Nature news, events and conservation opportunities in the Manifold Valley
You are warmly invited to attend a free apple-grafting workshop, delivered by experts from Sheffield Fruit Trees, a social enterprise cultivating heritage fruit trees at their nursery, in collaboration with the National Trust.
You’ll be introduced to the basics of how grafting works and why it’s used, including an explanation of scions, rootstocks, and the best time of year to graft.
You’ll watch a step-by-step demonstration of a simple grafting technique before having the chance to try it yourself, with guidance and safety equipment provided.
You can bring your own scion material (last year’s growth) or have it provided for you.
You will have the opportunity to graft your own young apple tree and take it home, along with practical aftercare advice to help it establish successfully.
Sheffield Fruit Trees offer a supportive, hands-on learning environment suitable for complete beginners.
For more information, or to book a place, please email: [email protected]
Thank you to everyone who joined in hedge planting with the National Trust
A small group of volunteers braved the very cold, wet February weather, to help the National Trust plant hedges in Grindon, which will create vital wildlife corridors in years to come. Sorry to those who signed up for the second day of hedge planting, which was cancelled due to bad weather!
We hope to continue joining National Trust conservation opportunities in the Manifold Valley, so if you'd like to help look after and create new wildlife habitats, watch this space!
Riverfly Monitoring on the Manifold River
We began organising Riverfly monitoring on the Manifold River last year, as it is a great way for us, as a community, to gather information about changes in river water quality, by tracking sensitive invertebrate species. It not only helps build a picture over time of the health of the river, but also supports ongoing conversations with the Environment Agency.
With spring in the air, we're looking forward to getting back in the river to pick up where we left off last year. To help get things started again, we'll be holding a refresher day on the 9th April for our trained monitors and monitoring assistants and anyone else who is interested in getting involved in Riverfly monitoring. So, if you are interested in becoming a monitoring assistant or would just like to be more involved with the river monitoring group, please get in touch.
Want to know what happened with ManifoldCAN in 2025, and what we are looking forward to in 2026?
We will continue to let you know about new conservation opportunities and events throughout the year. If you would like to keep up to date with this and more, please subscribe (at the bottom of the page) to receive our newsletters. Thank you!