Community Wildlife Groups

[Wild Woolwell]

I would be very interested to hear from anyone out there who is involved in a local neighbourhood wildlife and /or environmental project. I have started a project under the working title "Wild Woolwell" - based on our suburban estate in South Devon just north of Plymouth and on the fringes of Dartmoor. To get a better idea have a look at the website http://beehive.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/wildwoolwell or my own web diary ( blog) http://www.wildwoolwell.blogspot.com .

If you are involved in anything remotely similar it would be great to hear any thoughts , views and/or suggestions.

Thanks for your time

Steve Clement-Large (Wild Woolwell)

[StuartDH]

Hi Steve,

This is one of the main reasons why we first started Wild About Britain, to help promote the small wildlife projects across the UK that do an incredible amount of valuable work as the unsung heroes of conservation.

We're very keen on being able to one day set up a network that can share resources and ideas etc, so that the smaller groups can have access to to as much help as possible. Among the many other areas of development, we're putting together guides on establish conservation areas - anything from a school pond or community footpath to a full nature reserve - and so if you'd like to add any info about your own experiences, tips and tricks etc, then I'm sure it would be a big help for others in the future.

If you need any help with the web site or online promotion etc, then please be sure to let us know and we'll see what we can do.

Best of luck

Stuart

[Wild Woolwell]

Cheers Stuart -

I had actually been thinking of a half year review - six months since this project has been "on line" - and looking at the things which have been successful and those which have not. When you work full time - things seem to take a lot longer than one would really like. Therefore the thing I think is most valuable working on these kind of projects is patience - especially whilst you are trying to engage large organisations either statutory or voluntary. Hopefully - it will be worth the wait here in Woolwell - and I have to add I have had nothing but encouragement locally. More soon.

Steve , Woolwell, South Devon

ps since appearing here the hit rate on my Beehive website has doubled - thanks for that alone

[Wild Woolwell]

For anyone who has been checking my blog and website recently - just to apologise for lack of new material - I am a proud new Dad of 5 weeks and have been somewhat preoccupied, am hoping to get back to speed over the coming weeks.

[StuartDH]

Congratulations Steve. I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of you on the site between 2am and 4am

[andygibb]

Hi Steve,
We have a consevation group of which i am the chairman.The name of the group
is about to change to the Urmston Meadows consevation group.We are partnered with Trafford council and the Mersey Valley Warden Scheme.The area we look after is about 72 acres,which is used by dog walkers,horse riders etc.We are about to attain the title of local conservation area,which will stop any plans for building.The whole area is a flood plane anyway.We have several bids in at the moment for funding from various boddies.I think we will be succesful with the largest one which should be around £50,000 if we are lucky.

cheers
Andy

[Wild Woolwell]

Originally Posted by andygibb

Hi Steve,
We have a consevation group of which i am the chairman.The name of the group
is about to change to the Urmston Meadows consevation group.We are partnered with Trafford council and the Mersey Valley Warden Scheme.The area we look after is about 72 acres,which is used by dog walkers,horse riders etc.We are about to attain the title of local conservation area,which will stop any plans for building.The whole area is a flood plane anyway.We have several bids in at the moment for funding from various boddies.I think we will be succesful with the largest one which should be around £50,000 if we are lucky.

cheers
Andy

Andy - hi, thanks for responding - how long has your group been in existence and how many active and non active members are there ( roughly ) and what is the rough local population thast your group covers - mine is still a small band , it would be of interest to know as I have a nominal target for membership in my mind .

Steve