Bradford Environmental Education Services

BEES have created a small nature reserve in partnership with the University of Bradford on land on their Laisteridge lane campus. The Reserve began life in 1990 and although it has seen several changes over the years, it still offers a wonderful space for wildlife near the city centre.

It consists of two medium sized ponds, an area of trees and wildflower rich grassland. The ponds host a large population of Brown Hawker dragonflies and several species of damselfly. Birds regularly seen include goldfinch, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, blackbirds and thrushes.

Our priorities for management this autumn are to remove some of the submerged and marginal vegetation to allow more open water. Unfortunately we have New Zealand Pygmy weed, an invasive non-native plant, in the pond which needs controlling. We will also manage the trees to allow more sunlight into the pond.

The Reserve offers a great opportunity for our conservation volunteer group and for local schools to visit for environmental education sessions which compliment the classroom curriculum.

The orchard was developed on six disused allotment plots adjacent to Bowling Park, we were asked to get involved to help improve the site and engage the local community in it’s ongoing development.

In March 2003 we planted over 40 trees including

• 35 varieties of apple,
• 6 pears and
• 4 plums.

The orchard is managed by our Conservation Volunteer group and we have established the Friends of Bowling Park Community Orchard who support with the vital  ongoing management of the Orchard including our annual Apple Day community event.

In partnership with Hallmark and Bellevue Girls’ Academy YMCA Bradford’s BEES team support the woodland management at Stoney Ridge for its landscape, biodiversity and educational benefits, as well as promoting community engagement and cohesion projects.

The planation comprises of 40 acres of woodland

• There are at least 75 plant and animal species recorded at the site.
• Three small ponds are greatly increasing the sites biodiversity and winter visiting birds have been recorded including: Aythya fuligula (the Tufted Duck) and Buteo buteo (the Common Buzzard)
• SAP (Species Action Plans) species present are: Song thrush, Starling, and Noctule , Soprano and Pipistrelle bats, and Common toad

The site is also regularly used for our Shaping Spaces programmes where participants are able to connect with nature to help promote their wellbeing.

As the designs for Culture Fusion developed it was obvious the footprint of the building was going to cover almost all the available space. So in order to create a garden space the architects incorporated a first floor garden at the back of the building stretching out over Bradford Beck.

The planting plans for the garden were to create a wildflower meadow and plant a native hedge in the galvanised planters that surround the meadow area.

• The trees planted were a mix of native speices chosen to provide a range of colour, shape and food for the birds and insects (birch, alder, field maple, hawthorn, hazel, rowan and a few dog rose).
• The meadow the area has been divided into 3 planting schemes. A couple of small patches are a mix of low growing wildflowers; the narrow end of the meadow is a mix of grass (70%) and low growing flowers, whilst the wide end is a grass mix with taller growing flowers.