THE impact of flood defences on wildlife and the natural environment have been captured on video by young people involved with the Norton Wildlife Watch.

As the junior branch of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the group meets once a fortnight at Norton College, on Monday evenings, and makes site visits to monitor the Ings wetland area of the town.

The group made a video before the flood defences were built, and their latest update shows that the flood defences have not had the impact the group had anticipated.

"We expected the area to dry out comletely," said Watch member Hannah Keal, 12. "But in actual fact, it has to a large extent remained a wetland."

But an impact on the wildlife is undeniable. Before the defences were put in place, rare harvest mice resided in the reeds, but have not been found since.

"There are definitely fewer small animals and insects," said Hannah, "There used to be a lot of wingless water beetles and now there aren't so many."

However, the group says the number of ducks and geese has increased, and some new lakes and ponds were created around the area when the defences were installed.

Watch leader Sue Holmes invites local artists to come and work with the group, producing drawings and designs inspired by the natural environment, and also organised the workshop in which the youngsters filmed and edited their video.

Hannah added: "I think it's really important that we look after the environment and consider things from a wildlife point of view as well as the human impact. I have been flooded twice myself and I'm certainly not saying the defences are a bad thing, but I just think we need to be aware of the broader picture."

Updated: 11:57 Wednesday, April 14, 2004