By exceeding good fortune, the trip by Skipton Wildlife Watch group to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Grass Wood nature reserve fell on one of the few sunny and clear days we have had for several weeks. They went there for a fungi foray and tree seed collection. There were some adults there, too, collecting acorns, ash keys, rowan and guelder rose berries, hazel nuts and the fruits of the locally rare rock whitebeam.
Grass Wood, which stands on a limestone escarpment, was planted up with conifers by the Forestry Commission during the 1950s. Now, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is engaged in a five-year project to remove the non-native species and replace them with native broadleaves. Hence the seed collection. A contract has been made with a local nursery to grow seed on to seedlings for replanting in the wood. The young trees should be ready for planting out by volunteers in a couple of years' time.
Lying between Grassington and Conistone, the wood is popular with locals and tourists alike. The presence of a Brigantine fort and an Iron Age settlement add an archaeological dimension to an ecological jewel. Sadly, that popularity brings extra pressure, and increasing, though illegal, use by cyclists causes concern. Areas which have been close-felled of conifers and sycamores for re-planting with native broadleaves are easily accessible, and the resultant wear and compaction of the woodland soils affects the regeneration of ground flora. Grass Wood is particularly noted for its flowering plants such as lily-of-the-valley, rock rose, burnet rose, bloody crane's bill and other rarer species.
The lottery money, together with a grant from the Hanson Group via the landfill tax credit scheme, will pay for contractors and the training of volunteers to help execute the work programme.It is, however, volunteer workers who are needed, to complete this ambitious project. Volunteer time also counts as matched funding which releases extra lottery moneys. To return a 250-acre wood to as near a natural state as practical is extremely labour intensive, but the end result will be well worth the effort.
