Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

25/08/2026

Looking to make wildlife friendly changes to your garden? Come along to Stirley Food Festival 2026 🍏 next weekend, take a wander through the newly adapted wildlife friendly garden and be inspired.

See how nature can be encouraged alongside food growing and beautiful garden places in our demonstration garden and learn from our gardeners about new ideas we are trialing.

Take the opportunity to dig, chop, pull and pick your own produce to take home with you. Please visit the activities booking tent if you are wanting to get some vegetables to buy the vegetable bag for a small fee.

No booking required, just drop in on the day. (Saturday 5th September)

Photos by Jane Doherty.

21/08/2026

Are you looking for ways to get out and about in the wild in Yorkshire? Maybe you're a birding fan, you're just starting your career in conservation, or you want the chance to get out and meet new people?

We have a whole range of different volunteering opportunities available across Yorkshire for people of all ages (16+) and experience. Volunteers are the lifeblood of our work, and we're incredibly proud to be supported by over 1000 of them!

Find out more by going to our website at ywt.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer

20/08/2026

We were delighted to meet the Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Secretary of State for Defra Angela Eagle in Bradford today, and make the case for protecting environmental regulations, wild spaces for nature and local communities.

We welcome the Prime Minister acting to protect our local environment and the opportunity to meet him today. For too long, Westminster has undervalued the importance of the local environment and not given communities and regulators the power and resources to protect the places that matter to us all.

It is refreshing to see the Government stepping up on environmental regulation in relation to fly tipping in our towns and countryside, not least as we and the local community have sadly experienced it first hand on some of our nature reserves. Moving forward, we hope to see regulation protected and extended beyond illegal waste to reduce pollution that is harming both nature and people, as well as long-term protection for the beautiful wildlife and greenspaces we and local communities have pride in.

📷Andy Burnham with our chairman Nick Perks (https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55476383109/)

20/08/2026

Spot our amazing grazers on your next visit to newly re-opened Askham Bog. 🤩🐂

19/08/2026

This pool ain't big enough for the both of us...

It was a face-off between this great white egret and grey heron at Potteric Carr, captured perfectly by Richard Scott! All there is missing is a tumbleweed (or perhaps some pondweed) floating past...

Share your summer wildlife snaps with us 👇

18/08/2026

We've had five heatwaves this year, the driest July on record, and more hot days than during the famous heatwave of 1976: but as it's rained now, everything should be fine - right?

Unfortunately, our wildlife and wild places don't bounce back quite so quickly. Even if it were to rain throughout autumn, the damage is already done - and if we don't help our wild places to adapt, the impact of future heatwaves is only going to get worse.

We need bigger, resilient and joined-up wild spaces for our wildlife to retreat to - wetlands, woodlands and urban green spaces that we all value. We're leading the charge for a wilder Yorkshire by 2030, but we need your help to succeed - choose the wild life and join us as a member at ywt.org.uk.

17/08/2026

Owls are some of our most captivating birds; their love of hunting at dawn, dusk and even in the dark gives them a sense of mystery and they are the true essence of the golden hour.

Newly-fledged barn owl chicks leave the nest in August, making it one of the best times to spot them hunting over rough grassland at dusk - but Yorkshire is home to five different species of owl, so here’s our guide on how and where to spot them…

15/08/2026

Do you want to listen to the most wholesome thing we've heard all week? Listen to Professor Alistair Fitter on all things Askham Bog, as we reopen our oldest nature reserve after weeks of restoration. 🥰

York's Askham Bog reopens after being shut for vital walkway repairs

14/08/2026

Our comment on the disposable barbecue ban announced by the Government in England, Wales and Scotland.

More fires have struck England and Wales in 2026 so far than in the whole of 2025, destroying large areas of land in Yorkshire and across the rest of the UK.

Please respect the ban and take immense care when visiting our nature reserves - for the sake of our wildlife and the rare habitats they rely on.

You can read more on our concerns about the impact of the year's heatwaves here: https://www.ywt.org.uk/news/yorkshire-wildlife-trust-spotlights-vital-need-create-resilient-and-well-connected-wetland

12/08/2026

Check out these dazzling close-ups of a common blue damselfly at Ripon City Wetlands. It's certainly giving Blue Steel!

Photos by Bob Elliott