Fires and anti-social behaviour at Chesterfield nature reserve ‘getting out of hand’, says wildlife enthusiast

Norbriggs Flash Nature Reserve, in Staveley, is a haven for wildlife and was restored in 2018 as part of a year-long project between Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and community volunteers funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Since funding ended and DWT took a step back, the volunteers have continued to maintain the site alongside Chesterfield Borough Council.

But, due to Covid restrictions, they have been unable to carry out the work and have seen the site be blighted by acts of vandalism with residents reporting fires being deliberitely lit in the area, litter being left, and bottles being smashed.

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Sid Morris is one of around seven wildlife enthusiasts who help look after Norbriggs Flash and said the incidents are ‘getting out of hand’.

"It’s just getting out of hand a little bit,” Sid, a member of the Staveley area wildlife watch group, said.

"It’s just the random lighting of fires all over and this dry weather we’re having, if it gets hold through the reed beds there’ll be a right mess. It’ll be a catastrophy.

"It’s there for people to have a walk around and enjoy themselves because it’s just off the old Chesterfield Canal, there’s the old cut that runs from the Mastin Moor and Norbriggs area and it’s just inbetween that. But, it’s also there for nature to take advantage of it as well.

“It wants preserving and it wants looking after because it is there for the benefit of everybody.”

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The group works to preserve the area for nature and pre-pandemic carried out tasks such as scrub clearance – a management process which allows more wildlife habitats to grow – and also planted Elm trees to encourage more White-letter Hairstreak butterflies to the site.

Sid, who lives nearby, has continued to visit the area for exercise and said it is a ‘right mess’ at times.

Speaking to those who have been lighting the fires and causing anti-social behaviour, he added: “Just have a bit of consideration. Go and enjoy yourself down there but behaviour yourself while you’re there. We don’t mind and we love to see people down there."

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