A report of the work undertaken by the group during 2011 and 2012 can be found at the following links:

Projects

Tools to support work undertaken during Conservation Task Days have been purchased via a Support Grant secured from the BTCV Chestnut fund.

This handsome butterfly is widely distributed throughout southern areas wherever there are oak trees; even a solitary tree may support a colony. Its range has now extended to the Midlands and it is frequently overlooked as adults remain largely in the canopy where the main adult food source is honeydew. They fly more commonly in the evening of a warm summer's day and are only driven down to seek fluid and nectar during prolonged drought or during heavy rainfall.

The species declined during the 1970s when its foodplants were reduced by Dutch Elm Disease, but it seems now to be recovering in some areas. The White-letter Hairstreak is a small butterfly with an erratic, spiralling flight typical of the hairstreaks. It is distinguished by a strongly-defined white 'W' mark across the undersides. The dark uppersides are seen only in flight as the butterflies always settle with their wings closed. Adults are difficult to see because they spend so much time in the tree canopy, although they occasionally come to ground level to nectar on flowers near elm trees or scrub saplings.

The Friends of Chaddesden Wood are working in co-operation with the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and Butterfly Conservation to help create a local habitat to attract the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly. This was planned to comprise planting a small number of both standard and whip Dutch Elm resistant elm trees, referred to as Ulmus Sapporo Autumn Gold Elm. Derbyshire Wildlife Trust provided the trees for the Friends of Chaddesden Wood, which were planted during the Task Day held on 1 December 2012.

PROJECT: White-letter Hairstreak Butterfly

PROJECT: ACE (Active Citizenship & Engagement)

Groundwork Derby & Derbyshire, Derby City Council and the Friends of Chaddesden Wood are pleased to report their success in securing a £10,000 grant from SITA. The project will be known as ACE (Active Citizenship & Engagement), will be managed by Groundwork (Ros Allen) and be delivered through engagement with a number of youth organisations.

Groundwork (Derby and Derbyshire) went into administration in September 2012. Subsequently, the Friends of Chaddesden Wood made representation to SITA Trust to take over the project management of the ACE Project to its completion. Following discussions on revised timescales and budgets, we are pleased to announce that SITA Trust awarded the revised contract to the Friends of Chaddesden Wood on 15th October 2012. The new project plan anticipates project completion at the end of June 2013.

As of end-January 2013, the project had completed planting of new native pond plants, installation of four new benches, designs of interpretation panels by University of Derby students to be sited at each main entrance, preliminary design of the viewpoint panel, routes for three walks leading to/from the LNR, planting of native ground flora, tree seed gathering and the construction and installation of bird, bat and owl boxes.

PROJECT: Pond Improvements

The Derby City Pond Warden Association will deepen the main pond and two adjacent satellite scrapes, line them all with a product called bentonite to improve water retention, and then put a dead hedge around the main pond (using materials displaced from our hedge-laying work) to lessen disturbance. The proposed solution to improve water retention on the pond was on display at our 21st LNR Birthday Celebration event, and the solution described was the unanimous choice by visitors on the day.

This work has now been contracted to the The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) and was completed on 29-31 October 2012.

The main pond in June 2008

The main pond in March 2012

The refurbished pond in October 2012

PROJECT: Oakwood Neighbourhood Supported

The Oakwood Neighbourhood Board approved a Friends of Chaddesden Wood application to the Community Budget in June 2012 for the following improvements to the Local Nature Reserve:






Members of the Friends of Chaddesden Wood completed the making and fitting of the three new Notice Boards at their Task Day events in December 2012 and January 2013. The installation of the ten foot Triangular Bench was completed by The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) on 2 April 2013, with the costs of the TCV time funded by the Wild Derby part of Derby City Council. The existing LNR Sign was supplied by Encore Reuse (Probation Service) some years ago and obtaining a quotation for a second one took many emails and a long length of time. However, we have recently taken delivery of the new sign and a member of the Friends of Chaddesden Wood is now staining it in preparation for installation at a future Task Day.

1) Purchase of timber to refurbish the notice boards and supporting posts located at the three main entrances.
2) Purchase of protected timber for a large triangular bench located just inside the Springwood Drive entrance.
3) Purchase of a Chaddesden Wood LNR sign to be located at the Diamond Drive entrance. This was to be modelled on the existing one sited just outside the Springwood Drive entrance.