Dear All
Just a reminder about
the ……..
KEEP BRITAIN TIDY LITTER PICK IN THE GORGE -
13 & 14 APRIL 2019 at 9.30 am – 12 noon
The Don Gorge Community Group will be taking part in this event on Saturday 13
April. Please wear appropriate clothing
and footwear. Meet either near the Fish
Pass or near the Boat Inn. Equipment
will be provided.
Warmsworth Environment Group will be meeting on both days Saturday 13 and Sunday 14
April meeting at the Fish Pass. Contact
Clarissa for further details: clarissajacksonchapman4@gmail.com
We would love to see you
there on either or both days, whichever you can manage.
MISSING LITTER BINS
Further to the two litter
bins missing from the car park near the landing stage, please note ONE has been
replaced near the entrance to the river bank.
SPROTBROUGH ORAL HISTORY (SOH)
Our meeting on 22 February
was again a great success with 18 people turning up to chat and hear each
other’s stories. It’s obviously not
possible for everyone to come to every meeting, but several new members of the
group arrived. Since then, we have made
recordings of some of the older members of the community and this will continue
in the months to come. Please check out
our Blog for further information.
Our next meeting is the last
Friday in March, the 29th, when Cynthia will be in charge.
Please pass the word along to
anyone who may not have heard about our project. We already have quite a lot of people in
their 70s and so are particularly interested in people who knew Sprotbrough
between 1925 and 1965, especially older residents in their 90s whose recall of
the early days is still good.
TREE FELLING
Further to my last newsletter,
I have now had a lengthy response from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust setting out
their case for removing such a large amount of trees in one go. They tell me they had already received
permission to remove these from the Forestry Commission and Natural England in
an attempt to enable new trees to grow at different levels, thereby encouraging
flora and fauna to be increased. I
quote:
Our felling licence for the site
specifies the following conditions:
1. The land on which the felling took place is to be managed in
accordance with good forestry so as to secure restocking.
2. All licence trees felled are to be removed quickly.
3. The land is to adequately cleared and prepared and weeded
during restocking.
4. If before 30th June 2021 the restocking
described in 1. is not achieved then the land is to be planted or sown before
30thJune 2023.
In addition to our felling licence
Natural England prescribed some additional recommendations including:
1. the aim to create 3 age-classes of tree in each compartment.
2. To allow 5-10 trees per ha allowed to grow to over
maturity/death
3. sycamore dominates the canopy at places within the site,
eradication of the species would cause considerable damage to the woodland, so
mature sycamore should be classed as an acceptable naturalised species.
Regardless of their
reasoning, it is now a fait accompli and more is likely to follow in the next
few years. I quote:
“In total this year’s
work totalled 0.46hectares (or 1.14 acres) and were completed in Sprotbrough Planation,
not Pot Ridings Wood. Our felling to coppice licence is for 2.24ha of the 32ha
unit so there are considerable works left to complete over coming years.”
I have asked that before any
future felling takes place we should be consulted so that we have warning of
such action in advance. This is not only
for the benefit of the general community, but also as our conservation
volunteers have been asked to clean up the site, which does not please
everyone. I believe the investigation is
still not complete.
AGM
Our AGM will take place on
Monday 11 March at 10 am at Martinwells Centre, Edlington. There are vacancies for the Chair as well as
two other interested people. Members of
the public are welcome to attend though it will be an extremely short meeting.
Liz Reeve, Secretary
Tel: 01302 313030
