Projects Updates:

23/06/2009 11:05: Creating new habitat at a nature reserve

What better way to make your mark than to help create an entirely new habitat at a nature reserve?
Potteric Carr is an important nature reserve, both for visitors and the thousands of birds who call it home. The reserve is currently undergoing a huge expansion and new wetland habitats are being created to encourage Bitterns (a rare bird in England) to breed.
Before this GreenPrints Event a new lake had been dug and filled but was lacking the all-important reed beds. With this in mind, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (the organisation responsible for looking after the reserve) arranged the first ever GreenPrints Event

Despite the rain and lots of mud, around 40 volunteers spent the day planting reeds on the edge of the newly created wetland habitat. The working party was made up of volunteers from Doncaster's Open Cast group, BTCV, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and a number of other local young people that were keen to see what conservation was all about. By mid morning the transformation was already beggining to take place and the reeds were making a noticeable difference to the otherwise barren area.
The hard work (and occasional mud fight) was interrupted briefly when a party of VIP's including MP John Healey arrived to show their support for the first ever GreenPrints Event.
This project was a great way to start the GreenPrints programme and fantastic news for the bird population of South Yorkshire.