Nature spotting: New project aims to encourage people in Wakefield to spot local flora and fauna

The scheme has been inspired by Thomas Waller Gissing, father of the Victorian novelist George Gissing and resident of Wakefield, who created two books about the flora and fauna of the community. The books record where and when the specimens were found.

“What I know of him is that he was a chemist, a pharmaceutical and dispensing chemist, and he was also a member of various societies,” says Steven Busfield, co-director of Empath.

“I imagine that this was both a professional and personal interest for him as I would imagine plants had various applications in chemistry.”

Empath researchers Helga Fox and Helen Wilby delved into the history of the Gissing family for a previous project last year.

Having come across Thomas’ books, the group then decided to develop a new project encouraging people to get out walking and connect with nature.

It is being delivered with the support of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s CityConnect programme, which is aimed at enabling more people to travel by bike and on foot.

The CityConnect Community Grants programme supports not-for-profit organisations across West Yorkshire with funding of up to £5,000 to encourage people in their communities to walk and cycle more.

"Every member of the Empath facilitator team has a love for walking in nature and has found it so powerful for our mental health, and we know there are many others just like us," Steven says.

"When we were immersing ourselves in all things Gissing for our wider projects and we found Thomas Waller Gissing's books on the plants and flowers he and his family and friends were seeing in Wakefield in the 19th Century, it felt like a wonderful opportunity to combine walking, history, and a love of nature.”

The group will be walking across the district, taking video and images of what they see.

Among the locations members will be visiting are Anglers Country Park, Heath Common, Haw Park Wood, Newmillerdam Country Park and Walton Colliery Nature Park, which between them are rich in wildflowers, heather and gorse and water plant species.

They are encouraging others to join the project, which runs until spring, with their own walks, sharing pictures of plants, flowers, berries and mushrooms with Empath across social media, using the hashtag #GuidedByGissing.

Empath will be providing regular updates online as well as pulling together a pamphlet highlighting what people might be able to spot in different areas, at different times of the year.

"We want to give people reasons to get out there and go nature spotting,” Steven says.

“We can start to look at what these great walks in our district are like and what flowers and plants are there.

"It’s about getting people out and about in nature because it’s so powerful for your mental health and wellbeing.

"Primarily for us it’s about the walking and the experience of getting out there, but it’s also about having a connection with our green spaces, with our environment, and seeing things change with seasons. The ecology has to be protected and appreciated.”

On Wednesday, September 27, at 5pm, Empath will be at The Gissing Centre, Wakefield.

Opened in the 1990s, the centre is a small museum housed in a suite of rooms in a property that was the childhood home of George Gissing.

His father, Thomas, had the Westgate frontage shop and the centre celebrates the stories, interests and achievements of all members of the family.

Empath will be there to talk about the Guided by Gissing project and Thomas Waller Gissing’s work collecting lists of flora and fauna.

For more on the project, visit empathaction.org/guidedbygissing