15/08/26 - Ellerton Churchyard

It’s that time of year when our team have once again been working hard to help Ellerton Church Preservation Trust undertake the annual hay cut of the churchyard, with the aim of improving the diversity of wildflowers and spreading the benefits of the Ings hay meadows outside of the boundary 🌿🪻

As another growing season is over, we are pleased to say that the management of the churchyard is working as intended, with increasing amounts of Yellow Rattle and Greater Burnet, as well as many other herbs and finer grasses, along with other typical ‘Ings’ species that are now found in increasing numbers amongst the headstones. Whilst in recent years the churchyard has been looking more welcoming and awash with colour during the summer months, it is also now more resilient in the drought compared with many other areas of mown/drought-stricken grasslands, and so it's worth a mention and reminder of how our churchyards and gardens are incredibly important in providing valuable habitat for the local wildlife if managed correctly 🚜

Each year after our team have cut the meadow, it is then turned before being dried and made into bales by Rosewood Farms – helping both biodiversity of the site and the local farming community in producing feed for livestock. If you haven’t yet visited this area of the Lower Derwent Valley it’s somewhere worth calling on your next visit – set right next to the Ings the church overlooks the winter floods and is rather a special place in the local landscape – complete with its breeding Barn Owls who also feature in a specially made stained-glass window within the church, which details some of the history and wildlife of the Ings 🦉🪟

As always, it’s been yet another fantastic effort by our team, enabling the ongoing management of the churchyard and helping to make more places better for wildlife and people in our local area, and helping nature to recover and spill out from the core of the valley – huge thank you to our brilliant team for their efforts 👏 

08/08/26 - Clouded Yellow/HBHM records

We’ve enjoyed several sightings of two special visitors of late, with the Clouded Yellow butterfly and Humming-bird Hawk-moth making appearances across the reserve, including in our NNR Base Garden.

The Hummingbird Hawk-moth is a small, day-flying moth, and is a summer visitor to the UK, migrating from Southern Europe in variable numbers each year, and appearing to be on the increase as our climate changes. In some years it can be common and seen in gardens, hovering as its names suggests like a Hummingbird as it feeds on the nectar of honeysuckle, red valerian and other nectar-rich species. 

The Clouded Yellow is one of our migratory European butterflies and is a regular visitor to Britain and Ireland, and although some of these golden-yellow butterflies are seen every year, the species is famous for occasional mass immigrations and subsequent breeding, which are known as 'Clouded Yellow Years'. A few individuals have been reported across the county this year, with the warm weather undoubtedly accounting for the influx of this southern range species.

It's been 15 years since our NNR Base Garden was originally planted by our team, with the idea of making it a demonstration bee and butterfly garden – including nectar-rich plant species such as cowslips, purple loosestrife, scabious, foxgloves, lavender, buddleia and water mint. As we hoped it would, this garden has proved to be a hive of activity, producing high counts of butterflies, in particular whites on the lavender, along with Small Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals, Commas and Peacocks on the buddleia. A number of bee species have also taken a liking to the lavender, whilst hoverflies and moths have been numerous – why not try this yourself and make a home for pollinators in your own garden – let us know how you get on!