Knaresborough Golf Club has won praise from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust for its environmental programmes.
When the club set out to raise its environmental game, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust was one of the first agencies it consulted with. Expanding and safeguarding the habitats of birds, bees and butterflies was the priority – while creating a thriving wildflower meadow was key to the project.
Volunteers have also built bug hotels, installed hedgehog shelters in woodlands, and supported the setting up of a beehive. Greenstaff also follow wildlife protection guidelines closely, ensuring safer habitats by allowing remote areas of rough to grow more freely. Meanwhile, fallen trees and branches are left as habitats in wooded areas, while a recently constructed drainage pond serves as a water resource for mammals, birds and insects.
Club volunteers on the Sustainability Advisory Group have also taken a leaf out of the trust’s policy and erected a wildlife notice board like ones found at more than 100 nature reserves across Yorkshire.
The wildlife noticeboard, which overlooks the 11th green, was unveiled by Yorkshire wildlife officer Laura Harman. She said Knaresborough was the first golf club she had worked with and that the club was an example of what could be achieved with commitment – adding that the work fitted well into a wildlife corridor stretching from Stavely Reserve to the edge of Knaresborough.
