The member magazine for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust | Summer 2022 Shining a light On our past performance and future plans. Warwickshire Wildlife Trust’s 2021 annual report and plans for the future LETTING IN THE LIGHT #TEAMWILDER VOLUNTEERS Breathing new life into South Warwickshire showing Could you add new our woodlands how it’s done growth to the Trust?
WELCOME 25 To the summer edition of your member magazine In April, rumours were confirmed that a crunch United Nations KAY REEVE summit to agree a global deal to stop the destruction of nature will be postponed for a fourth time, leaving the world without Parasol Mushrooms - targets for ending extinctions and stopping habitat losses. Macrolepiota procera Here in the UK, our Government opened a consultation on its Nature Recovery Green Paper and the proposed targets for its new law, the Environment Act. Despite 41% of UK species declining in abundance in the last 50 years, and one in ten now being threatened with extinction, the Government intends to wait until 2030, and only then to try to increase species abundance by 10% by 2042. We are concerned this could mean less wildlife in 20 years’ time than we have today! Nature’s decline has to stop - and be reversed - now. International dither and national delay heightens the importance of local action by local people helping wildlife wherever they live, work or play. Nature, it seems, cannot afford to wait for political action, despite it being the foundation of our health, wealth and happiness. In the last magazine we explained how we see your Wildlife Trust being part of this local action, and here we go into more detail of how we can help you help wildlife where you are. That could be through #TeamWilder community action or via our Next Door Nature campaign. More details on these can be found on our website and throughout this magazine. We should balance well-deserved criticism with praise whenever possible and as such were delighted that plans for a new GCSE in Natural History have been approved by the Department of Education. The new qualification is intended to help students gain an understanding of the natural world from their own local wildlife, environment and ecosystem to critical global challenges like climate change, biodiversity and sustainability. Done well, it will deliver the conclusion from the Royal Society’s Economics of Biodiversity that ‘Every child in every country is owed the teaching of natural history, to be introduced to the awe and wonder of the natural world, to appreciate how it contributes to our lives.’ Ref: Dasgupta, P. (2021), The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review. Abridged Version. (London: HM Treasury). Done badly it may make the younger generations feel their elders are expecting them to sort the problems we have created. We’ll see … but in the meantime, we discuss this new GCSE on pages 4 and 5. I hope you enjoyed the spring and are well into a fine summer – thank you as always for supporting your local Wildlife Trust. Ed Green, Chief Executive Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Get in touch Cover: Woodland Wild Warwickshire is the membership Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is the leading WildWarwickshire MagazineTeam by Guy magazine for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust local charity dedicated to conserving, Edwardes protecting and enhancing your local wildlife. Editor Jo Hudson & Lindsay Butler /2020Vision Email [email protected] We manage over 65 nature reserves in Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull. We Design Sally Gregory, Wild Warwickshire magazine was printed by Telephone 024 7630 2912 are supported by over 26,000 members and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Design Studio Seacourt Printers on 100% recycled materials at a over 600 volunteers. factory powered by 100% renewables, using zero Address Brandon Marsh Nature Centre, water and chemicals, and generating zero landfill. Brandon Lane, Coventry, CV3 3GW facebook.com/WarwickshireWT/ Seacourt is a Net Positive printer that makes a positive contribution to the environment and society. Website warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk twitter.com/wkwt Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is a company instagram.com/warwickshirewt/ limited by guarantee. Registered in England, number 00585247. Registered charity, number 209200. VAT Number 670318740. 2 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
INSIDE... 4 A springboard for a lifelong love of nature 6 S potlight on Brandon Marsh 8 2021 Annual Report 14 #3oDaysWild 15 Summer fun starts here! 16 Managing our woodlands for future generations 18 Small steps for future stability 20 I ntroducing the South Warwickshire area Network (SWAN) for Wildlife 24 Community engagement creates corridors for nature 25 The fascination of fungi 26 Geoff Litterick Volunteering for the Trust 28 E verything we do is thanks to you! 30 Tribute to Ron Hill 31Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse 34 6 places to see... stoats and weasels We need your help to raise £3 million! To play our part in bringing about a wilder Warwickshire we need to double the land we currently manage for wildlife by 2030. Can you help? Donate to our Nature Recovery Fund here. www.warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/appeal Warwickshire Wildlife Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 3 Trust thanks the players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
EDUCATION A springboard for a lifelong love of nature Will the new GCSE in Natural History create a deeper understanding of our natural world? E veryone with an interest in the ELEANOR CHURCHEd Green, CEO, What is natural history? other species we share this Warwickshire WildlifeTrust unique planet with will have The definition used in the public a different story of how that history. What is wrong are the reasons consultation was ‘natural history interest started. My mother’s dementia why these words are falling into disuse. focuses on understanding the sadly controls some parts of her memory, At a time of ecological crisis they should rich and diverse natural world. but she can still remember more types of be on the lips of everyone, particularly Through observational study and wildflower than I have ever been able to those who will live longest on an investigation, natural history seeks to identify. Something she puts down to only understand the variety, complexities being allowed to play outside during her environmentally stressed planet. and interconnectedness of life on childhood. There are many reasons why Earth in contrasting habitats’ and according to the OCR website, this My own I attribute to an eccentric and these words are disappearing, means that ‘pupils will develop a inspirational biology teacher, who went but a big one is the glaring hole rich understanding of the natural the extra mile(s) in organising school in biology teaching, which is world: from their own local wildlife, trips to various parts of Scotland and focussed heavily on scientific environment and ecosystem to who turned alpine plant surveys into theory and often overlooks critical global challenges such as adventures fit for teenagers. what’s at the end of the road. climate change, biodiversity and No wonder press stories sustainability’. Natural History Biology is of course still taught to appear from time to time, explores how our natural world has children and young adults, whose been shaped and how it continues environmental awareness is undoubtedly claiming children are more to change, both by natural processes higher than previous generations. Yet likely to be able to identify a and through human intervention. words like acorn, adder, beech, bluebell, Dalek than a magpie. (teach.ocr.org.uk/naturalhistory) catkin, cowslip, dandelion, fern, hazel, heron, ivy, kingfisher, lark, mistletoe, So, let’s celebrate the nectar, newt, otter and willow have all creation of a new GCSE in been removed from recent editions of the Natural History! The result of Oxford Junior Dictionary. Removing them wasn’t wrong, as words have come and gone throughout Lveitaarln, eindgucaabtoiount awl itlodolilfe is a 4 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
EDUCATION a campaign by environmentalist, freelance Pupils will develop ELEANOR CHURCH producer and author, Mary Colwell. transferable skills The Department of Education confirmed in April that the OCR, (an organisation providing A Levels and GCSEs in 40 different subjects) will develop a curriculum for Natural History to be taught to 14 -16-year olds from 2025. At the Trust, we warmly welcome a qualification that will get under the skin of the natural world and create a deeper understanding and love for wildlife that is so desperately needed. Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts has said: “I hope studying natural history will encourage students to fall in love with nature and inspire a new and diverse generation of naturalists, conservationists, and scientists. This GCSE should become a springboard to a lifelong connection with nature “... we warmly welcome a qualification that will learning…this is the perfect opportunity get under the skin of the natural world and create to keep the momentum going. If it a deeper understanding and love for wildlife” changes one young person’s view on the environment, it can make a change to the and to green careers. Learning about connections between humans, nature and future of our environment...” wildlife, plants, and our impact on the the planet. planet are vital educational tools for the We hope more pupils than ever before 21st century.” Vicky Dunne, Education Manager for will have the opportunity to develop in- Warwickshire Wildlife Trust said: “The depth knowledge and real-life experience We expect this to be a qualification theory of natural history is covered well of their local wildlife. In doing so they will that complements existing subjects in the early key stages. Children learn the gain transferable skills in observation, like biology and geography, but takes basics and many topics lend themselves identification, classification and data young minds further and deeper into the to taking children outside to enhance this gathering. They will learn ways to apply this knowledge to solving the climate and We hope young minds are taken ELEANOR CHURCH ecological crises they will live through, deeper into the connections by restoring natural systems, adapting to between humans and the planet climate change and rewilding our society. The Biological Records Centre is managed by the County Council and contains information on about 15,000 individual species in Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull from almost 4,000 different sites. A total of over 3 million records from many sources but most importantly, from people living here. This is the foundation of what we know about our particular part of the planet, and how it’s changing. It is the basis for understanding how we need to respond. The new GCSE has just made it more likely that this vital source of knowledge will be maintained, enhanced and used by future generations, whose children, hopefully, will see lost wildlife return to their neighbourhoods and lost words to their dictionaries. Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 5
NATURE RESERVES Spotlight on Brandon Marsh If you haven’t visited S ituated to the South East There is a huge variety of wildlife to yet…then summer is of Coventry, this wild, wet be seen all year round. You could be the perfect time. and leafy 92-hectare haven lucky enough to catch a glimpse of an is teeming with birdlife, otter in one of our pools, spot a JON HAWKINS insects, amphibians and a host of muntjac deer as it runs through the other creatures. scrubland, or spy a fox as it slinks across the reserve. As you walk Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve, through the woodland clearings in the once an industrial gravel quarry, summer months, stay alert and watch is a wild blend of our beautiful butterflies as they soak marshland, reedbeds, up the sun, or listen to the woodland and woodpecker as it collects insects from the trees. grasslands and has also been designated a Site of Special Scientific A great number of birds have Interest (SSSI). chosen Brandon Marsh as their home, including kingfishers, reed buntings, Have you visited us yet? snipe, water rail, cormorants, herons, teal and many more. Our It’s the perfect place for birdwatchers, knowledgeable and helpful visitor walkers, families and those looking to relax and connect with nature. 6 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
STEVEN CHESHIRE Thank you NATURE RESERVES Your support helps us Brandon Marsh to manage sites like Brandon Marsh to KNOW BEFORE YOU GO provide a haven for Entrance is free to Warwickshire plants and animals. Wildlife Trust members; non- members are welcome for a small IAN COOK fee that helps support our work. Only guide dogs or assistance centre staff will be able to tell you Both the Kingfisher and Woodpecker dogs are permitted. what has recently been seen on the trails are accessible for anyone with a Opening Times: Summer reserve when you visit. buggy, wheelchair or mobility scooter. opening hours (1 April - 30 Sept) If you contact us and book in advance, 9.30am - 4.30pm Monday-Friday You can take a closer look at the you can also hire a mobility scooter 10am - 4.30pm Saturday and from the visitor centre, free of charge. Sunday. Bank holidays: Should you be interested in a longer weekend hours apply. walk, then Brandon Reach, which is Address: Brandon Lane one of our newest reserves and a Coventry, CV3 3GW stone’s throw from Brandon Marsh, OS Map Reference: SP 386 761 offers an interesting walk through a What3Words///: Rips.easy.river rich mosaic of habitats; from grassland through to the ancient and animal ‘spotter sheets’ should woodlands of Piles Coppice. they want to discover more. There’s also a sensory garden within Should you wish to stay and eat Brandon Marsh, where you can take in with us, or to take a break with a the sights, sounds and smells of nature coffee and a cake, then The Badger’s with our carefully planted garden. Kitchen has a varied menu catering for a wide range of dietary requirements. “As you walk through the woodland You can sit and watch the birds on our feeders through the windows, so if clearings in the summer months, stay the weather is not to your liking, there’s still plenty to see. alert and watch our beautiful butterflies” Our visitor centre shop sells a range wildlife from one of our nine bird An orchard provides a quiet of interesting gifts and practical ideas hides, where you can sit quietly and greenspace, where you can get lost in for all ages, from bird feeders to take in all that is around you, or take thought as you watch the bees and books, unique art creations and pictures of what you see…we’d love insects go about their day. children’s books and toys. You’re also you to share them with us if you do! safe in the knowledge your purchases For young children, the education help to support wildlife in the local There are two trails around the garden is a great space to play in the area too. nature reserve should you wish to mud kitchen and jump around the log take a walk and relax in the fresh air. circle. We also have some helpful bird Come and see what Brandon Marsh has to offer this summer and learn more about the wildlife in your local area…you might be surprised by what you see! Find out more by visiting: www.warwickshire wildlifetrust.org.uk/BrandonMarsh Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 7
ANNUAL REVIEW Warwickshire Wildlife Trust 2021 Annual Report 2021 was a year of fantastic progress despite the (now familiar) problems associated with Covid restrictions. A s the financial section shows, Our Impact at a glance it was a record year for both the charity and company. 40 young adult 2,915 work days This created a significant volunteers actively donated by surplus which means, when added to the engaged with the volunteers for hugely generous response of supporters Wilder Future for all types of the to our Nature Recovery Fund appeal Warwickshire project. Trust’s work (thank you!!), that we have massively boosted the funds available to buy land We helped over 150 for new habitat creation. Despite a people improve their very competitive market preventing us mental health through securing some opportunities, the Trust is our health and well placed on others and working hard to wellbeing sessions. complete purchases. 99.5 days of work Approximately 2,286 Other achievements include more of took place with Severn practical days were our woodland estate now being actively Trent employees via spent on improving our managed for a large range of wildlife, their Community nature reserves by both continuing our work along the River Cole, Champion Days. staff and volunteers. securing the commitment of the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support work 45 farmers are now members of the on the River Sherbourne in Coventry Arden Farm Wildlife Network with 2 new and working closely with Coventry City sustainable farming groups developed to of Culture – both helping people help cover South Warwickshire and the Leam wildlife in our main city. All this whilst also & Upper Avon river catchments. developing strategies to get nature out of decline and into recovery, with people everywhere taking action for the wildlife where they live. PENNY DIXIE Approximately 35 – 40 Social media followers hectares of woodland have (end of 2021) been improved as part of the Trust’s woodland Twitter 10,923 management strategy in 2021. Facebook 10,912 Instagram 5,859 £100k raised for our LinkedIn 1,296 Nature Recovery Taking action for nature Fund Appeal in 2021 8 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
ANNUAL REVIEW Some key highlights Nature Reserves AMY LEWIS Harvest mouse regenerative agriculture, soil nutrition, CHARMION ROBERTS, 2021 cover crops and agroforestry. A difficult start to the year, with a further Love Your River Cole lockdown, meant practical management Two new sustainable farming groups on nature reserves was prioritised to key A partnership led by the Trust’s Tame covering South Warwickshire and the tasks. However, throughout the year, the Valley Wetlands team secured a grant Leam & Upper Avon river catchments staff and volunteers’ efforts started to of £705,000 from the Green Recovery have also been developed. New funding close the gap to pre-pandemic levels by Challenge Fund to continue work on the will be sought in 2022. achieving approximately 2,286 days of Love Your River Cole (LYRiC) project. practical work dedicated to making our River Restoration Work nature reserves wilder places. Delivered by a partnership of eight organisations, it involved tree planting, A funding bid to the Highways England Woodland Management wildflower meadow creation, wetland programme was accepted. This project habitat enhancements as well as access relates to the Fillongley river catchment Delivery of woodland management improvements to paths and trails through around the M6 and seeks to restore across Snitterfield Bushes, Wappenbury key sites. It also had a strong focus on 14 hectares of species rich lowland Wood and Oakley Wood, meant the creating and supporting local green jobs meadows, orchards and hedgerows Trust’s strategy continues to ensure in partnership with The Prince’s Trust, enabling more connectivity for wildlife. your woodlands are well managed, full offering traineeships aimed at giving 15 ponds will act as stepping stones for of wildlife and resilient to the challenges people the experience and accredited amphibians and dragonflies, provide flood they face in the future. training required to pursue a career in the storage and slow the flow of water in the environmental sector. landscape, as this area has seen flooding Approximately 35 – 40 hectares of in the past. It will fund £364,831 over woodland have been managed as part Arden Farm Wildlife Network three years and includes existing and new of the Trust’s woodland management (AFWN) staff costs, trainee costs, management strategy in 2021. and overheads. The Arden Farm Wildlife Network was Sherbourne Valley Project extended by a further year and funding Volunteering from the Rural Payments Agency came The National Lottery Heritage Fund agreed to an end in March 2022, following three In 2021 we saw an increase of 92 to extend the development phase, moving years of successful delivery. volunteers over the course of the year, the stage two application submission another year when it was challenging to from March to May 2022. If the bid is The network now has 45 members who deliver volunteer activity due to Covid-19. successful, the delivery phase will start in collectively farm over 10,400 hectares. October 2022 and run for four years. This has grown from 16 members at the The total sum of volunteer hours start of the project in 2018. Specialists worked across the Trust in 2021 was Commitment from project Board from around the country have provided 20,404. Using a standard Government Partners increased with Severn Trent and advice to the farmers on subjects such measure this equates to £283,775. the Environment Agency both doubling as harvest mice, water voles, barn owls their cash match funding commitment and lapwing. The farmers were also for the Delivery Phase and Coventry City keen to keep up with subjects such as Council increasing theirs threefold. The overall budget for the project is projected to be approximately £3.5million - the largest project in the Trust’s history. LYRiC trainee Freya Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 9
ANNUAL REVIEW Wilder Future for CHARMION ROBERTS, 2021 Warwickshire Walking for wellbeing allotment gardening, bushcraft sessions The Wilder Future for Warwickshire and walks, improving their confidence project, funded by the National Lottery The Environment and Me once again. Some have now returned as Heritage Fund, empowers young people volunteers! to deliver a wilder future for their local TEaM faced a challenging year in 2021, as environment. Throughout 2021, 40 young beneficiaries’ confidence and wellbeing Leamington’s Green adult volunteers actively engaged with were negatively impacted during Covid. Connections the project and are now busy setting up a Thanks to the staff, the project was Trust Youth Committee. soon back, supporting over 60 people in In 2021 the project delivered 29 volunteering sessions, 4 x five-week Severn Trent Community £3 million Nature ‘Wellbeing in the Woods’ courses and Champion Hours Recovery Fund several stand-alone wellbeing events, all Appeal aimed at connecting the community to A five-year partnership with Severn Trent, each other and their local reserves. whose employees deliver Community Champion Days, began in July 2021. As an added benefit, almost 79 days of Employees contributed to tasks across volunteers’ time was spent undertaking various reserves and completed work practical conservation tasks at Oakley such as invasive species management, Wood, Leam Valley and Whitnash Brook. glade clearance and tree planting, totalling 99.5 practical volunteer days. Nature Recovery Fund Appeal Health and Wellbeing The Nature Recovery Fund Appeal launched in March 2021 with the aims of In 2021 we supported over 150 people to raising funds for land purchase, increasing improve their mental and physical wellbeing our profile and generating new support. by helping them access and connect with Financially, the appeal is the most nature, whilst supporting many back into successful to date in the Trust’s history, volunteering, education or employment. with final 2021 figures sitting at just over We also offered an eight-week bush craft £100k. The appeal also saw an increase programme for ex-service personnel. in pledgers who now donate monthly, alongside five legacies and gifts in wills dedicated to the Fund and £18,000 in support from corporates and charitable trusts. Thank you to all. 10 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
ANNUAL REVIEW Financials It’s all thanks to you Overall Financial Performance table: Once again, we were overwhelmed by the support, Charitable Trading Total loyalty and generosity of our members, supporters (Middlemarch and volunteers throughout the year. Environmental) Thanks to you, we were able to continue our vital Total Income £4,303,000 £5,877,000 £10,190,000 project work and much more, allowing people to access nature, wildlife and green spaces in their Total Expenditure £3,782,000 £5,343,000 £9,125,000 local area, which has proven to be a vital resource £544,000 £1,065,000 throughout the last few years. Net Income £521,000 (Expenditure) We thank every single person who supported us throughout 2021 and whose support means we are able to fulfil the work we are here to do; to put nature into recovery and to create a wilder Warwickshire. Income 2021 Fundraising Donations and gifts Investment 3.69% 4.29% income 0% Charitable activities £2,027,000 Income tax (e.g. grants & contracts) recovered under Corporate Gift Aid 3.27% membership Membership £637,000 subscriptions subscriptions 0.11% Visitor centres £309,000 Charitable activities Legacies £840,000 Legacies (e.g. grants £141,000 19.52% & contracts) Income tax recovered 47.1% under Gift Aid Fundraising £159,000 Donations and gifts £185,000 Visitor centres 7.18% Investment income £0 Corporate membership £5,000 Membership subscriptions 14.8% subscriptions £4,303,000 Total Like a lot of charities, we apply for grants from a variety of organisations in a competitive process which involves us having to demonstrate the importance of our vital work. We are extremely grateful to the following organisations who awarded us funding in 2021 n Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust n North Warwickshire Borough Council n The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust n Citizen Housing n Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council n The Ratcliff Foundation n C oventry and Warwickshire Clinical n Orbit Housing n The Saintbury Trust n Rugby Borough Council n Waitrose (Solihull and Alcester) Commissioning Group n Rural Payments Agency n Warwick District Council n Coventry City Council n Severn Trent n Warwickshire County Council n Environment Agency n Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council n William A Cadbury Charitable Trust n European Social Fund n Stratford District Council n Highways England n Tesco Bags of Help n National Lottery Community Fund Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 11
ANNUAL REVIEW Membership more than ever, people are rediscovering their connection with nature and are The lifeblood of our organisation is our pledging their commitment to take action membership. Membership subscriptions for wildlife. This is reflected in the 4.4% provide us with vital income, free from increase in membership in 2021, with over conditions set by funders, which allows 90% of our members choosing to retain us to invest in the areas that matter most. their membership compared to 88% in Without your support our charity would 2020. We are incredibly grateful to each not be able to function. Thank you! and every member who supports the Trust and brings us one step closer to making In a year where we were finding more space for nature and our goal of our way through the aftermath and bringing our wildlife back. uncertainty of the pandemic, the Trust was delighted to see a continued increase in its membership. We know that now, Legacies Expenditure 2021 Communications 4.09% The Trust was notified of a total of Membership services 8.01% Volunteers 0.81% £840,000 in legacy income in 2021. We are extremely grateful to the following Governance 0.23% people who left a legacy to help ensure wild places are safe for future Visitor centres 10.94% generations to experience and enjoy: Michael John Welch Charitable Mr Hailey expenditure 75.88% Lucy Jane Essex Tim Crowther PENNY DIXIE Celia June Osborn John Bryan Thomas Taking action for nature Charitable expenditure £2,870,000 Vera Rosemary Harrison Visitor centres £414,000 Alan Brain Membership services £303,000 Benjamin Flavell Communications £155,000 Herbert Haywood. Volunteers £31,000 Governance £9,000 We also thank the family and friends Total £3,782,000 of the following people who made donations to the Trust in their memory: Designated Funds 2021 2020 Roy Ledbury Nature Recovery Fund £2,519,000 £1,500,000 Kenneth Hornby Charity Projects Fund £1,011,000 £946,000 Robin Toogood Infrastructure Investment Fund £276,000 £25,000 Rachel Hill Covid-19 Recovery Fund £0 £315,000 Donald Riddoch Contingency £730,000 £730,000 Tim Crowther Total £4,535,000 £3,516,000 Aubry Ward Rita Fletcher A full version of our 2021 annual accounts can be found on our website warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/reports James Stanley Dunsby Trevor Cox Linda Trost Robin Gibbs Roger Watson Betty Browning Mr M Spraggett John Henry Jones Gloria Nightingale Walter & Sheelagh Dean Christine Green Margaret Thompson Peter Fitzsimmons Clem Hindmarch. 12 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
ANNUAL REVIEW Vision for the future – 2030 Throughout 2021, the development of the We will actively seek to expand the their behaviour, this can be enough to national 30by30 strategy continued. The land we manage for wildlife but it will be change the behaviours of the majority. Trust also developed a strategy to localise the right land in the right place and it will and deliver the collective approach across be land which has low value for wildlife We look forward to sharing our success Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull. at the moment, which we will improve stories with you in the coming months This strategy was launched in the Spring by creating new habitats. We will double and ask you to share any stories about 2022 magazine and its aim is to help 1 our estate in ten years by adding 1,000 projects you have been involved in with in 4 people in the area to take action for hectares to our existing nature reserves. us too. nature, with more space for nature, with more people on nature’s side. To help achieve our goal of 1 in 4 As part of the UK network of Wildlife people in Warwickshire, Coventry and Trusts, we work to ensure that our local The solid financial performance of Solihull acting for wildlife, we will inspire actions add up to have a collective impact the charity and our trading subsidiary, and support community action and help address global issues. Middlemarch and exceptional legacies through #TeamWilder. A people throughout 2021, mean the Trust can powered movement, designed to designate more funds to purchase inspire and empower people to take more land, helping to achieve our meaningful actions that bring about strategy objective of 30% of land nature’s recovery. Research has managed for wildlife. shown that if 1 in 4 people adapt Local actions have a collective impact KATRINA MARTIN/2020VISION Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 13
PEOPLE AND NATURE Did you go WILD for 30 days in June? If so, we’d love to hear all about it! We look W e’ll be creating a fabulous forward to feature on #30DaysWild seeing how you in our next magazine, so if went wild in June you’d like the chance to be featured, then let us know what you did for 2022! #30DaysWild 2022 ELEANOR CHURCH Did you go for a walk in the park? D id you spot some wildlife you’ve never seen before? M aybe you came to one of our nature reserves for the first time. Did you build a bird house or start to feed the birds? Maybe you woke up early one day to listen to the dawn chorus. Did you plant some wildflowers, or put in a hedgehog house? Maybe your window box is blooming and full of lovely pollinating insects. Whatever you did, we’d love to hear about it and even better, we’d love to see it if you have pictures to share! Your actions and experiences can influence other people to experience and help our wildlife too, so that’s why we’re looking to share your stories and pictures in our next issue. You can send your images and stories to: [email protected] and we’ll let you know if you’ve been chosen to be featured. 14 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
GET INVOLVED Summer fun starts here! Summer is here and we’re looking forward to getting out and about in nature. W e have a whole Don’t forget, everyone with ROSS HODDINOTT/2020VISION host of activities a Family Membership of you can get your Warwickshire Wildlife Trust little ones involved can claim a free member in throughout the summer holidays. event this season. Just email Maybe they fancy pond dipping or our membership team with building a den? They could go on your membership number: a duck hunt or find some beautiful [email protected] butterflies! Search for hidden treasures in the woodlands or learn Everyone in Coventry, Nuneaton more about hedgehogs. and Bedworth also qualifies for a free session too, thanks These activities fill up very quickly, to the players of the People’s so booking is essential. Postcode Lottery.To claim, email our education team with the We’ve highlighted the first two name of your child, telephone weeks’ worth of activities below, but number and postcode*: there are lots more online! [email protected] Visit www.warwickshire wildlifetrust.org.uk/events to find more and book your activity. *Proof of address may be needed at our events. Date Activity Description Location Time Price Age Group Mon 1st August Happy Play some games and see why Solihull & Coventry 10am – 11am £4.00 2+ Hedgehogs hedgehogs are the best! Mon 1st August Den Building Discover how to make your very own Solihull & Coventry 11.15am – 12.15pm £4.00 5+ shelter in the woods. Wed 3rd August Duck Tales We’re off looking for ducks and we’ll Solihull & Coventry 10am – 11am £4.00 2+ have a quacking time! 2+ 2-4 Wed 3rd August Buzzy Bees Hunt for beautiful butterflies and turn Solihull & Coventry 11.15am – 12.15pm £4.00 2+ and Beautiful into a bee in a buzzing game. 2+ Butterflies 2+ Mon 8th August Tiny Pond A chance for our smaller guests to Solihull & Coventry 10am – 11am £4.00 Dippers look in the pond, go on a trail and play some froggy games. Mon 8th August Magical Tea Solihull & Coventry 11.15am – 12.15pm £4.00 Party Journey with us to our magical woodland and help the fairy queen Wed 10th August Woodland make some mud trolls! Solihull & Coventry 10am – 11am £4.00 Pirates Ahoy me hearties! Let’s search Wed 10th August A Teddy for hidden treasure – will you join the Solihull & Coventry 11.15am – 12.15pm £4.00 Adventure crew? Whip up some woodland porridge, listen to stories and have a beary good time. Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 15
LANDSCAPE RECOVERY Managing our woodlands for future generations Letting in life and light to improve health and resilience W hen people think of to ensure these woodlands survive for the clock for light-loving wildlife. woodland, many will think future generations. It is our responsibility to This work took place in the woodland’s of tall, majestic trees, make sure it’s not just us who enjoy these blocking out the sunlight woodlands, but our descendants do too. existing network of “glades” and “rides”. to create a dark and mystical atmosphere. This is something we practise on our nature A glade is a space in a woodland without reserves and here’s how. any trees. It is usually filled with grasses In reality, the healthiest woodlands are and wildflowers, and can be thought of as much more varied and include trees of all Rides and glades a tiny meadow within a woodland. ages, with gaps in the tree cover where at Bubbenhall Wood light can burst through, providing pockets A ride is a track that has been cut into a of life on the woodland floor. Bubbenhall Wood is an important pocket woodland for access, but when managed of ancient woodland that sits just outside properly, it can act as a long and thin glade. Where woodlands don’t have this of Bubbenhall village. Once part of a much variety, the wildlife living there is limited larger woodland, it remains a safe space Both require some form of work to and new trees struggle to grow. for threatened woodland wildlife. Since stay open to light, as trees and plants will 2016, the Trust has been working to let grow over time and eventually close the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust believes in more light into the woodland, and to reset gap completely. This is not good for the managing woodlands to improve the variety woodland wildlife who call the wood home. of wildlife and nature that live in them and At Bubbenhall, a portion of an individual Bubbenhall Wood NICHOLAS FELEDZIAK NICHOLAS FELEDZIAK 16 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
LANDSCAPE RECOVERY glade is cleared every year, typically a Encouraging new trees in Cock Robin Wood quarter of the entire glade. By splitting up the area we work in, we are not Cock Robin Wood is a small, urban to thin out the entire woodland over affecting all the wildlife habitat in one go. woodland in Rugby. It was planted five years to improve the structure It also means different parts of the glade on farmland in around 1990. As the and the growth of younger trees. By will be at different ages, which helps to woodland was largely planted in one removing a small section of the trees, create variety. go and mostly unmanaged, the trees the remaining trees found it easier that make up the woodland were of a to access light and food. This meant When an area is cleared, it is taken similar age and very close together. a healthier woodland was created, back to short grass, tree stumps and bare This produced a lot of shade and which now allows older trees to ground. This will benefit common lizards meant young trees couldn’t grow develop over the coming decades and that need to bask in sunlight, insects that and mature trees were stressed due provides increased wildlife value. need to burrow into bare ground, such as to overcrowding. This was limiting solitary bees, and plant seeds that need the lifespan of the woodland. It also Since thinning began, the woodland warmth to germinate, such as foxgloves. meant that wildflowers and grasses has shown positive signs of recovery. would struggle to grow without As this area grows over the next four enough light. The new tree branches and leaves years, it will fill up with wildflowers, such provide extra wildlife habitat between as primroses and bugle. These plants will In 2018, the Trust began a project the tree canopy and the ground, benefit pollinators and their predators, which wasn’t there before. and eventually turn into bushy “scrub” that creates cover and places to nest for creatures such as dormice and warblers. Rides are managed slightly differently due to their shape. Here, we cut a central portion every year to maintain a short area. We cut the outside edges over two to three years. The reason for this is the area between woodland and open space is a wildlife hotspot. Here, animals feed, search for mates and warm up, but are still able to move back into the woodland cover if needed. The structure of this edge is very important and we make the most of this by cutting or “coppicing” sections of trees on this woodland edge over a period of 10-12 years. This encourages growth of smaller trees that provide a long sloping edge. We can then maximise the amount of this important edge habitat, and provide a varied space for wildlife. Cock Robin Wood LOUISE BARRACK Ride creation Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 17
LANDSCAPE RECOVERY Small steps for future stability How a neglected woodland can become a wildlife haven once more. P iles Coppice is a unique of trees such as oak and lime will not a drone survey undertaken in 2021. woodland. Set in a wild and survive to replace the existing trees when It shows the woodland has a closed rich landscape, just north they come to the end of their life. Without canopy, or dense tree cover, with of Brandon Marsh and on a difference in height and age, the wildlife only a small number of gaps to let in the doorstep of Coventry, it forms part that one level of leaves and branches can light. It also shows the canopy is of an of our Brandon Reach nature reserve, of support is limited. Having multiple levels even height which means the woodland which we are very proud. It also forms increases the variety of wildlife who can trees are all of a similar age. Therefore, part of the 450 hectares of woodland that make those trees their home. there is a lack of structural variety within Warwickshire Wildlife Trust owns the wood. These surveys have been or manages for the benefit of wildlife Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is looking useful to help us identify where to target and people. to bring back woodland management our work, so we get the best results to to Piles Coppice to help increase the bring about the gradual change that is so The Trust took on the management of diversity of the woodland habitats there. desperately needed. Piles Coppice in 2018. It is an important As the woodland has not been managed woodland we want to see protected for several decades, our first step is to Oak and lime long into the future, which is why our establish trial plots, to test if the woodland generation woodland management plans are so very will react in the way we expect. important and carefully considered. Let the light shine through One of the biggest threats to a woodland’s health and resilience is the The plan to deliver this has been carefully loss of variety in age and structure. Over created over the last two years or time, without help, a woodland will revert more, with species surveys and work to a closed tree cover, or canopy, made to understand the current condition up of trees all of a similar age. This is of the woodland. We have also held much less valuable for wildlife and means consultations on the approach with the trees are less able to adapt to new constructive input from local naturalist and emerging threats. groups and stakeholders. Also, without light, the next generation The map overleaf was created from NICHOLAS FELEDZIAK NICHOLAS FELEDZIAK Piles Coppice 18 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
LANDSCAPE RECOVERY This Autumn/Winter, Warwickshire wildflowers and plant life. NICHOLAS FELEDZIAK Wildlife Trust will create no more than The map below shows the areas that Old lime stools 12 trial plots across less than 5% of the woodland. These plots will aim to create will be the focus of our work and shows stools and bluebell glades that people the regeneration of new trees. These trial the small proportion of the woodland that enjoy will remain, but this important and plots will use a variety of methods to help will be managed. sympathetic management will ensure that us achieve this goal: Piles Coppice is around for generations to This work will be carried out under come and for them to enjoy it too. n We will thin out a small selection of trees, a variety of conditions to enable wide- to provide more light and space for older ranging monitoring of the woodland’s oaks, as well as young, developing trees. reaction. This monitoring will be used in n We will coppice some lime and hazel the future to help us create long term trees to promote an assortment of tree, plans for the woodland. branch and leaf heights and to protect the archaeological integrity of the ancient Eventually, the results will see a return lime stools - the multi-stemmed base of to a more varied woodland structure, the trees. allowing the wood to adapt to changing n We will manage track edges through conditions and being more resilient. In repeated cutting, to promote a range of turn this will allow more and a larger variety of wildlife to call it home, alongside the ones who already do. Of course, many of its existing features such as the large A46 Hazel coppice and standard thinning trial plot Light thinning trial plot Lime coppice trial plot Piles Coppice N 0 100m Brandon Wood Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 19
#TEAMWILDER Introducing the South Warwickshire Area Network (SWAN) for Wildlife How community organising is helping nature from the ground up. #TeamWilder is The Wildlife Trusts’ new 13 12 initiative to empower communities and 2 individuals to take meaningful actions that Walton bring about nature’s recovery on land and Clifford Chambers at sea. We want to see at least 30% of our land and seas in recovery by 2030, A422 A429 but we can’t do this alone. A community network group in South Warwickshire A3400 Kineton has been living the #TeamWilder ethos long before it was publicised, so we Preston-on-Stour 8 invited Shirley Cherry, from the South Warwickshire area Network (SWAN) for Long Marston Wildlife, to tell us how they are inspiring their local communities to act for nature. Newbold- A422 Hopefully, their story can inspire other on-Stour communities to be on nature’s side too. 6 Halford 7 Our Aims Middle Tysoe Mickleton Oxhill The South Warwickshire Area Network 11 (SWAN) for Wildlife provides a forum 4 Ilmington or hub for local wildlife groups to get 5 together to share ideas and initiatives. Shipston-on-Stour Epwell The aim of SWAN for Wildlife is to learn from each other by exchanging ideas 9 3 and experiences. We visit one another, collaborate on wildlife projects and Chipping Campden 10 provide extra resource when needed. All our members seek to engage with their 1 Stourton communities, helping people of all ages connect with nature and make spaces A44 A3400 where wildlife can thrive. By joining up the efforts of individual wildlife groups, Moreton-in-Marsh the network is supporting nature’s A44 recovery on a large scale across South Warwickshire. 1 Cherington/Stourton 2 Wild about Clifford - Clifford Chambers About our Members 3 Epwell 4 Greening Mickleton The network already includes 5 Ilmington 2020 Vision Group representatives from 13 villages and the list 6 Newbold on Stour keeps growing! Some of the groups, like 7 Oxhill Wildlife Society (OWLS) the Oxhill wildlife group (OWLS) and a group 8 Preston Environmental Group (PEG) in Stretton-on-Fosse, have been established 9 Shipston Town Council and St Edmunds Churchyard for about 15 years. Others, like the groups in 10 Stretton Biodiversity Group Cherington, Stourton and Epwell are still in 11 Tysoe Wildlife the early stages of establishing themselves 12 Charlecote within their communities. All of them share 13 Langley Group a love of wildlife and want to encourage it. 20 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 ROLAND CHERRY
#TEAMWILDER Sowing the verges ROLAND CHERRY Wildflowers a wide variety of wildflowers. “It’s been Community Engagement joyful to watch all the insect life returning”, A common thread throughout the network said Jane Smith, who has been managing Some new members have asked how to is the planting of wildflowers. These the project at Oxhill. Last year she counted go about engaging with their community. areas may not always look pretty in the 17 species of butterfly in an area that was Fortunately, help was at hand, as Preston conventional sense, but the benefits to previously just short grass. Environmental Group (PEG) was able to nature are significant. share a questionnaire and its findings, Tysoe’s ‘Making Space for Nature’ used as the basis for setting up their own The churchyard at St Edmunds, in initiative started in 2019 with the Village for Nature. Shipston is currently being developed dedicated wildflower area in St Mary’s into a wildflower area and will have its Churchyard. This was extended to include As part of their project, 56 questionnaires own hive of bees, provided by Shipston the verge in School Lane and strips were delivered, one to every household in Beekeepers. around the edge of the football pitches the village. Respondents were asked about and recreation ground. Tysoe Wildlife their gardens, which wildlife they had seen The churchyard at St Lawrence’s in has been fortunate to take part in the and if they would like to be involved in a Oxhill has been maintained and developed ‘Wilder Communities’ project, managed nature project in the future. The responses over the past 12 years with spectacular by the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and were really encouraging, with 43 of 56 results, delighting visitors and wildlife with funded by Severn Trent. As part of the households filling in the questionnaire. project, Olivia Williams, one of the Trust’s Community Engagement Officers, helped 75% already have bird the Tysoe team to sow wildflowers. Since feeders coming to Tysoe, she has been helping other members of the network, such as 65% have seen frogs in Stretton-on-Fosse, to sow wildflowers their gardens beside their football pitch and their community orchard. 25% have seen a hedgehog “This network is doing such great things 60% want to get involved for wildlife and it has been a privilege to with Village for Nature be involved thus far. It has been amazing to work with so many nature enthusiasts These results confirmed what PEG and witness the passion they have to help suspected, that the villagers really bring nature back. Hopefully this ripple appreciate living in a rural location and effect will continue to radiate outwards, love sharing it with wildlife. inspiring more positive action for nature.” Sowing wildflower verges Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 21
#TEAMWILDER Walks, Talks and Pond Dipping DAVID PASSINGHAM Walks and talks are another way of Pond dipping, engaging with communities. Between Stretton on Fosse them, the wildlife groups have arranged butterfly walks, dragonfly walks, moth trapping, and bat detecting with the Warwickshire Bat Group. Bat detecting is a winner with families who enjoy using the bat detectors and identifying the different species of bat. Stretton’s annual pond dipping is a very popular event. This year it took place on a lovely spring morning and was led by Anna Pike, a local biologist. It was attended by both children and adults. Past experience showed field ponds to be depleted of wildlife, so for the last few years the group has dipped in a pond in a large garden managed for wildlife. The pond has proved to be a much better habitat for wildlife as the results below show. According to the Freshwater Habitats Survey Big Pond-dip, the pond is a ‘brilliant’* habitat as indicated by its top score of 44. Results of the Pond Dipping - 24th April 2022 Ramshorn snail 1 Smooth newt 0 Water skater 5 Midge larva 0 Damselfly nymph 10 Watersnail leech: Glossosiphonia sp 1 Pond snail 1 Diving beetle (2 x species) 5 Lesser water boatman 0 Pea mussel 0 SHIRLEY CHERRY Greater water boatman 0 Water shrimp 0 Water louse 5 Frog 0 Dragonfly nymph 10 Cherrystone beetle 0 (2 x species Libellula sp. Anax sp.) Hyphydrus ovatus Water slater 1 Pond olive mayfly 5 Total 44 *Scores between 31-60 mean ‘brilliant.’ Source: Freshwater Habitats Survey 22 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
#TEAMWILDER SWAN for Birds Hedgehogs in TREVOR ACREMAN Clifford Chambers Supporting birds is another shared #30DaysWild, the Big Garden Bird interest across the network, with A Wildlife Workshop Watch, No Mow May and more. We members running workshops to make hope to join forces with others to nest boxes and supporting the RSPB’s Another way to inspire the young with encourage the wilding of verges to Big Garden Bird Watch. There is action a love of nature is through running a support insects and small mammals to protect swifts with article writing, the wildlife workshop. Last summer, the Tysoe and continue to find ways to make installation of swift boxes, and lobbying Wildlife group ran a Wildlife Activity Week communities more wildlife friendly. for the use of ‘universal’ nest bricks in at St Mary’s church, which was attended new housing developments. There’s by thirty primary school children. The SWAN for Wildlife is a great example also a swift walk planned for July in theme each morning combined science, of how the Wildlife Trusts’ #TeamWilder Shipston. The ‘Wild About Clifford’ group crafts and games with the children ethos can be put into action, encouraging has put swift boxes up in the church learning about flowers and the lifecycle groups of people to make a positive belfry at Clifford Chambers and hopes of plants, bees, moths, butterflies and change for nature. Community organising to encourage the birds in by playing hedgehogs. They also headed to Badgers’ is key to helping everyone to understand recordings of swift sounds. Wood for a nature treasure hunt and quiz. the need for change, now, and to recognise their own role in making that Fostering Hedgehogs Looking Forward change happen. Thanks to Shirley and all the SWAN members for sharing their Looking after hedgehogs is a priority As the network becomes more stories. If you have any #TeamWilder for members. In 2016, the ‘Wild About established, we hope to work together stories initiatives or questions you’d Clifford’ group decided to foster sick to support national campaigns such as like to share and ask, then please email or underweight hedgehogs who would [email protected] otherwise not have survived the winter. When the time came for the foster care hedgehogs to be released, the group contacted a new family in the village, who had four children aged 4 to 10, to ask if they would like one released in their garden. They said ‘yes’ and were provided with a hedgehog feeding station, food and a hedgehog house, along with a night-time camera to record any activity. They named their hedgehog Tornado (hedgehogs are surprisingly quick!). Thanks to this community work, Clifford Chambers now has a breeding population of hedgehogs. abCohuitldbreeenslienaTrynsinoge SHIRLEY CHERRY You can find out more about #TeamWilder and how you can help by visiting www.warwickshire wildlifetrust.org.uk/teamwilder If you belong to a wildlife group in South Warwickshire (south of A46 and west of M40) and are interested in joining SWAN for Wildlife, then please email [email protected]. Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 23
PEOPLE AND NATURE Community engagement creates corridors for nature How the Wilder Communities project creates safe passage for local wildlife. OLIVIA WILLIAMS Children mixing wildflower seeds I’m Olivia them and the wildlife around them. We’re them for the future. We love getting Williams, one of all aware of the improvements to people’s everyone hands-on and raking, scarifying, the Trust’s mental health, but their knowledge of sowing, digging and planting are all roles Community the natural world around them increases everyone can get involved with. Engagement greatly too. Officers. The It’s a great way for school children to aim of my role is We actively choose sites we can learn to work as a team. Their enthusiasm to find sites across enhance by creating wildlife corridors and thirst for knowledge never ceases to Warwickshire that we through the planting and creation of amaze me and it’s great to know they will can improve for wildlife. I don’t do this wildflower meadows and hedgerows. remember these skills and hopefully put alone…the local communities are the key These corridors mean wildlife can them to use throughout their lives too. Last to success. travel safely from one spot to another month I visited Radford Primary School I’m passionate about bringing nature whilst also providing a valuable source in Coventry, where we planted a hedge back to Warwickshire and love seeing of food. All wildlife benefits from these and created wildflower areas around the people interact with the wild spaces corridors, especially bees, insects, birds school. Lots of the children got involved in around them. It also keeps me fit! and hedgehogs. Working with local all parts of the project. The older children We all have a role to play in reversing communities increases their knowledge of helped with planting the hedgerow and the effects of climate change, and by these species and the plants we use too. the younger ones were very enthusiastic working with the local community we about mixing up the wildflower seed! It create a sense of ownership and pride in Funded by Severn Trent, the Wilder was either throwing or sowing depending local green spaces. Communities project also gives people on your perspective! Everyone had a When people interact with nature and the confidence to complete these tasks lovely time and got stuck in. We’re looking wildlife, there are huge benefits for both themselves. They not only learn how forward to seeing the results once nature to plant a hedgerow or how to create a has taken its course. wildflower meadow, but how to manage 24 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
LIVING LANDSCAPES The fascination of fungi Kay Reeve, a trustee of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, tells us all about Warwickshire’s hidden wonderland. T here are fungi everywhere develop into a fine cobweb-like net, Fruiting bodies are most common in the – in your garden, your local which is known as the mycelium. This autumn, but can appear at any time of the park and certainly in every grows and extends through the soil, or year. When you start to notice them, you Warwickshire Wildlife Trust other material from which the fungus will notice a variety of shapes and colours. nature reserve. gets its food. This mycelium is very fine Almost every year, species are identified and usually cannot be seen without which are new to Warwickshire and it’s a For much of the year you may not see a microscope. Occasionally it binds great thrill to find one. them. The mushrooms you buy in your together to make a thicker mat which is supermarket are the reproductive parts sometimes visible. Everyone who is interested in wild of the fungus, which develop to form and fungi gets asked from time to time, distribute spores. Millions of spores are To make a fruiting body, two mycelia “Can you eat it?” The answer has to be: produced and when they are mature, they of the same species come together in don’t. Some are deadly poisonous and are spread on the wind or sometimes a sort of mating stage. Then, when the others may make you very ill. So just by other means. A tiny number of lucky conditions are right, a fruiting body will enjoy looking and never touch, pick, or ones will land somewhere suitable to find form and you will finally be able to see eat them. nourishment and the fungus will then your fungus. develop and spread. The Warwickshire Fungus Group Fungi are neither animals nor plants; Very few species of fungi are eaten by they have some similar features but are holds regular field meetings and humans and people have learned how a life form in their own right. They are to cultivate them, but all fungi live in the essential to any healthy environment, welcomes new members of all levels of same way. breaking down dead material and exchanging nutrients with the trees and experience. Contact John Walton The “body” of the fungus, which we other plants they live with. We could not [email protected] or telephone rarely see, is made up of tiny hair-like do without them. 01827 712455. strands called hyphae. These strands Parasol Mushrooms KAY REEVE (Macrolepiota procera) Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 25
VOLUNTEERING Geoff Litterick Volunteering for the Trust Geoff Litterick has volunteered for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust for over 27 years and is now a trustee. His colleagues wanted to share his story and to thank him for his time and care. V olunteering for the Trust 7,000 trees and now carries out coppicing, Co-volunteers say Geoff’s easy style can be a hugely rewarding fencing, installing bird boxes and of leadership, friendly support and experience. You can make a maintaining dragonfly ponds. guidance, inclusivity and contagious positive difference to the natural enthusiasm, mean working alongside him environment, improve your physical health, He says it is great to see how volunteers is a pleasure. enjoy being in the open air and improve your take ownership of their work and pride in mental health and wellbeing, alongside a the outcome. They are Trust ambassadors So, what is Geoff’s final message? community of like-minded people. who explain the work to visitors and ‘There are a whole range of tasks out are delighted to receive favourable there. Enjoy yourself by becoming a Geoff admits his initial contact with the comments on how the reserves have been volunteer.’ Trust was not altruistic. He had moved transformed. into a barn with two log-burning stoves If you’re interested in becoming and whilst walking through Crackley Wood Geoff is thrilled to see the working a volunteer, or want to find out one Sunday with his dog, he came across parties grow and they are now not just more, visit warwickshirewildlifetrust. a working party felling trees and saw a work parties, but social networks who org.uk/volunteer or contact potential source of logs. The group leader meet for walks, lunches and undertake [email protected] explained the trees were not for burning other environmental projects. but would become homes for wood-boring Geoff Litterick insects. Interested in what was happening, TOBY ARNOLD “There are a whole range of tasks out there. Enjoy yourself by becoming a volunteer.” Geoff decided to join the party. That was 27 years ago. Geoff never looked back and now leads working parties on Kenilworth reserves at Parliament Piece, Knowle Hill and the Common, and at Bubbenhall Wood and Meadow, and Wappenbury Wood. As a trustee, his involvement with working parties allows him to represent the interests of the many volunteers who contribute so much to the Trust. The big change in Geoff’s involvement came in 2017 when he helped establish a working party on the new reserve at Bubbenhall Wood. The group planted 26 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
VOLUNTEERING Could you become a Warwickshire Wildlife Trust volunteer? Volunteers play a vital role within the Trust and Wendy is the driving force behind their support. We thought we’d let her tell you a little more about the role of a Trust volunteer and how you might be able to help. Why are Why do you think people less formal and more flexible basis, in a volunteers volunteer for the Trust? role where you are supported and valued, important to allowing you to keep confidence in the Trust? I’d like to think that becoming a volunteer your abilities. with the Trust, a person would find Volunteers are it fulfilling, as well as giving back to To find out more about becoming a an important their community and allowing them to volunteer, visit www. and vital source reconnect with nature. Volunteering can warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ to Warwickshire often give people a purpose and regularity. volunteer or email us at volunteer@ Wildlife Trust, with each They can fulfil an important role alongside wkwt.org.uk and request a volunteer single role helping to protect and enhance others, for a common cause, whilst also enquiry form to be sent via email or hard our wildlife and natural spaces across aiding their health and wellbeing. copy via postal service. We look forward Warwickshire, Coventry, and Solihull. to hearing from you! Volunteering allows you the opportunity What kind of roles do to make an important contribution on a volunteers do? Volunteers There are a huge range of activities volunteers can take part in. You could JON HAWKINS - SURREY HILLS PHOTOGRAPH be working in our visitor centres, or in an office role. You could be hands-on, working on our reserves, in our rivers or wetlands. There are outdoor and indoor opportunities for people from all walks of life. Simply tell us your area of interest and we can place you in the team that suits you best. All our volunteers are given full training, so no prior experience is needed, just enthusiasm and we do recommend you maintain an up-to-date tetanus vaccination, due to the nature of some of the work. What do you look for in a volunteer? Our volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds and ages. We look for people who have a shared interest in our natural environment but most of all the enthusiasm and a willingness to learn new skills. We look at our volunteers as ambassadors for the Trust, helping to spread the word about the work we do, to help make a wilder Warwickshire. Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 27
MEMBERSHIP Everything we do is thanks to you! Your summer update from our membership team Alan Jackson – a member on a mission Our members are important to us Alan Jackson is a Warwickshire Wildlife Trust member who Your views and feedback are vital to help ensure you’re started to volunteer with the membership team in 2019, when represented in the work we’re doing. his life changed direction. We included links to our membership survey in the In 2014, Alan was diagnosed with autism after experiencing a Winter 2021 magazine so that we could hear your voice. period of poor mental health. This led to a huge change in his life If you have not yet completed the survey, don’t worry, and priorities. there’s still time. Simply scan the QR code or enter this link into your web browser. www.surveymonkey.co.uk/ Alan’s experiences have led him to believe that when dark r/2021mshipsurvey places appear, nature pulls you back out. We’d love to hear from you! Alan is now on a mission to raise money for the Trust’s Nature Recovery Fund by cycling 2,280.3 miles, a virtual Route 66. Smcaen He aims to cycle approximately seven miles each day, six days a week, until the end of the year when his challenge will Monthly Direct Debit card be complete. renewals Alan was inspired by Captain Sir Tom Moore to take on the If you pay monthly CMaermd bership challenge of a long charity ride. We wish Alan all the best on his subscriptions by charity cycle challenge, thank him for his commitment to nature’s Direct Debit and recovery and look forward to using his donation to help create a wilder Warwickshire. your membership Details of Alan’s JustGiving page can be found is due for here: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/aj50 We’d love to hear other stories of how you have renewal during helped raise money for the Trust, so please do send them to [email protected] September, Alan Jackson October, November Kingfisher © Jon Hawkins 2022, or December, January, February 2023, then your new card will be included with this magazine; please make sure you haven’t missed it when opening the envelope. If you pay your membership subscription via annual Direct Debit you will continue to receive your cards by post, within the month they are due for renewal. Sending out membership cards in this way helps us to reduce our carbon footprint. If you think you should have received your cards with this magazine but did not find them, please contact the VICKY PAGE membership team on 024 7630 8972 or email [email protected] 28 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
LEGACIES Dedication tree Remember a loved one, celebrate a birth, or mark a special occasion such as a wedding, birthday or anniversary, with our new dedication tree at the Parkridge Visitor Centre, in Solihull. S ee your message engraved for future generations – and we can’t Leave a gift to nature on a beautiful brass do this without you. in your will acorn and placed on the dedication tree for you and If you wish to make a your loved ones to remember and dedication, then call our celebrate those special moments. membership team on 024 7630 8972 or email [email protected] Dedicating an acorn costs £250 You can also donate online by and your gift will help us to continue visiting www.warwickshire the fight for nature and wildlife in wildlifetrust.org.uk/legacy/ Warwickshire. The acorn is more memory-leaves than just a dedication, it’s a donation to help create a wilder Warwickshire InchTree made by ‘I’m sure that, like me, you’re concerned about Metallic Garden the future of our planet. You too share a belief that it is important that we leave a thriving natural world for future generations to know and enjoy. That is why making a will is one of the most important jobs any of us has to do.’ Sir David Attenborough President Emeritus of the Wildlife Trusts A gift to Warwickshire Wildlife Trust in your will could make a huge and lasting difference, no matter how small or large the gift. It means you can continue to support a cause you feel passionate about after you’re gone and inspire others to do the same. Should you decide to leave a gift in your will, you are under no obligation to tell us, however, we would be extremely grateful if you were able to notify us of your intentions. This allows us to plan for the future and, more importantly, to say thank you. You can find out more about leaving a gift in your will online, at our visitor centres where you can pick up a leaflet, or by contacting our membership team. Should you wish to know more, visit warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ will or email [email protected] Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 29
OBITUARY Tribute to Ron Hill Graham Harrison, former trustee and friend of Ron Hill tells us more about Ron’s enthusiasm and dedication to nature. I n its very earliest days back in making it well-worthy of being a national He also led volunteers who created the 1970s, the Trust took part in Site of Special Scientific Interest. a wildlife garden at the Trust’s Parkridge a conservation fair at Solihull and Centre in Solihull. He had other skills too, it was here that Ron became a In 1987, most of a traditional hay and I recall seeing him on his hands and member. He soon began to volunteer meadow in Shirley, full of rare flowers knees, working hard to get the centre- at the Clowes Wood nature reserve in including heath-spotted orchids, was piece mosaic at the Brandon Marsh Nature Earlswood and then became its warden. about to be destroyed to make way for a Centre finished in time for the official retail development. This spurred Ron and opening by Sir David Attenborough in 1998. Ron’s outstanding achievements a group of others into action. They dug up undoubtedly lay in his enthusiastic the turf and moved it to a donor site near Whilst his real love was for the dedication to Clowes Wood. Always a Temple Balsall. Sadly, the transplanting outdoors, he faithfully attended Council, hands-on conservationist, he reclaimed an failed, but Ron rescued a dropped orchid Committee and other meetings and in overgrown meadow, increased the county- bulb for his own lawn, where its offspring 1989 he was elected Chair of the Trust, rare heather and improved the woodland, were still thriving 30 years later. whilst at the same time being Chair of the Executive Committee, the Reserves Ron Hill Committee and the Solihull Action Group. As if that wasn’t enough, he was also the IZUMI SEGAWA Conservation Volunteer Organiser! “Ron’s outstanding achievements undoubtedly lay in his enthusiastic dedication to Clowes Wood.” He served as Trust Chair for three years, then continued as a trustee until finally standing down a couple of years ago. In 2011 his commitment to nature conservation received national recognition when he was awarded the Christopher Cadbury medal – The Wildlife Trusts’ most prestigious honour awarded annually to a member. Ron’s immense contribution to Warwickshire Wildlife Trust will be sorely missed in so many ways. He leaves us all with an endless store of fond memories, but his legacy will endure forever across the natural environment which he cherished, nurtured and enhanced. Graham Harrison Former trustee and friend of Ron 30 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
WILD THOUGHTS Dave Goulson @DaveGoulson @dave.goulson Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse ILLUSTRATION: DAWN COOPER Since I was a child I have been but as I explain in my book Silent Earth, FOOD FOR THOUGHT obsessed with insects; they are we can all get involved in reversing insect amazing, often beautiful, and with declines. If you are lucky enough to have As we live through a fascinating, peculiar lives. I grew a garden, take some simple steps to invite time of great uncertainty, up in the countryside, and spent my childhood insects and other wildlife in; it is astonishing food security is an roaming the lanes and meadows in search how much life a small garden can support. important issue. But it’s of caterpillars, butterflies, grasshoppers and If you have no garden, you might consider vital we consider nature beetles. My bedroom filled with jam jars, cages joining national and local campaigns to fill in any plans. Industrial and tanks housing all manner of small beasts. I our urban greenspaces with wildflowers, agriculture has destroyed eventually came to learn that the world would or to have your town or village declared wildlife on a grand scale. not function without these tiny creatures. pesticide-free. Imagine every garden, park, Further intensification will They pollinate; control pests; recycle all sorts cemetery, roundabout and road verge filled be a huge blow for nature of organic material from dung to corpses, tree with swathes of wildflowers. We could create and climate, but also trunks and leaves; they keep the soil healthy; a national network of wildlife-rich habitat jeopardise long-term disperse seeds; and provide food for many from Land’s End to John O’Groats. food security. larger creatures such as birds, bats, lizards, amphibians and fish. Of course we should not forget our Learn more: It should thus be of profound concern to farmland, which covers 70% of the UK. It is wtru.st/energy-food all of us that insects appear to be undergoing my view that the move towards ever-more massive declines. As a child, I vividly intensive, pesticide-soaked monoculture Dave Goulson is a professor remember my parents having to stop the car farming is unsustainable; it has done of biology at the University on long summer journeys to scrub clear the terrible damage to our wildlife and soils, of Sussex, one of the UK’s windscreen, which quickly became crusted pollutes streams and rivers, and contributes leading insect experts, and an with splatted insects as we drove along. Today, a lot to greenhouse gas emissions. You can ambassador for The Wildlife our windscreens are disturbingly clean. reduce your own impact and support more Trusts. He champions insects The causes of insect declines are many: sustainable farming practices by buying in his latest book, Silent Earth: habitat loss to intensive farming, housing and eating local, seasonal, organic produce, Averting the Insect Apocalypse. and other developments; the ever-growing buying loose fruit and veg, and reducing your blizzard of pesticides used by farmers and meat consumption. Better still, grow what Get more tips on how gardeners; climate change; light pollution; food you can in your garden or an allotment. to help insects at impacts of invasive species and more. Our tidy, pesticide-infused world is largely hostile Love them or loathe them, we all need wildlifetrusts.org/ to insect life. insects. We have to learn to live in harmony action-for-insects This may all seem terribly depressing, but with nature, seeing ourselves as part of it, not do not despair. We may feel helpless in the trying to rule and control it with an iron fist. face of many global environmental issues, Our survival depends upon it, as does that of the glorious array of life with which we share our planet. Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 31
Summer Wildlife Gardening Kate Bradbury is passionate about The garden in summer is busy, as froglets and toadlets wildlife-friendly leave the pond for the first time, fledgling birds beg for gardening and the food, and the whole garden buzzes with life. author of Wildlife Gardening for Everyone and Everything in association with The Wildlife Trusts. I n the sky, swallows, house martins your pond. Long grass provides the chain, like hedgehogs. Later in the season, and swifts gather insects to feed perfect shelter for young amphibians the grasses will seed and you may spot their young, and at night bats take and food for the caterpillars of several house sparrows stripping them for food. their place, foraging among the butterflies, including the ringlet, meadow Avoid strimming your grass at all if you treetops or swooping low over ponds. brown and speckled wood. Here, you’ll can, but if you must, be sure to check for also find beetles and bugs, plentiful prey hedgehogs and other wildlife first! If you haven’t already, leave an area of for a variety of species further up the food grass to grow long, particularly around Being more tolerant of naturally occurring plants is also important in a wildlife garden. Anything from dandelions to nettles, dock and chickweed, provide food and shelter for a wide range of species. Let them flourish! Or at least leave a few around the edges. It’s also a good time to do an audit of flowering plants in your garden. Fill gaps with flowering annuals such as cosmos and borage, which are magnets for bees and other pollinators. Towards the end of summer, add Verbena 32 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH BAILEY, PHOTO © SARAH CUTTLE bonariensis, rudbeckias and echinaceas drink, while birds can for insects still on the wing. You can also bathe and clean their sow foxgloves and other biennials now, feathers. which will flower next year. Take advantage of If conditions are dry, it’s a good idea fine weather to construct to water insect foodplants so they don’t that log pile you’ve been shrivel up, and ensure flowers continue to meaning to build, or start a large, bear nectar. Use water from your water open compost heap where wild butt if you have one, and grey water things can live. There are always from baths and washing up bowls if you improvements to make in our gardens, don’t — avoid using tap water as this is a and summer is a fine time to do them. precious resource. Leaving a dish of mud What can you add? can help house martins fix and build their nests, and providing water — in a pond, Get more wildlife-friendly bird bath or other container — will ensure gardening tips at foxes and hedgehogs have something to wildlifetrusts.org/gardening Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022 33
STOAT © RICHARD STEEL/2020VISION 6 places to see swteoaastsel&s 34 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2022
he UK might not have lions and See the spectacle tigers, but there are still carnivores roaming our countryside. The for yourself mustelids are a fearsome family of mighty mammals, with seven species scattered across 1 Straidkilly, Ulster Wildlife the UK. There are badgers, otters, pine Despite its small size, this secluded hazel woodland is martens, polecats, non-native American minks, a wonderful refuge for mammals. You could spot a red and of course, stoats and weasels. These squirrel, Irish hare, badger, pygmy shrew, pine marten or pugnacious little predators often punch above an Irish stoat — a distinctive subspecies. You won’t spot a their weight, tackling prey much larger than weasel though, as they’re not found in Ireland. themselves. Where: Carnlough, BT44 0LQ Stoats and weasels look similar, with short legs and long bodies covered in white and 2 Willington Wetlands, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust brown fur. Whilst stoats are larger and stockier This former gravel quarry is now a haven for wildlife in than weasels, the best way to tell them apart is the Trent valley. If you’re lucky, you could spot a stoat or to look at the tail. A stoat’s tail is long and ends weasel scampering across a path. You might even spy one in a bushy black tip, but a weasel’s tail is short of the recently released beavers that now call Willington and entirely brown. A useful clue as it dashes home! away from you and darts into cover! Where: Burton upon Trent, DE65 6YB 3 Brook Vessons, Shropshire Wildlife Trust This atmospheric nature reserve, dotted with ancient trees, is criss-crossed with rock piles; remnants of old dry stone walls and small holdings. They provide the perfect hunting ground for stoats and weasels, stalking mice and voles through the cracks and crevices. Where: Snailbeach, SY5 0SJ 4 Whisby Nature Reserve, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust Whisby’s lakes are surrounded by grassland, scrub and willow carr, providing plenty of places for stoats and weasels to stalk their prey. After your walk, you can hunt down some food of your own in the Boardwalk Bistro. Where: Lincoln, LN6 9BW 5 Brandon Marsh, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust The mosaic of scenic pools, reedbeds, grassland and woodland creates a home for a wealth of wildlife. As well as stoats and weasels, you could also spot an otter. Where: Coventry, CV3 3GW What3Words///: Rips.easy.river 6 Great Fen, The Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs & Northants The mixed landscape of the Great Fen harbours plenty of small mammals for mustelids to prey on, and lots of nooks, crannies and holes in which they can shelter. It’s a pint-sized predator’s paradise! Where: Near Huntingdon, PE26 2RS Did you spot any mustelids? We’d love to know how your search went. Please tweet us your best photos! @wildlifetrusts
Search
Read the Text Version
- 1 - 36
Pages:
