Reevy Mill Dam

Reevy Mill Dam, looking towards Buttershaw High SchoolReevy Mill Dam, looking towards Buttershaw High SchoolBEES manage this small wildlife space, adjacent to Wibsey Park, on behalf of the Council. Our main responsibilities are to keep the pathway open and remove litter. The grassland is managed to encourage wildflowers and the trees and shrubs are planted to attract wildlife.

The site, which is mainly a large mill pond with nesting coots, moorhens and Canadian Geese, is popular with local fishermen.

In June 2007 the Environment Agency carried out a brief survey of the pond. View the survey results

 
Geolocation

53.765227, -1.790428

Conservation Work

Friday 16th October 2009: Reevy Mill Dam, Reevy Road, Wibsey, BD6

Friday 16th October 2009clearing the path

Today our group was joined by a group of young people from Prince's Trust and there was 26 people on site. Together we were able to make a real difference to the site and completed the task of stripping the overgrown turf from the path. We also carried out litter collecting, cutting the grass and pruning overhanging branches. This sets us up very well for next week when we will overlay a new surface and hope to complete the path improvement work.

Today we worked with 15 volunteers and 9 young people from Prince's Trust

Click here for other photos of the day.

Friday 24th September: Reevy Mill Dam, Reevy Road, Wibsey, BD6

keeping the path clearKeeping the path clearToday we made our annual trip on to the water to collect the litter which accumulates; this included traffic signs and plastic bottles. We also carried out our other annual job of cutting the grassed areas using the autoscythe and hand scythes, as well as the regular job of keeping the pathways open and collecting litter.

Today we worked with 18 volunteers.

Click here to see other photos of the day.

 

 

Friday 12th October 2012: Reevy Mill Dam, Reevy Road, Buttershaw, Bradford, BD6

The task today was mainly to cut and rake off the grass areas of the site. This will allow the grasses and wildflowers a chance to grow again next year and provide useful habitat for the insects and birds that visit the site. The grass was cut with the autoscythe and then raked off with hay rakes and taken to site edges with pitch forks. We also organised the boat to be on site and this gave us a chance to clear litter from the reeds around the edges of the pond. Two brave and willing souls braved the vessel and the elements and set off for the unknown. The journey revealed a surprising amount of debris like shed panels and footballs, which had to be carefully manoeuvred to get out of the water. Another job that we undertook was cutting back of the overhanging braches along the roadside. At the end of the day the site was looking very different to when we started.

Today we worked with 8 volunteers.

Click here to see other photos of the day.

Friday 3rd Oct: Reevy Mill Dam, Reevy Avenue, Buttershaw

thanks to Tim Speed for photo Photo: T.Speed 3 Oct 08 Reevy Mill Dam 1 2 3 4 5

This is the annual cut of the grassland, plus clean out of the pond using the BEES boat in the pond to reach the parts of the pond that we cannot reach from the banks and general path maintenance.

Reevy Mill Dam is a former mill pond located in Buttershaw where Reevy Road and Reevy Avenue meet. It is now owned by the Council and managed for the benefit of people and wildlife by BEES.

6 volunteers and 2 members of staff were involved in todays task and we carried out the annual cut of the meadow area. The grass and wildflowers are allowed to grow throughout the year to provide a habitat for animals like frogs and provide food for insects like butterflies. The grass is then cut and raked in a similar method to hay meadow management the same plants will grow again because they have sown seed and the soil fertility kept as they require:

Plus litter picking over the whole site and excitingly we sailed the BEES rowing boat (named HMS Litter Picker) and collected refuse that had been stuck in the reeds for a long time.

The site looked much improved at the end of the task and this was commented on by one of the neighbours. We are grateful to the Council's Clean Team who took away all the refuse we collected namely 15 bin bags of litter, various road signs, a chair, fire extinguishers and road barriers.

Thanks to everyone that took part.