STAFF at a pioneering woodmeadow between York and Selby need support with their latest fundraising venture.

Spring is well underway at Three Hagges Woodmeadow, just south of Escrick, and on Saturday and Sunday April 9 and 10 staff will be walking a total of 203 miles doing laps around the site.

Woodmeadow Trust’s woodmeadow adviser, Dan Carne, has been working closely with 30 sites around the country, who are planning their own woodmeadows to improve biodiversity for their communities to enjoy.

One of those projects is at Pinner Recreation Ground in Harrow, London, 203 miles away.

By walking the equivalent distance, staff and volunteers hope to raise enough money for an electric buggy, which will be used at Three Hagges by visitors and volunteers, and for events and transporting equipment.

Trust founder, Rosalind Forbes Adam said: “We are very proud to have such a dedicated, hard-working team of staff and volunteers, and we hope you’ll take this opportunity to sponsor them for this invigorating challenge they’ve set themselves.

“An electric buggy would be extremely valuable to us in all kinds of ways, from helping visitors with limited mobility to get round the woodmeadow to making it quicker and easier for us to carry out work to improve the habitat for wildlife. We really appreciate any contributions.”

A lap of the woodmeadow is one mile, so volunteers have to walk a total of 203 laps of the woodmeadow.

The number of miles each volunteer/staff member can walk depends on how fit they are.

Emma Daniels, the woodmeadow’s administration and marketing manager who will be walking herself, said: “I would imagine some of us could do 25 laps in a weekend and others ten.

“It’s going to be a real challenge and I’m getting a bit nervous now. But it’s for an excellent cause.”

If you would like to put a spring in the walkers’ steps by sponsoring them, please click here.

Three Hagges Woodmeadow is the Woodmeadow Trust’s flagship site after being transformed from arable land in 2012.

It’s a great place for a wonderful wealth of wildlife, and is a hub of educational, community and family activity, as well as citizen science.

The entry is free, and the site is open from dawn until dusk every day.

You can also take part in one of the many events coming up this spring and summer here.