Community Engagement and Events Update

By Amy Horton

LUCT Community Engagement Officer

In September and early October we had our final Cubs group visits of the year. Tasks included dead-hedging in the woodland with Masham Cubs and a scavenger hunt and barn owl pellet dissection with Boroughbridge Cubs.

Whitfield Benson delivered a wildlife photography workshop for us in September. The session focused particularly on butterflies, dragonflies and birds, with advice on finding and approaching subjects, using good fieldcraft and observing behaviour. Photographs from the workshop are on display in the main hide.

Photography with thanks to Whitfield Benson, Matthew Cormack and David Saunders

Dementia Forward Time out Together groups visited Thornborough Henges in October, with English Heritage volunteers leading tours of the central henge for us. We also used air-drying clay to make clay pots, rolling coils to build up the shape and adding lines and marks for decoration.

North Yorkshire Nature Explorers home education group visited Nosterfield in October, November and December. Activities included a fungi walk, autumn leaf Gelli printing and a robin-themed craft workshop in December.

North Yorkshire Nature Explorers: Fungi walk, nature journaling in the woodland glade and Gelli prints

A woodland activities session in half term saw 15 children searching the woodland glade for minibeasts and taking part in a scavenger hunt. Thanks to everyone who came and enthusiastically took part!

We had an autumn ‘Birds and Words’ workshop with Caroline Matusiak in October. You can read ‘Sloe’, written by Caroline on the Main Reserve as part of our summer ‘Birds and Words’ workshop below. ‘Sloe’ will be featured in a poetry collection to be published later this year.

‘Sloe’ written by Caroline Matusiak

Christine Meek led an ‘Introduction to Identifying Fungi’ walk at Nosterfield Quarry, supported by Janet Hutchinson and Cath Gillie of the North East Fungus Study Group. We set off from the Quarry Visitors Centre, along the field-edge footpaths towards Flasks Lake, left in the woodland (a brief detour here to see the impressive Giant Puffball) then finally into the woodland glade.

We had some brilliantly enthusiastic young attendees who were great at finding species for identification. Christine, Janet and Cath shared insights about fungi along the way, whilst identifying and selecting fruitbodies to take back to the visitor centre for a closer look.

Here, Christine, Cath and Janet had set up a display that included information about the lifecycle and anatomy of a mushroom, an example of a spore print, some Tinder Brackets and spalted wood, which shows the linear patterns and altered colouration created by fungi growth.

Many thanks to Christine, Janet and Cath for a very interesting and informative morning.

‘Introduction to Identifying Fungi’ walk, 31st October

List of fungi identified during the ‘Introduction to Fungi’ walk, October 2025

LUCT Events 2026

In 2026, we will be continuing with our monthly wellbeing walks. ‘Little Explorers’ for pre-school children will take place quarterly, with a session for each season.

The events below will be added to the website and available to book in the coming weeks!

14 February: Conservation club - dead-hedging

18 February: Wellbeing walk

14 March: Community work day

18 March: Wellbeing walk

23 March: Little Explorers - spring session

11 April: Conservation club

10 April: World Art Day workshop

15 April: Wellbeing walk

24 April: Plants and insects of Nosterfield Nature Reserve and Camp Wood

3 May: Dawn chorus walk

We'll be at Sight and Sounds of Ripon on March 14th! Come and say hello and find out more about the work of the Lower Ure Conservation Trust.