St Ives golf club create habitats for the future

THOSE walking through the St Ives estate in Harden will now get a glimpse of the landscape in 100 years’ time thanks to golfers.

The team from Bingley St Ives Golf Club, in partnership with the Woodland Trust and STRI, took on the mammoth task of planting 6,000 trees and shrubs.

Volunteers from St Ives Golf Club originally expected to plant 5,500 trees across three days but successfully got the job done in less than three hours.

Their efforts have created one acre of new woodland and 1km of new hedgerow, where creatures big and small can call their home in years to come.

The majority of the cost has been funded by Woodland Trust, donating the cash for 85 percent of the woodland and 75 percent of the hedgerow trees while the club funded the rest.

Adrian Weaver, the club secretary for Bingley St Ives greens, said: “We’re responsible for 690 acres. A lot of golf clubs and the industry as a whole are taking out trees in order to improve the playing conditions.

“A lot of the volunteers want to put something back into the same environment. The environment will benefit.

“If we’re looking at the bigger picture in terms of climate change, it’s easy to take, take, take.

“It’s important if we have the opportunity of putting something back into the natural world then do it. We wanted to do that.

“Everyone’s had the right attitude. The conditions were good and working in teams of four we planted 6,000 trees and shrubs.”

The Harden golfing community is hoping to win the STRI Golf Environment Awards after entering the Home Unions National Award category.

STRI says it is the world’s leading authority on the design, construction, and maintenance of golf greens and courses.

The organization offers training tailored for greenkeepers, club secretaries, like Adrian, and chairs of green on the development and management of your golf course.

Rowan Rumball, an ecological consultant for STRI, explained: “We just see it as a good news story, encouraging biodiversity and natural aspects of the environment.

“What Bingley has done they’ve started to renaturalize some of the areas on the course. They introduced shrubs from native species. Species that can really support our natural environment.

“STRI is working in conjunction with the Woodlands Trust in order to improve aspects of their course and I think this example proves how simple it is to renaturalize areas.

“They’ve permanently changed what the area’s going to look like in a 100 years time.”

One of the best ways clubs can boost its wildlife offer is by mixing different species of flora and fauna – but making sure they’re all native.

This patch of land on the estate will one day grow into a managed woodland habitat for creatures like birds, offering golfers the chance to witness these beautiful birds in nature.