We get about 15,000 visitors a year at Nosterfield.
Birds are the biggest attraction but don't ignore the nine species of orchid, or our very own bloody-nosed beetle, or the 25-odd species of butterfly that are seen each year. They have a growing number of admirers too.
Whatever your interest, however, your experience will be enhanced because of the year-round work of our volunteers.
Vegetation has to be cut back, our hides cleaned and refurbished, fencing maintained and improved and areas to be given a new lease of life for the benefit of the more than eleven hundred species of flora and fauna that make Nosterfield their home or visit us each year. All these essential activities are carried out by people prepared to give their time and energy to ensure that Nosterfield thrives.
Nowhere has their work been more obvious over the past 12 months than at our plant nursery. With a generous grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Dave, Laurie, John, Pandora, Charlie, Joy, Gareth, Mike, Jane and the rest of the gang have built a poly-tunnel, erected irrigation systems and nurtured a few thousand native bog-loving plants. Eventually these plants will find a permanent home in the lakes, ponds, shallows and wet grassland that make Nosterfield so special, enriching the landscape and providing new homes for our wildlife.
There is always work to do and now that the Lower Ure Conservation Trust has taken over the management of a further 100-acres at Nosterfield Quarry, we believe that the time is right to try to expand the number of our volunteers.
With this in mind, we are organising a special volunteer “taster” day on October 28th. It will run from 10 – 2 and provide an opportunity to those anxious to give something back to nature to come along, try out one or two essential tasks that are needed on the reserve, meet our existing volunteers and to see for yourselves whether you would like to join us here at Nosterfield on a more regular basis. Come and give it a try; there is no obligation.
250 acres of nature reserve need looking after if they are to remain special. You could be part of that.
Keep up to date about the arrangements for the day on our Twitter (@NosterfieldLNR) or facebook (www.facebook.com/NosterfieldNatureReserve)