Countryside report – June 2023
It’s been good to see the various wildflower sites in the parish literally bloom recently, despite the very dry spell! As well as providing a splash of colour and civic amenity for everyone to enjoy, the plant biodiversity is attractive to other life, particularly insects, creating wildlife amenity also.
Talking of which, it was great to identify Great Crested Newts in the wildlife corridor between Scissett and Shelley recently and Riverfly monitoring has been resumed in order to monitor water quality in the Dearne.
Other news from the Countryside Project includes continued high volunteer numbers, celebrated in National Volunteer Week with a picnic at Churchfield.
This was held in the orchard area, which has flourished this year, with the community allotment working in partnership with the Friends of Churchfield.
Young people continue to be engaged, e.g. Explorer Scouts, Navigators and through the Eco-Schools project, with hopefully more schools in the parish achieving the coveted Green Flag award before the end of this academic year. For example Scissett Middle are striving to retain their accreditation and hosted an excellent ‘Aspiring Eco-School’ event recently, to support other schools.
Finally we’d like to encourage groups to apply for funding for more projects through the parish environment trust: Use the link here
David Wilde
Countryside Officer
countryside@denbydale.com
07939 446581