Habitat restoration
We are working to create wildlife corridors throughout the town in order to enhance and restore our wildflower and insect population, whilst also improving connectivity between habitats.
So far we have successfully liaised with a number of businesses and institutions in Otley, including the hospital, churches and others, to relax mowing on their land and allow the wildlife corridors to flourish.
Following Otley Town Council declaring a climate emergency in 2019, the council have also now declared a biodiversity emergency. Thanks largely to the work we have done preparing the evidence, you can read the reports that led to this change below. Also below is the resulting Nature Recovery Plan, prepared with our partners at the Otley Nature Network and a special foreword by entomologist and broadcaster George McGavin!
Wildlife corridors
​Wildlife Friendly Otley has been working with local residents, and both City and Town Councils to give wildlife a helping hand in Otley, so that people can live in a more nature-rich area. Our new, collaborative project - having secured permission from Leeds City Council - is two trial wildlife corridors, one north of the river and another the south of the river.
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​The southern corridor will run all the way from the Wildlife Friendly Street Claro Mews, down to the banks of the river. The Northern corridor will run from Ashfield Primary up to Wharfemeadow Avenue. If you live on one of our target corridors and want to plant for wildlife, please contact us! We have held several public events over the past year to discuss plans for the corridors and gather important community input. Through this process, we have been encouraged by the number of supporters and volunteers who have stepped forward along each target corridor to champion these efforts.
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We have put planters and pollinator-friendly plants on the back street of Hamilton Terrace and Ramsey Terrace.
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