News Conservation Volunteers ESchools Community Orchards Field trips Links November 2007: Development ajacent to UNR: The planning hearing relating to the development of the student accomodation next tio the Reserve will be held on Wednesday 14th November at 9.30am. July 2007: Breathing Places Update: The Breathing Places grant has given us a wonderful opportunity to make physical improvements to the nature reserve, and to improve our species records -  to this end we have hired an ecologist to complete a thorough plant survey (if you are interested in reading it then please contact the office), The dragonfly society are in the process of a surveying damsel and dragonfly, as well as other pond creatures. On one visit they found at least 30 exuviae (the skin shed  from the nymph when it emerges from the pond, having spent a few years under water in the larval stages ) from emerging Brown Hawkers. We have constructed a pond dipping platform from oak sourced for 'Outdoor Classrooms' who manage local woodlands and use timber to make benches, planters etc. We are making a gate to provide an entry point between the two sides of the reserve and will improve the saeting arrangments. The trees we planted at the end of March are all doing well. March 2007: Nature Reserve Update: We have received our renewed lease with the University so it is now confirmed that the boundaries of the Reserve include the woodland area as well as the ponds. The developer has suggested we manage the 'meadow area', but we are not able to formalise this until the sale is complete. 19th December 2006: Nature Reserve update: We attended a meeting this morning with representatives from the University Estates and the Developer. We reported the views of the meeting last week - in summary stressing the boundary of the designated Bradford Wildlife Area and clarifying that any compromise to the boundary would not only be working against the Council's Nature Conservation Strategy but would invoke strong opposition to any future planning application. The discussions were positive. There was agreement that the BWA needed to remain intact. However the developers need to resolve access issues to the site before a final soluntion is reached. In addition the developer is keen to work with BEES to ensure the integrity of the ponds and management of the meadow - officially outside the new reserve  boundaries -  in the future. We are meeting at the Reserve tomorrow. 13 December 2006: We are holding a stakeholders meeeting today to gather views about the change in boundary of our Nature Reserve at the University. We will inform the University of our opinion by Friday and we have a meeting scheduled with the University Estates office and the prospective developer on Tuesday 19th. 12 December 2006: BEES are very happy to have heard that we have been successful with several recent funding applications. We will be delivering environmental education in schools in Bradford West from January - December 2007. We have been commissioned by the Council to deliver environmental education across the disrict from April 07 - March 08. This will enable us to continue the volunteer tasks and other conservation work and events. This is in addition to two lottery awards earlier in the autumn - 'Breathing Places' grant will enable us to develop the nature reserve, and 'Awards for All' which enable us to develop volunteer participation in managing wildlife areas. This will be for our sites including the nature reserve and orchard but also schools that were involved in the eschools project. OCT 2006: Apple Day was a great success with over 300 people enjoying the food, horticultural advice, painting, children's activities and buying a range of apples that you cannot get in the shops. We were lucky with the sunshine and plan to hold th eevent at the Orchard again in 2007. ABOUT US BEES is an integral part of City of Bradford YMCA. It seeks to provide a broad range of environmental education opportunities for the improvement of the local environment, for young people, individuals and for the communities across the city. Please view the rest of the website for detailed information about the projects we run, including · Conservation Volunteer Programme · Wildlife Field Visit Programme · Community Orchards and Apple Day · Work with young people We are commissioned to do this work by the Environmental Commissioning Body of the Council’s Community Funding Unit. We also receive payment for specific projects.  Home - Contact us All content © Bradford Environmental Education Service [BEES] Ground floor YMCA Building, Little Horton Lane, Bradford, BD5 0JG - Tel +44 (0) 1274 513102/513109 Fax +44 (0) 1274 734118 e-mail:bees@bradford.ymca.org.uk