Mapplewell
During the May half-term, the Northern team organised a community event for the residents of one of our managed developments in Barnsley. Despite the drizzly weather, residents turned up to enjoy a hot drink and meet the Trust team. They had a lot of questions, providing us with a great opportunity to discuss the managed areas and our approach to managing the site.
Toad Abode Workshop
Beth Mitchell conducted a Toad Abode demonstration for the children who joined us, explaining the benefits and encouraging them to build one in their gardens at home! The children enjoyed getting involved and getting their hands dirty. Frogs and toads are great at pest control!
Rebecca Neal, Community & Wildlife Officer at the Wildlife Trust highlighted the benefits of attracting toads and flogs into your garden in one of her blog articles:
“They eat slugs, snails, beetles and flies in gardens and in crop fields. Some people call this an “ecosystem service” which just means a free benefit to humans from nature (other examples include pollination by insects, and flood prevention by plants.
“Amphibians are important in the study of ecosystems. Frogs in particular are considered keystone species because they are connected to lots of other species in their foodweb; they eat a variety of things and many things eat them. The important thing about this, is that it means they can be used as an indicator species; if they are in trouble, it means other, less obvious, species are likely to be also.”
Rooted in nature
This project has helped Trustgreen to establish a relationship with the residents, and their relationship with the nature on their development. We look to inspire the next generation and safeguard existing habitats, this includes carbon sequestration, the protection of endangered species and helping to develop stronger communities with roots based in nature.
