. This is one of the most crucial times of year for many of the reserve's bird species, and we're pleased to say that 2026 is shaping up to be an exciting year, with a short summary below of how the season has unfolded so far.

• A large number of Curlew clutches began to hatch from the 21st May, and recently our team recorded six pairs with 20 newly hatched or small young at one site – we now need to hope that these young chicks have the best chance to fledge and recruit into the breeding population. 

• An impressive 69 pairs of drumming Snipe have been recorded across the reserve so far this spring.

• Several Quail have now been heard (following the first on the 6th May).

• The first-ever breeding Marsh Harriers for the site have been recorded this year.

• Several broods of Lapwing chicks have already hatched.

• It’s been a strong spring for Common Cranes – a species which could potentially colonise the site in the future.

Whilst we would like our visitors to enjoy the reserve and all the wonderful wildlife it has to offer, we ask everyone to help give these vulnerable species the best chance of success by following a few simple guidelines:

Keep dogs on leads 🐕

Stay on marked footpaths 🚶 

Use designated viewing areas 🔭 

Take notice of signs 🪧

Ground-nesting birds are particularly sensitive to disturbance, and unfortunately even well-intentioned visitors can inadvertently cause birds to leave their nests, thus exposing eggs or young chicks to predators. By keeping to designated routes, a safe environment can be created where wildlife can thrive.

You may notice livestock grazing in some areas across the reserve – grazing animals play an important role in maintaining the special habitats found across the Lower Derwent Valley, helping to create the varied conditions that species such as Curlew, Lapwing and Snipe depend upon. 

Many ground-nesting birds have evolved alongside grazing animals and are generally well adapted to their presence, and the movements of livestock are often predictable, allowing birds and grazing animals to share these habitats successfully. This is why conservation grazing remains an important part of the management of many of the UK's most important breeding sites for ground-nesting species.

Many thanks to everyone who is already helping us to look after this special landscape – together, we can ensure the reserve remains a haven for wildlife, while continuing to be a wonderful place for people to enjoy nature responsibly.

08/06/26 - Common Terns

In 2017, thanks to your support (via cards, calendars and log sales) and a kind private donation to the Friends of the LDV, four terns rafts were purchased by the charity, and since then, we’ve had the pleasure of having Common Terns breeding annually on the reserve (at least one or sometimes two pairs each year) - most notably on the rafts on the pool at Wheldrake Ings. 

Common Tern brood - Wheldrake raft - 2019

A total of 32 chicks have been hatched, ringed and fledged since that time, and so it was really pleasing to receive news about two of them this week.  

One of the chicks (ringed in July 2019) was seen at Tophill Low, whilst the other (ringed in 2023) was reported amongst the tern colony at North Cave Wetlands. In other years, we have had individuals reported from colonies at RSPB Aire Valley and the Farne Islands. One or two have also been sighted at Seaforth Nature Reserve in Merseyside and another, ringed in July 2019 (and the sibling of the bird seen recently at Tophill Low), was even spotted at sea off the coast of the Gambia. It's amazing to think how our four tern rafts and small numbers of breeding pairs have added to the population, and with each chick marked with a darvic colour-ring, it has allowed these incredible journeys to be revealed.

Common Tern - North Cave Wetland - Liz Newton

So thank you as always for your ongoing support and helping to make this happen. If you'd like to find out more about the status and ringing recoveries of our Common Terns (and other species) all of this information, and more, can be found in the new ‘Birds of the LDV’. If you’d like to purchase a copy of this book please e-mail Lucy.Murgatroyd@naturalengland.org.uk, with 100% of the sales going straight to the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley charity to help with projects such as these. Or, if you’d like to make a donation to the new Aviva fund, the books are available on there as a reward for making a donation – every penny counts with Aviva matching each donation made – more details can be found by using the link below.

https://communitiesfund.avivafoundation.org.uk/p/lower-derwent-valley-corncrake-reintroductiom#

01/06/26 - Corncrake Aviva Fund

Many thanks for all the kind comments of support on our recent post on our Corncrake reintroduction project. We’re now pleased to say that the first of this year’s chicks have arrived in the Lower Derwent Valley (14 days old) and are now settled in our pre-release pens where they will remain until 35 days old, by which point they will be imprinted on the 'LDV night sky’ and will hopefully know it as ‘home’, which, all being well, will see them return next year. Further broods will be arriving throughout the summer months, all made possible by our incredible team of dedicated volunteers, who, along with our staff, will be transporting the chicks from Norfolk to the Lower Derwent Valley through the hours of darkness to reduce the stress.

This project is being privately funded by the Friends of the LDV and Carstairs Countryside Trust – in partnership with Deepdale Conservation Trust in Norfolk. However, with the project running for another two years, we are looking to raise additional funds and are pleased to say that we have been accepted into Aviva’s Community Fund, where any donation is matched by Aviva, and their staff are also allowed to donate additional funds. The more we can raise the more we can do – both in terms of building pre-release pens and tagging and tracking more released (and wild) Corncrakes, to understand what we can do to give the project the best chance of success. 

During this time we will also be supporting work to engage local communities and drive forward wider educational and nature recovery projects related to Corncrakes and other species. If you’d like to help us meet our target and raise some much needed funds (every little bit really does help) then please make a donation of your choice, and remember whatever you choose to donate, will be matched by Aviva - making your contribution even more valuable. A few rewards are also available for the first few donations made – please follow the link below to donate and to read more about the project.

https://communitiesfund.avivafoundation.org.uk/p/lower-derwent-valley-corncrake-reintroductiom