On reflection..... a job well done!

Over the past few weeks we have been working to create a "Reflective Garden Space" at Wakefield Methodist School. After a few final tweeks yesterday the garden is now complete and looking fantastic, if we do say so ourselves!!

The project is a truly joint effort involving the school governors, Pennine Camphill Community College, Hazelwood Conservation and most importantly the pupils (including the School Council and Eco Council) and staff of Wakefield Methodist School.

As well as a quiet place for pupils and staff to sit and reflect, the garden was designed around sustainability with locally made products from locally grown materials; something which we were more than happy to help with!

With the help of pupils we installed a living willow tunnel which leads to the Reflective Garden Space. We also demonstrated willow hurdle making, all of which were made on site with materials cut by ourselves less than 2 miles from the school.

Freshly cut willow - waiting to be "hurdled"!

Hurdling - in the act

Fully hurdled and installed!

We also made rustic gate hurdles with cleft ash arising from management work at a site only a few miles away in Newmillerdam. 

A single oak from our coppice restoration work at Sprotbrough provided material for us to make a rustic arbor and all of the fence posts, as well as a bird bath and a dozen stepping stones which were then carved by students with special educational needs at Pennine Camphill Community College. We even managed to whittle a small bird (we think it's a robin....) from one of the branch forks to top off the arbor.

Name that bird!

The garden also acts as a centenary memorial marking the anniversary of the First World War. A simple wooden cross, backed by our woven hurdles (similar woven materials were often used to shore up trench sides during the conflict) helps students reflect on the significance of the passing of this anniversary.

Other features in the garden include four large solid wood benches, flower beds, a solar powered water feature and a bird feeding station. There's even an "I spy nature" board which should help encourage the ecologists of tomorrow to practice their spotting skills!

Drink up! - Hopefully this simple bird bath will attract in some thirsty birds for young wildlife spotters.

If you are a school, community group or other organisation and would like us to help you with your project then please do get in touch.

Frog frenzy!

Just over 2 years ago we built our own pond here at Hazelwood Conservation HQ. We've had frogs each spring since and this year is certainly no exception. Following the warm weather at the weekend we've had at least 16 frogs tussling and croaking for their mating rights in our little pond.

It took a bit of patience - but after slowly creeping up on the pond we were able to get some great shots of our amphibian visitors.

The common frog is the first UK native amphibian to return to their ponds to start breeding each spring, followed by common toads a few weeks later and then the newt species after that. So whenever we see frogs in our pond, we know that the great crested newt survey season is just around the corner!

We've been busy this past few weeks working on a school garden project involving a living willow tunnel and some of our woodland crafts. We'll be doing a full blog post with photos about this when everything is complete.

Big fellers and a figure love-in!

A busy week here at Hazelwood Conservation has seen Gareth undertake (and pass!) his City and Guilds "Felling and Processing Trees over 380mm" with TKF near Holmfirth.


This training will help us to safely provide a wider range of services to our Habitat Management clients as well as being useful when we're doing our own woodland work.


We finish the week tonight at Chirpy in Chapel Allerton, Leeds, where we'll be running a "paint your valentine" session for creative couples. They'll get to pick from our specially carved wooden valentines figures to paint up as their beloved, there'll even be wine to help the creativity flow!


It's not too late to book your place, call Chirpy on 0113 266 0062.

Just logging in...

Ok, so it's been a while since our last post, a combination of well earned holiday followed by a few weeks of catching up with things!

We've been doing more work for the Garganey Trust at Denby Delph and Thunder Bridge Meadows which has involved a significant amount of scrub cutting followed by stump treatment. It's quite physical work but once Maria gets going with the chainsaw there's no stopping her....

This coppiced Alder was no match for Maria's chainsaw skills! 

We've also done another workshop at Chirpy in Chapel Allerton, this time our wooden figure painting took on a festive theme with snowmen, Santas and even Christmas trees all being decorated by our talented participants!

All turned out and ready to go - painting these is lots of fun, for the young and not-so-young!

We also took the opportunity to deliver the first of our firewood bags from our coppice restoration work at YWT Sprotbrough. Seasoned for 1 year and cut into handy stove sized lengths in a ventilated mesh bag ONLY £6 PER BAG or £15 FOR 3 BAGS! Available at Chirpy now!

Perfect for your festive log fire - and sustainably sourced too!

We're looking to supply firewood through some other outlets and will post these on our website as and when they come up. If you live in or near Sprotbrough we are able to sell and deliver direct to you from the woodland, just give us a call!

Saving the bats til last!

We spend most of our summers undertaking bat surveys - standing outside a building or next to a tree with our bat detectors, patiently waiting for these furry flying mammals to make an appearance. Sometimes we get to witness the emergence of hundreds of bats from a maternity roost although more often a single Pipistrelle will reveal its lonely bachelor pad to us. Other times we get through an entire survey without hearing a single bat pass by (although thankfully this isn't very often).

Despite our regular work with bats we very seldom get to meet them "up close and personal", so when we were deciding on a project we could do with our local volunteer group; the Friends of Seckar Wood, we suggested that some bat boxes could be put up in the nature reserve and that from time to time we would check them with the rest of group to see if our work was making a difference to Seckar's bat population.

This time last year 8 volunteer made bat boxes were erected on trees near to the ponds in the wood. A preliminary check in spring 2013 found no signs of bats. Today we checked them again, almost 1 year to the day since the boxes were erected and a real treat was in store for us; 4 of the boxes contained bats (a total of 5 pipistrelle) and 2 boxes had bat droppings in or on the box. 6 out of 8 aint bad! A great end to the 2013 bat survey season.

One of the 5 Pipistrelle which now call the Seckar Wood bat boxes home

 Thanks to everyone who came and helped with the bat box checking.

Maria introducing the group to a bat box resident!

Seckar Wood offers lots of great foraging habitat for bats, but many of the trees are relatively young and lack the natural features which bats would use for roosting (such as cracks, crevices and holes). Plans are afoot to make and erect lots more boxes for Seckar Wood, which should provide even more homes for these amazing creatures.

Don't rain on our (bat) parade!

Thanks to everyone who came along to our bat walk last Friday night at The Runtlings, Ossett near Wakefield.

Despite the rain we encountered several common pipistrelle in and around the estate which everyone managed to see and hear on the bat detector. There were several budding conservationists in the group, hopefully this will inspire them to carry on with the great work they've done to help wildlife and engage with the environment where they live. So far they've put up bird boxes and bird feeders as well as growing home grown vegetables and produce in planters around the estate.

There are also plans to put up some bat boxes in the area. The findings of our bat walk should help in selecting suitable locations for these to be put up.

The event was organised for local residents by Groundwork Wakefield on behalf of Places for People.

If you are involved in a local community group or organisation and would like us to guide a bat walk in your local area then please get in touch!

Work on your figure and get Chirpy!

For those in the know, the place to go for unique, locally crafted gifts in Yorkshire is Chirpy in Chapel Allerton, Leeds!

Not only can you buy all of your unique gifts there but now you can also take part in some fantastic workshops, run by the very people who make the fab things for the shop!

We'll be running two wooden figure painting workshops at Chirpy over the coming months, see the Chirpy workshop flyer for details and these and lots of other crafty activities. Our first workshop will be Halloween themed, the second will have a festive air with lots of Santas and snowmen (you can even make your figure into a tree decoration!). All the figures are turned by us on our pole lathe using wood from our coppice restoration work at Sprotbrough.


Fun for all ages - come and paint one of our hand crafted wooden figures to take home!

If you'd like us to run a wooden figure painting workshop in your shop, village hall or even at your house (maybe for a birthday party?) then please get in touch.