Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is holding a celebration this weekend as their oldest reserve, Askham Bog, reopens following a five-month closure for vital renovation work.
Askham Bog is Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s inaugural reserve, as the Trust was founded to care for it in 1946.
A fragment of ancient peatland banded by road and railway line, the reserve is home to extensive rare wildlife from centuries-old royal ferns to hundreds of different moth species, as well as more common and beloved robins, roe deer and dragonflies.
After months of closure to replace the boardwalk, upgrade visitor infrastructure, and carry out some vital management work, Askham Bog will reopen on Saturday 25 July.
To celebrate the reserve reopening, the Trust is hosting an opening event on-site at the reserve on the 25 and 26 July, and activities will include guided reserve walks, pond dipping, a theatre production, crafts and more.
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust President Alastair Fitter will give a talk at Pike Hill Golf Club York on Friday 24 July about the reserve’s captivating history.
The reserve is a deeply-loved urban green space lauded as a ‘cathedral of nature conservation’ by Sir David Attenborough when he visited in 2017, and the Trust hopes to inspire more people and visitors to enjoy its peace and quiet on the edge of York.
Askham Bog is located a 10-minute walk from Askham Bar and includes a 1km boardwalk loop, which takes in some of the reserve’s best wildlife and the popular main pond.
First installed in the early 2000s by a team of dedicated reserve volunteers, the original boardwalk has now been replaced with sustainably-sourced materials that have better longevity and durability, with an improved route layout and wider sections with smoother surfacing for improved accessibility.
New signage has been installed on-site, and the Trust has also undertaken some vital management work in areas usually obscured by the boardwalk.
David Craven, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s head of operations in East Yorkshire, said, “Caring for Askham Bog has always been an honour, but it has been particularly lovely to see and hear just how much Askham Bog means to York’s local community whilst the reserve has been closed.
“From stories about visiting after school as a child and returning decades later with children and grandchildren, to the difference having a peaceful green oasis has made to people’s mental health, we are so pleased to be able to open the reserve again in time for school holidays and welcome visitors back to enjoy Yorkshire’s ‘cathedral of nature conservation’ again.”
The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is also marking its 80th anniversary. As part of its 80th anniversary celebrations, the Trust has also been running an appeal to raise money for further vital work needed at the reserve.
Askham Bog has struggled in recent years with increasingly unpredictable dry periods that risk damaging its vital peat habitat. The Trust is raising money to manage scrub and invasive Himalayan balsam on-site, create new ponds for wildlife like great-crested newts, and survey how wildlife has responded on-site to the hotter weather.
To find out more about the reopening event and appeal to safeguard Askham Bog’s future, visit the Trust website here.
