Come and join us for one of our free interpretative woodland walks taking place as part of this year’s ‘Spring in the Woods’ event at Ecclesall Woods. To book your place please use the contact form.
Tag: sheffield woodland connections
Free Ecclesall Woods walks – Sunday 21st October
Come and join us for one of our free interpretative woodland walks taking place as part of this year’s ‘Feast in the Forest’ event at Ecclesall Woods. To book your place please use the contact form.
Talk: “The Changing Wildlife & Fauna of Sheffield Area Woods”
Talk: “The Changing Wildlife & Fauna of Sheffield Area Woods” by Bob Croxton.
Date: Tuesday 21st August.
Time: 2.15pm at the Discovery Centre, Ecclesall Woods.
Friends of Ecclesall Woods have arranged a public talk which should be of particular interest to those who want to learn more about ecology in Sheffield’s woodlands.
Bob has been taking photos in certain areas on a regular basis for many years and has observed the changes that take place when more dominant species move in. Are brambles and holly more of a threat to our bluebells than any invasion by the Spanish variety? Come and see Bob’s photos showing changes in the incidence of bluebells and many other species as well.
Bob is an active member of the Sorby Society and has contributed to the recent Sheffield State of Nature report published by the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust.
Planting disease-resistant elms
A national trial has been launched to help find disease-resistant elms that will be able to survive future outbreaks of Dutch Elm Disease. Sheffield’s Greno Woods nature reserve was chosen as one of the test sites and the planting of 24 saplings took place this morning with the help of the Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust and a group of volunteers.
The project is led by Dr David Herling, a leading expert on elms, with the aim of establishing eight experimental plantations across the UK in a variety of climate and soil conditions. Greno Woods is the latest site to be included in the initiative and the costs were covered by a crowdfunding campaign, launched by local elm-enthusiast Paul Selby.
Some of the varieties chosen for the elm plantation are so new that they have yet to be properly named. It will be roughly ten years before there is enough tree growth to judge the project’s outcome, however it is wonderful to see the early stages of attempts to reintroduce this iconic tree species back into the British landscape. If successful the experiment will definitively establish which elm to plant in what location to ensure the best chance of surviving Dutch Elm Disease.
Planting our ‘Legacy Tree’
The Woodland Trust kindly offered a ‘Legacy Tree’ to any Tree Charter branch that wanted to plant one. Sheffield Woodland Connections requested a hornbeam and we planted it at the end of January in a new area of woodland being created on Whirlow Playing Fields, off Limb Lane in Sheffield.
The site adjoins the Limb Brook section of Ecclesall Woods and has been planted by Sheffield’s Community Woodland team with help from many volunteers. Although it does not look like much at the moment, several hundred new trees were planted in one day. It will look very different in just a few years time.
Our hornbeam sapling is keeping good company, as it is planted only a few metres away from the Save Dore, Totley and Bradway Trees group’s ‘Legacy Tree’. Both have a metal plaque to help identify them.