Trustees were delighted to welcome representatives from the Freemasons of Yorkshire West Riding for the presentation of a cheque for £1730 in support of the new accessible toilet facilities. The Trust would like to thank the Freemasons for their very generous support.
Many of our weekend visitors and followers of social media will be aware of recent events involving the culling of Canada Geese on land adjacent to the Reserve.
The Trust would like to make its position clear on these concerning events.
“The shooter is not on our land and is not allowed on it – he is nothing to do with Rodley Nature Reserve and is shooting on the farmer’s land adjacent to the Reserve which we sadly have no control over.
If he has been on our land and it can be proved we would involve the police re trespass – we clearly would not allow such activity or anything associated with it on the Reserve and we have no evidence that this has happened. If anyone has such evidence we would like to know and we would certainly follow it up.
We of course hate animal cruelty of any kind and we are appalled by the way this man is carrying on. We would take any necessary action if we had clear evidence he was breaking the law”
Trustees were delighted to attend the Leeds Architecture Awards at Leeds Town Hall to receive a prestigious award for Landscape Stewardship.
In presenting the award Seamus Corr, Principal Landscape Architect, Leeds City Council, commented – “Rodley Nature Reserve represents an excellent example of how a charity can take on the responsibility for managing a piece of land to improve it for a wide range of wildlife whilst also delivering opportunities for the young and old to learn about nature on their doorstep”
The award is a significant accolade for our hard working volunteers who are to be congratulated on their achievements.
Winner of the Open Country Good Access Scheme 2018
On Saturday 1st December Rodley Nature Reserve was presented with Open Country’s Good Access Award for 2018 which recognises the best countryside “access for all” project in Yorkshire.
The Yorkshire-based Charity Open Country help people with disabilities to access the countryside and this award celebrates the efforts of our volunteers in making the Reserve more accessible to wheelchair users and people with a disability through our paths project.
Peter Murphy, Secretary of Rodley Nature Reserve Trust said: “We are delighted to have won this prestigious award. It has always been our aim to make all areas of the Reserve accessible to wheelchair users and our other less able visitors. All our birdwatching hides now have special facilities for wheelchairs and major improvements to some of our paths have been made in recent years. We are grateful to the Co-op Community Fund for their support for the paths project this year”
A new initiative has recently been introduced to encourage children and their parents down to the Reserve. Whilst 
hiding a decorated pebble for other children to then find and re-hide it is hoped that children will be introduced to the habitat and wildlife to be seen on the Reserve.
To find out more please follow this link
Good luck hiding and finding and don’t forget to post a photo in our Facebook group when you do #RodleyNRrocks!
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS WHO VOTED FOR US IN THE COUNTRYFILE MAGAZINE 2018 AWARDS – WE COULDN’T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU
TO READ WHAT THE JUDGES SAID FOLLOW THIS LINK
Since 2012 the Reserve has worked towards the introduction of the Harvest Mouse to areas of the Reserve providing a suitable habitat – since this time approx. 900 mice have been released.
The flood occurrence over Xmas 2015 completely swamped the early release areas causing significant damage to the habitat and it was thought at that time the mice would not have survived such conditions.
It’s now pleasing to be able to report that a series of breeding nests have been found on both Tim’s Field and the Scrubland (16 to date) which indicates success for the introduction programme. Further survey work will now be undertaken to determine the extent of the breeding activity.
It’s a great result for the Reserve and a particularly satisfying reward for Trustee John Brook and his wife Maxine who have spent many hours managing the release programme.
Lapwings have nested successfully on Tim’s Field in the past and at least four pairs did so again this year. A total of 9 juveniles have been seen on the Wet Grassland and Duck Marsh including 2 very young chicks seen and one photographed by Andrew Thompson at the end of the Willow Path on 8th July.
Just like last year 3 juvenile Kestrels have fledged from the east facing Barn Owl box in the compound. Last year the three birds were first seen together on 10th July. This year’s juveniles appeared for the first time on the ledge of the box on 5th July.
It’s great to be able to announce the award of £3176 from the Co-op Community Fund initiative.
The award will help finance an outside classroom for our Rodley Robins Club the installation of which is now planned for early May.
A really big thank you goes to the Co-op Community Fund and to all those shoppers at our 3 local branches who chose Rodley Nature Reserve Trust as their good cause.
Yet a further example of the terrific support we receive from our local community.
Get Connected