26/10/16 - Skerne YWT

Throughout September the team were hard at work cutting the meadow at Thornton Ellers and transporting it as 'green hay' to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s new reserve at Skerne near Driffield, where the chalk streams that form the headwaters of the River Hull rise through the Yorkshire Wolds. Many of these streams are recognised as important habitats and are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The YWT have been working with the Environment Agency and NE to develop a restoration plan to improve the area, with the aim of turning this former 70-acre commercial fish farm into a mosaic of wetland habitats. All being well, as the seed drops out from our green hay (species such as Devils-bit Scabious, Ragged Robin, Marsh Valerian, Water/Corn Mint and Trifid-bur Marigold), it will help develop these fen and wet grassland communities, whilst linking up the site with others in the Hull Valley that we’ve also been helping with – Tophill Low and Leven Carrs. It’s exciting to be involved in such a landscape scale river catchment project – and many thanks as always to our volunteers for the extra help.