We will be running four balsam bashing sessions in July (weather permitting). If you would like to join us please feel free to come along to one of the sessions listed below: If you plan to attend please ensure you
Here are the highlights of what happened on the reserve in May. 2nd May – A stoat was captured on camera climbing up to one of the veteran alder trees. 7th May – A small team of volunteers worked incredibly hard to
Our April round-up video, helped to be created by some of our brilliant supporters! Plus read the highlights of what happened on the reserve in April. 21st April: A team from Yorkshire Water came to do some river fly sampling
Our March round-up video, helped to be created by some of our brilliant supporters! Plus read the highlights of what happened on the reserve this month. 5th March – Adam Forster, an ex-pupil and local arborist, kindly made and donated
There’s a bird which occurs regularly on the Reserve, but which at this time of the winter isn’t that easy to see up close. Amongst the tops of the alders among the ditches and beck there are regular flocks of
The 2nd in our monthly round-up video series this year, helped to be created by some of our brilliant supporters! February has been mostly wet, with almost every day seeing some level of rain! But it hasn’t stopped us from capturing
The Upper Ouse Conservation Trust (UOCT) is deeply grateful to the friends and family of a much-loved Great Ouseburn resident, whose funeral donations have been generously given in support of our work, as well as St Michael’s hospice. After more than 20
Here it is; our first monthly round-up video, helped to be created by some of our brilliant supporters! January 2026 has seen the start of our first full year of caring for Townend Field Nature Reserve. We’ve had lots of
You may have come across a few areas where moles have been busy in Townend Field, including some patches over our permissive footpaths! During the summer ‘Garden Festival’ event, Sam Shipman, Head Gardener at Beningbrough Hall, spotted our molehills and
When you’re walking through Townend Field Nature Reserve, you might notice fallen branches, rotting logs, or old tree trunks left where they lie. While it can look untidy at first glance, this dead wood is one of the most valuable
Our survey team have been busy setting up borrowed (and more recently our own,) camera traps and analysing footage both from during the day and at night. See the ‘community’ section for information on how we managed to get our
We are all familiar with Coot and Moorhen, they can get very bold and approachable at ponds in parks, where they are fed, but there’s a dapper, smaller, much more discrete relative in the Rail family which you may not
PLEASE nominate us to help us get £1000 to support our work in developing the nature reserve. The Movement for Good Awards run by The Benefact Group is their annual programme of giving that anyone can get involved in. Here’s how it works: IMPORTANT: We
Earlier this month, our survey team captured this stunning clip of an otter coming out of the water at Townend Field Nature Reserve! A Snapshot of the Species Conservation status: Numbers & Recovery in the UK Once pushed to the
On Friday 17th October David Watkins undertook out latest Moth survey and below are the species recorded on that night.
We wanted to thank everybody who attended our opening event on Thursday 2nd October and to welcome everyone to the nature reserve which is now open! We want everyone to be able to enjoy this beautiful nature reserve so please
Come and celebrate with us at Townend Field on Thursday 2nd October at 2pm. Join us for the ribbon cutting and a chance to walk the footpaths and see the School field!
We had something a little different happening at the reserve recently… Independent film-maker Lucy Smith came along with her camera to capture the sights and stories of our new nature reserve. Lucy was keen to chat with a few of
We’ve had some truly exciting news from the reserve – and it comes with feathers! Thanks to our ongoing partnership with Askham Bryan College, one of their camera traps caught something very special: a common crane, from back in June. Now,
What a brilliant start – thank you to everyone who came along to our very first members’ gathering! It was wonderful to see so many friendly faces and hand out membership cards in person. We heard inspiring updates from trustees
We were joined by 13 amazing volunteers today! The Island is now almost entirely clear of Himalayan balsam – thank you so much to everyone who helped. We are incredibly lucky to have so much support. We would love to
