Supporting local recording communities: Spotlight on… Jubilee Pasture, Bugthorpe
As well as collating, managing and disseminating ecological data - the core functions of a Local Environmental Records Centre - NEYEDC also works closely with the local recording community across North and East Yorkshire. We support small, local groups who are interested in recording the biodiversity of their patch, whether at the field, nature reserve or parish scale, as part of our charitable objective: ‘to advance the education of the public by producing a database of ecological information for North and East Yorkshire’.
Our ‘Spotlight on…’ series will highlight the work we do with different types and scales of local recording communities, from making maps and flying our habitat mapping drone to helping to organise bioblitzes and recording events.
Our first local recording community spotlight is on Jubilee Pasture, a small 0.70 hectare (1.75 acre) site between the villages of Bugthorpe and Kirby Underdale on the Garrowby Estate in East Yorkshire.
Background
Figure 1: The existing features of Jubilee Pasture, taken from the Jubilee Pasture Plan (updated October 2023).
In 2022, landowners Halifax Estates supported the idea that this small triangle of grassland could be managed for wildlife as a local community project, providing a wildlife haven for local residents and visitors. Named after the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and the neighbouring Pasture Farm, Jubilee Pasture was born! Funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund allowed Bugthorpe and Kirby Underdale Parish Council, along with the newly established Jubilee Pasture volunteers, to write a plan for the site, which summarised the existing features of the site, listed the aims of the project, described the developments which would take place and indicated ongoing management requirements. Work in 2022 and 2023 saw the creation of wet grassland habitat, a pond and wood meadow, with the intention for better ongoing management. Biological recording of plant species on the site also started at this time, with a clear indication of native and planted species. These records were sent into NEYEDC in 2023, which introduced us to the group.
NEYEDC Support
As with all local recording groups, NEYEDC provides a repository for species and habitat records, and it is up to the local group whether this information can be made available to others. The plant records for Jubilee Pasture from 2022 and 2023 have been added to NEYEDC’s species database and are available to partner organisations through either Service Level Agreements (East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Environment Agency, Yorkshire Water) or Non-Commercial Data Licences (Humber Forest, Woodland Trust), or through our Ecological Data Search service.
In addition, as this is a small, newly established site easily accessible from the NEYEDC offices, staff offered to complete a drone survey of the site and regular moth trapping to continue to build a picture of the biodiversity on site.
Figure 2: View of Jubilee Pasture looking north, from NEYEDC’s copter drone
Moth trapping
Figure 3: Hannah and Mark from NEYEDC, and Katherine from Jubilee Pasture volunteers identifying the July 2024 moth catch. Inset: Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata).
At the time of writing, two moth trap visit have been completed as of July 2024, using the low-level LED light bucket traps provided to NEYEDC in the CEH DECIDE project. A total of 18 moths of 11 different species were identified, the most commonly recorded being Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata). Data from Yorkshire Moths suggests that this is the first time Shaded Broad-bar has been recorded in SE85 since 2007 and the record for Small Dotted Buff (Photedes minima) is only the second ever record for this 10km square! These, and the results from future moth trapping will be sent to the VC61 county recorder for inclusion in Butterfly Conservation Yorkshire’s annual collation of records and made available on the Yorkshire Moths website.
Drone flights
In July 2024 there was an opportunity for NEYEDC to visit Jubilee Pasture and fly the habitat mapping drone and copter drone over the site to create both a high-resolution geo-referenced aerial photograph of the site that can be used in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and aerial shots of the site from different positions and angles.
Ongoing work
NEYEDC will re-visit Jubilee Pasture with the drone in future years as the site develops and intends to continue with regular moth trapping. In 2024 the Jubilee Pasture volunteer group started recording plant species in set quadrats on the site, which will be repeated each year.
Naturalists and recorders of any taxonomic group are welcome to visit the site and share their findings to help build a clearer picture of the biodiversity of the site. Please contact NEYEDC in the first instance at info@neyedc.co.uk and we will be happy to put you in contact with the Jubilee Pasture volunteer group, or visit their website.
Further information on the site, including the Jubilee Pasture Plan, can be found on the Bugthorpe Village website.
Figure 4: Aerial image of Jubilee Pasture using NEYEDC’s habitat mapping drone