Skell Valley Project

Early in September the Skell Valley Task force helped in the Ripon Walled garden with some apple collecting, ready for pressing before their apple day. In a few hours lots of the apples were picked both from the tree and the windfalls collected off the ground. They were sorted into very mushy or bruised, windfalls with no obvious bruising for cider making and apples from the tree. The good apples collected from the trees were bagged into about 20kg sacks and in a few short hours we had filled their apple store. These apples were stored in a cool dry place ready for juicing at a later date. The mushy/bruised apples were collected into buckets and brought back to Fountains Abbey to be fed to the deer herd, who thoroughly enjoyed their treat. It was lovely to be invited back to the Ripon Walled Garden to help them celebrate their apple day on Saturday 8th October. What a day it was, with the sun finally shining after a week of wind and rain. Lots of people turned up with their own bucket’s filled with apples to partake in pressing their own apples giving a donation for the juice. As well as plenty of apples and juice on offer there were also lots of local craft stalls selling photos to homemade soaps to baked goods and cider. There were also plenty of fairground games from a human fruit machine to peg racing and a coconut shy. What a great event to help raise money for the walled garden and their work to help people with disabilities learn new skills and grow in confidence.

Autumn always sees a variety of colourful mushrooms and toadstools appearing in the countryside, and falling temperatures combined with recent rainfall have stimulated a lot of these fungal fruiting bodies to appear in the Skell Valley. On a recent foray with a local expert, our volunteers found and identified 47 species in just one morning

Soil and silt washing into the River Skell during spells of heavy rain can cause problems both for the wildlife living in the river and for the lakes and water gardens which are fed by the Skell. We’re working with landowners in the valley to prevent silt from entering the river by installing riverside fencing and buffer strips, creating new wetlands to intercept the silt and repairing farm tracks to reduce the risk of erosion and stop silt washing off the land.

This Canary Shouldered Thorn Moth is just one of hundreds of species which our volunteer moth trappers have been recording in the Skell Valley. Like butterflies and other insects, moths are a great indicator of overall environmental health, since healthy natural habitats will support a bigger number of different moth species. By better understanding the species living in the valley, we can also advise landowners and undertake habitat improvements to help populations of less common species which might be under threat elsewhere in the region.

In August we passed an important milestone for the project, with the installation of the first 5 leaky dams in the Skell catchment. Our contractors used conifer trees growing adjacent to the watercourse to build the dams, which allow the water to flow unhindered in normal weather conditions, but during heavy rainfall events the dams will divert water into the wider floodplain. This slows the flow of water and allows silt to settle out in the floodplain, reducing the risk of flooding and siltation downstream.

We’ve recently welcomed Karen and Gabby our new Heritage Officer and Area Ranger. Karen has come from a similar role for the Lottery-funded Revitalising Redesdale Landscape Partnership scheme and will be working on a range of projects to connect people with the built and cultural heritage of the Skell Valley. Gabby has joined us from the National Trust’s Slindon Estate in the South Downs and will be working with farmers to improve the resilience of the valley to flooding and also supporting community groups to look after local green spaces.

Our Area Ranger Gabby spent a productive day at Ripon Walled Garden clearing vegetation with her ranger volunteers along the path to the Wildlife Viewing Area. This has helped to maintain accessibility along the path and opened up the view from the bird hide through to the orchard. The team also managed to pull a lot more Himalayan balsam from the woodland area – all part of our ongoing work with Ripon Walled Garden to give people better access to nature.

The Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI) is a citizen science project led by the Woodland Trust. As part of the Skell Valley Project we recruited a team of volunteers who spent the day recording and mapping special ancient, veteran and notable trees around the valley with guidance from the local Ancient Tree Inventory verifiers Historic sites like Fountains Abbey are important hotspots for such trees and provide an ideal place to learn more about them and how to record them to the Ancient Tree Inventory. The wonderfully sunny day began with a short presentation followed by a practical session to record trees in the estate.

Seventy volunteers have been working with West Yorkshire Archive Service to research the fascinating history of Studley Royal water gardens. Working online, the volunteers have been busy transcribing hundreds of documents from the 1700s, many of these hand-written letters from the head gardener to the owner of the Estate John Aislabie, describing in detail the progress on creation and development of the gardens. A recent pop up exhibition at Fountains Hall enabled over 400 people to learn more about this exciting research work.

Over 20 local North Yorkshire craftspeople came together for a 2 day fair to celebrate heritage crafts in the Skell Valley. 2200 visitors enjoyed learning about an impressive range of traditional crafts including pottery, willow weaving, blacksmithing, weaving and even coracle making

Summer is now in full swing and the Skell Valley Project is providing lots of opportunities for people to learn more about the wildlife living the valley. Friends of Hell Wath, working with the project ranger, are doing weekly butterfly monitoring transects on the nature reserve and have also hosted a bumblebee workshop this month. We have just run a wild flower identification workshop and next weekend (Sat 25th June), there’s a free workshop on dragonflies and damselflies too. Volunteer moth recorders have been running a series of moth trapping sessions at locations in the valley to better understand the species which live here. The most recent session at Eavestone Lake found an amazing 110 moths including this Pebble Prominent and several Poplar Hawk Moths:

This coming autumn we’re planning to install 8 new ponds and 20 leaky dams on privately-owned farmland and forestry sites in the Skell Valley. These features will be installed in the upper sections of the valley, slowing the flow of water in peak rainfall events and increasing the capacity of the catchment to hold water and silt which would otherwise wash down the River Skell. We’re currently busy working up designs for these natural flood management works, with the help of specialist hydrology and ecology consultants. Bringing in this expertise will help us to design new wetland features that provide multiple benefits, not only intercepting heavy rainfall and silt, but also creating new habitat which will help nature to recover in the Skell valley.

The Skell Ranger volunteers and Open Country have been hard at work throughout the valley. They’ve finished planting 2500 hedge trees at a farm near Grantley which will slow the flow of water off the farmland to the river and connect the surrounding woodlands with wildlife corridors and have installed about 280m of fencing along the banks of the river; creating another buffer for water and more riverside habitat for wildlife.

A mosaic of different habitats helps nature to thrive. Although only small, this pond plays a vital role in the ecosystem at Hell Wath. Small mammals such as hedgehogs, voles and mice use the pond as a watering hole and insects such as dragonflies and damselflies lay their eggs here. Amphibians such as frogs, toads and newts also rely on the pond for breeding. In April we’re helping the Friends of Hell Wath to put a fence around the pond to help protect the precious wildlife that the pond supports. Flea and tick medication used on dogs is extremely toxic to aquatic wildlife so keeping dogs away from the pond helps support biodiversity. The cost of the materials for the fence has been funded by a grant from North Yorkshire County Council and a donation by the Ripon Rowel Rotary Club. The fence will be put up by our Skell Valley project volunteers.

The Skell Ranger volunteers helped at Picking Gill local nature reserve near Sawley to build some steps to make access to the site a little easier and remove the rotten old boardwalk that was unsafe. They’ll be installing a new boardwalk soon; one made of recycled plastics that will last a lot longer. Picking Gill is one of many sites we’re working at in the valley with local partner organisations to improve conditions for wildlife and help connect people with nature.

As part of the project’s ‘Nature of your Doorstep’ initiative, we’ve partnered with various locations in the Skell Valley to deliver improvements to green spaces, making them more nature friendly. One of these locations is Picking Gill at Sawley where a team of volunteers from our lead partner organisation, Nidderdale AONB, have been busy hedge laying. Hedge laying is an important traditional method of stock proof barrier achieved by partially cutting the tree stem, bending it and securing it at an angle into the main body of the hedge. This creates a denser hedge which provides an excellent habitat for wildlife. This hedge at Picking Gill is hawthorn which will be rich in flower in May for pollinating insects and the haws in autumn are a good food source for birds.

This January we’re continuing work to help nature thrive at Hell Wath nature reserve in Ripon by restoring a pond. Wetlands are an important habitat as they support a wide range of wildlife; particularly amphibians and insects which provide feeding opportunities for birds. The pond here is fed by a spring and once the weather warms up it will rapidly revegetate and become a haven for nature. The pond at Hell Wath has become heavily silted up over time, particularly with leaf litter. As a result, it dries up regularly and loses its value for wildlife as species such as frogs, newts and dragonflies can’t breed and thrive. In line with the Friends of Hell Wath nature reserve management plan, the Skell Valley Project is pleased to be funding the restoration of the pond.

The Ripon Museums Trust are one of our local partners for the Skell Valley Project. We’ve been helping improve access to the workhouse garden using volunteer support and contractors. The hardworking team have resurfaced 165m of paths which has helped increase the slip resistance of the paths running between the planting beds. These can be tricky to navigate as they’re fairly steep and can become very slippery. It was heavy work to dismantle the old paths and barrow the new footpath aggregate around the garden. We’re very grateful to everyone involved and pleased to be able to make this amazing place more accessible to visitors and volunteers alike.

This December, nature will be given a helping hand as work begins at Hell Wath Local Nature Reserve in Ripon, to restore precious wildlife habitats. Hell Wath is a wildflower rich grassland, home to species such as common spotted orchid and cowslips as well as botanical rarities such as adder’s-tongue fern and bee orchid. Invasive scrub is spreading across the open grasslands, swamping the wildflowers and reducing the feeding opportunities for butterflies and other pollinators.  Scrub, the bushes and thicket that develop at the edge of the woodland, is an important habitat but left unchecked it loses its value for nature and overwhelms the delicate grassland. A mosaic of different habitats is best for biodiversity therefore contractors will be removing some of the scrub on the open grassland and playing fields to help wildlife thrive. The Skell Valley Project is working with Harrogate Borough Council and the Friends of Hell Wath (FOHW) group to deliver the Friends of Hell Wath Nature Reserve Management Plan. The scrub removal is part of a wider scheme of work that will be delivered at Hell Wath, funded by the Project to help nature thrive at this much- loved green space in Ripon. During the winter a silted-up pond will be reinstated which will restore habitat for amphibians and a range of dragonflies. In coming years, the Project will be working to improve footpaths on the reserve with better waymarking and interpretation.

The West Yorkshire Archive Service Leeds team has been blown away by the number of people volunteering their time to help us with the Skell Valley’s ‘Digging Deep in the Archives’ project. Over 60 transcription volunteers are working their way through 18th century estate correspondence and in just three short weeks they’ve already transcribed over 17,000 words! So far we’ve been working on a bundle of letters between William Hallot and John Aislabie which detail the planting of trees, flooding and flood prevention and the names of local residents working on the land around the Studley estate. There have been stories of mad dogs running loose, cases of small pox in the area and masses of building works giving a fantastic insight into Skell Valley life.

For many people with a disability, open countryside is the hardest thing to access and enjoy. Terraced paths, steps, styles, kissing gates, cattle grids, rutted surfaces and inclines all pose continual barriers. Hell Wath Local Nature Reserve is the perfect spot to start to resolve some of these issues and make a bit of open countryside more accessible to Ripon’s residents. The nature reserve is traversed by the River Skell on its journey through Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal to the City of Ripon and is a key location for the Skell Valley Project in rejuvenating the landscape for everyone to enjoy. Together with the Friends of Hell Wath and Experience Community, we held a free event at Hell Wath where people came to try out off-road all-terrain mountain trike wheelchairs where their own wheelchairs or mobility scooters weren’t suitable.

We’ve held our first volunteer taster day in the garden at Ripon Workhouse Museum. 11 new volunteers got stuck straight in with hay-raking to restore the wildflower meadow in the traditional orchard, harvesting apples and creating a woodland path in the garden for native woodland trees. As with all good volunteer days, everyone was kept well fuelled with tea and cake during break times!

A series of events will be taking place throughout the four years of the project that will reveal hidden layers of this special landscape and make it easier to discover the green space, wildlife and heritage where you live. From its source at the wild and remote Dallowgill Moor, the River Skell descends through Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal onto the wooded riverbanks of Hell Wath in Ripon before it joins the River Ure. Events will be taking place along the length of the Skell, not just here at Fountains.

There's everything from family fun days and archive discovery to nature exploration, so everyone can engage with the Skell Valley Project. Keep an eye on the Fountains Abbey homepage for upcoming events.

The Skell Valley team is now in place and working hard on the delivery of the project.

The team will be led by the project manager Nabil Abbas who has been doing conservation work for around 20 years in South Yorkshire and the Peak District, both with the National Trust and the Wildlife Trust. Most recently Nabil has been working with farmers to deliver natural flood management (NFM) and wetland habitat improvements in the Sheffield Lakeland Landscape Partnership.

Jess Darwin is the area ranger for the project and has been recruited from the National Trust Lake District ranger team. Jess has a huge passion for nature, conservation and the outside world and is looking forward to getting stuck in and meeting members of the Skell community.

Speaking to Alex Thompson, chief correspondent for Channel 4 News, about the rising threat to this World Heritage Site, General Manager Justin Scully said: 'This is a treasure for all humanity... we cannot stand by and let it be damaged.'

This week the teams at Fountains and Nidderdale AONB were delighted to welcome crews from Channel 4 News and Sky News to speak about the impact of climate change on the area and the way in which the Skell Valley Project will tackle these issues.

In partnership with Nidderdale AONB, the stage two bid has been successful and the Skell Valley Project has been awarded a £1.4 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Thank you to all the farmers, landowners and communities who have helped to make sure that the scheme reflected the views and needs of a wide range of people living and working here in the Skell Valley. Delivery of the £2.5 million scheme will start later in 2021 and run to 2024.

The project has been awarded £230,000 of funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This grant will deliver natural flood management measures in the middle and upper reaches of the Skell Valley that will safeguard homes and businesses in Ripon from flooding, as well as improving conditions for nature and wildlife.

Historically, flooding occurs in Ripon when the water level in the River Laver and the River Skell is high and flowing quickly. In 2012, the Environment Agency completed the ‘Ripon Flood Alleviation Scheme’, which has significantly reduced the risk of flooding for 548 homes and 96 businesses in Ripon. This involved the construction of a flood storage area on the River Laver, with localised defences through Ripon.

The funding from the European Regional Development Fund will enable natural flood management work (NFM) to be delivered to provide further protection against flood risk to mitigate the impacts of climate change. By working with farmers and landowners upstream, a programme of natural flood management measures will be delivered with the combined effect of slowing the volume of water entering the River Skell as well as reducing sedimentation.

Although the bid has been submitted, the fundraising appeal is still ongoing. The Royal Oak Foundation seeks to raise awareness of and advance the work of the National Trust by inspiring support from the United States for the Trust’s efforts to preserve and protect historic places and spaces.

In normal times, the Royal Oak Foundation would hold fundraising galas throughout the year in cities such as New York and Washington DC. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year is a little different and for the first time they have held a virtual fundraising gala, focusing on Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, the issues the site faces from flooding and the ways that the Skell Valley Scheme aims to tackle this.

The stage two application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund has now been submitted. Thank you to everyone who has had a hand in helping to shape this project over the past year, it has been a huge collective effort from a wide number of people to get to this point. The result of the bid will be announced in the new year.

As lockdown continues, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is becoming clearer. Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal remains closed to visitors, as are many other tourism attractions and hospitality businesses in the Skell Valley. The tourism industry is so important to the area and the impact on the local economy is likely to be severe.

How the Skell Valley Scheme can help mitigate some of this damage and build a more resilient future is top of the team’s mind as they continue to work on writing the second-round application for National Lottery Heritage Funding. Like many in the country, the team is working remotely as the finer details of the project are being finalised.

Something that being in lockdown has highlighted is how much communities who live in and visit the Skell Valley value this unique landscape. Spring has well and truly arrived, and the team has continued to work on the bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and consider how the project may help support communities after Covid-19.

This month is all about celebrating the community partners working on the development of the Skell Valley Project. The ‘Sights and Sounds of Ripon’ community day saw people enjoy free interactive activities with groups all over Ripon and people visited to make natural bird feeders and wildlife badges.

In early February, Jennyruth Workshops and Ripon Walled Garden did a nature photography walk with guidance from the Friends of Hell Wath.

One of the aims of the Skell Valley Project it to enable people to connect with nature and learn about wildlife. Trying out this sort of activity is helping to develop ideas for how to engage local communities with nature, wildlife and heritage in ways that are fun and also develop skills.

The team took a consultant out in the cold to survey the wooden boat house on Eavestone Lake which is in disrepair. One of the project aims is to rediscover hidden features of heritage across the Skell Valley such as the 19th-century stone boathouse which had to be accessed by kayak.

Eavestone Lake is a hidden gem in the landscape. If successful in receiving funding, heritage features like these would be recorded and restored, as well as improving access to the lake.

A Skell land use change workshop has been held with external partners such as Natural England, Nidderdale AONB, North Yorkshire County Council and Historic England. This looked at work commissioned by the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission, which considered what the Skell Valley may look like in 25 years.

Several recommendations on forestry, nature conservation and flood management were developed in this workshop and will be looked at closely to determine how they will inform the bid for the delivery phase of the Skell Valley Project.

A workshop was held in November with school reps from Moorside Junior School and Grewelthorpe Primary to learn about the amazing wildlife, or ‘underwater uglies’, living in and around the River Skell. The children did experiments around soil run-off to learn about how silt gets into rivers and are planning assemblies for their schools to share what they’ve learnt.

The Skell Valley Project, in partnership with Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, will work with the schools to co-create education resources which can be used by schools and other community groups in the delivery of the project.

Progressing into autumn, Project Manager David Hargreaves and Nidderdale AONB’s Land Management Team Leader Marian Wilby have been meeting farmers and landowners in the Skell Valley to talk about possible works which could improve the health of the River Skell.

Of the 16 farms which visited so far, some 120 potential projects have been identified in 14 of them. Highlights from the potential works include 3,176 metres of cow tracks, 7,976 metres of bankside fencing and an area of wildflower meadow creation.

This summer has seen lots of engagement events as part of the community conversations developing the project. The team has been to events including village fairs, St Wilfrid’s Procession in Ripon and Nidderdale Agricultural Show. A highlight has been talking to visitors about water flow with Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust and their amazing ‘Rivers 2U’ mobile laboratory on World Heritage Day at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal.

The responses from the public on what they value most about the Skell Valley and their ideas for improving it have gone into the planning of the project to ensure it represents what people want.

In August the team met with the people behind the ‘Ripon City Plan’, which in 2018 identified possible green spaces in the City of Ripon. This fits with the Skell Valley Project’s ‘Spaces for nature’ plan, which aims to work with groups in Ripon to create up to ten spaces for nature in the city.

The hope is that creating green spaces and looking after them will help start a conversation in our communities about nature and conservation. This will also help bring the health and wellbeing benefits of nature into a city setting for local people.

On 20 July the National Trust supported the Friends of Hell Wath, a local nature reserve on the edge of Ripon, in delivering an exciting BioBlitz event. This engaging form of Citizen Science encourages the public to take a role in observing and recording the wildlife they find in their local area. Local experts safely trapped, recorded and released wildlife including 54 different species of moth and small mammals.

The Friends of Hell Wath are a partner in the Skell Valley Project. They have received support in creating a five-year ‘Land Management Plan’ which will help people look after the natural and cultural heritage of this treasured place.

The Farmers Facilitation Fund, run by the project’s co-lead partner Nidderdale AONB, held a summer barbecue at Fountains Abbey on 20 June. This was part of an ongoing conversation with local farmers and landowners about how different approaches to land management can improve the health of rivers and sustainability of farming.

As part of the event, National Trust archaeologist Mark Newman gave a talk about the historical links Fountains Abbey had in shaping farming practices in the area for centuries.

On 23 May a footpath consultant came to train volunteers on how to conduct a footpath condition survey. This involves using a recording system, photograph gates, signage and pathways and rating them by their state of repair and physical accessibility. The volunteers who received the training went on to walk all over the project 40 sq km catchment area and record the condition of rights of way in the Skell Valley.

More than 700 photos were taken which have been used by the project team to generate a 200-page audit of footpaths. This will inform where and how to improve access in the Skell Valley as part of the project’s delivery.

'My name is Jack and I’m the Community Participation Officer working on the Skell Valley Project. My job is to lead on engagement and ensure the work we’re doing is reflective of the communities who live, work and visit the Skell Valley. This means facilitating the project team to work in partnership with local groups who do amazing things in the area on developing the ideas in our plan and ensuring that the projects we would like to deliver are representative of what people believe is most important to them.'