27 March 2026: Update

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General update

Our team is still meeting regularly. We are keeping an eye on the progress of the sale of the woods and are in contact with the vendors. We have also recently met with a potential purchaser - we can't say too much more at this stage, but it seems like everyone is interested in making sure that the woods can be looked after for the long term, which is definitely a good thing.

Litter pick success

Thank you to the volunteers who turned out at the end of February to help us pick litter in the woods, and to Harden Village Council for lending us the equipment. While there wasn't too much litter visible at first glance, the end of winter gave us a good opportunity to root around and pick up some older litter that would have been buried by bracken and other growth later in the year. In the end we collected five bags of rubbish and one broken pushchair - including a vintage beer can from the year 2000!

We plan to organise more litter picks during the year - watch this space.

Bat boxes

We mentioned in our last update that we were looking at carrying out some other projects in the wood, and our first of these is to construct and put up some bat nesting boxes. Many UK bat species are in decline due to habitat loss, reduced roosting sites, and environmental pressures. Bat boxes are artificial roosts that can help support bat populations, which is great as among other things they help keep insects under control!

Friends of Goit Stock Wood purchased the timber to make 15 bat nesting boxes, and this was cut into kits by Ollie, one of our volunteers. We then engaged the services of Wilsden Scouts who did a great job building up the boxes for us!

We'll be installing these in the wood in April (with kind permission from the current owners). We'll be monitoring these bat boxes over the year for evidence of bats nesting (droppings beneath the boxes!) and if they're successful we'll look at installing some more.

We'll be looking at other projects we can run in the woods in the coming months - keep looking out for details!

If you would like to suggest a project, or help out, remember you can always get in touch by email to contact@goitstock.org.uk.

The Friends of Goit Stock Wood team