Great Crested Newt Habitat Mitigation Work
A nationally significant population of Great Crested Newts exists adjacent to Kirkheaton Cemetery. Kirklees Council planned to carry out some essential groundworks in the cemetery which were potentially damaging to the newts and their habitat.
The Council approached Wildbanks Conservation to help them minimise the impact on the newt population and carry out mitigation work to maintain the cemetery as an important habitat for the newts.
The work undertaken to provide compensation habitat included fencing off rough grass and scrub areas in the cemetery to ensure that they remained unmanaged, and marking areas of lawn to be left un-mown, providing replacement areas of good foraging habitat.
In addition, five artificial hibernaculars were created to replace the hibernation areas lost as a result of the cemetery improvements. Sections of an existing laurel hedge were also removed and re-seeded with clump-forming grasses to provide additional resting and foraging places.
