Buck Wood is scattered throughout with many natural springs. With the predominantly sloping ground of the woodland, the springs emerge from the ground and seep away lower down, drying up when the weather is dry, and creating boggy or muddy patches when it rains. When the weather is at its wettest, the water from the springs form streams, which sometimes run all the way downhill as far as the canal at the lowest boundary of the Wood.

Mostly the muddy areas are just that, muddy - and an annoyance to walkers in the Wood when they're across the paths. But one particularly large area, almost perpetually boggy, seemed a good place for the Friends of Buck Wood to develop and manage as a marshy wetland site, thereby enhancing the range of habitats in the wood as a whole, and encouraging more wildlife.

With the help and advice of Don Vine from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the large shrubs on the ground and the overhanging branches were cut down. This allowed more light into the area.

Pupils from the local school in Thackley, Immanuel Community College, with their teacher, came and enjoyed a muddy session removing logs and other debris from the site. Rotting vegetation was cleared, and a series of shallow dams created, using mud and wood from the cut saplings.

The end result was a rather depressing area of mud!

Soon, however, regrowth began, proof of the resilience of species such as goat willow and grey sallow. Even the lengths of willow used as supports for the stands or 'cords' of cut logs began to sprout with new branches.

Over a year later we are beginning to see the results of all the hard work, as tadpoles mature in the pools, and new flowers and other plants begin to thrive in the open, lighter conditions. Birds are also discovering the insect-rich habitat.

As well as creating what will, we hope, become a valuable permanent new wetland, we have noted at least two other places in the Wood which will probably be suitable to develop as smaller wetland areas.
In the meantime, with a sturdy new bench provided with LHI grant money, we have not only made a new ecological niche in the woods, but also a pleasant place for local people to sit and appreciate a new and attractive addition to Buck Wood.