wildflower meadow on Brandon Hill

Features from Wildlife magazine Wildlife articles 2008 -- Spring 2008 -- ::Severn Barrage ::The Variety of life ::A year at Willsbridge ::Willsbridge comes of age ::Reaching out - Willsbridge ::Round the reserves Wildlife articles 2007 -- Autumn 2007 -- ::Thinking BIG ::Watery webs:the pond network ::Wildlife in the landscape ::Variety of life ::How to be a climate friend ::Seasonal stroll - Walborough ::Round the reserves -- Summer 2007 -- ::The Folly Farm appeal ::Weston Big Wood-biodiversity at its best ::The variety of life ::How to capture a butterfly ::How to get to know an orchid ::Seasonal stroll - WestonBigWood ::Reserves update -- Spring 2007 -- ::Folly Farm - a very special place ::Making a difference at Folly Farm ::How find the magic at Folly Farm ::Seasonal stroll at Folly Farm ::Magic spots at Folly Farm ::Batscapes ::Climate challenge ::Variety of Life - the Ponways project ::Round the reserves Wildlife articles 2006 -- Autumn 2006 -- ::The Severn Estuary ::Bird Watch results ::How to identify garden birds ::Making space for wildlife ::How does your garden grow? ::Round the reserves -- Summer 2006 -- ::Going for green ::Stand up and be counted ::Happy birthday NSLMP ::Holi day - a riot of spring colour ::Avon's species-rich grassland ::How to photograph dragonflies ::The Big Switch ::Round the reserves -- Spring 2006 -- ::How to identify winter water birds ::Make 2006 the year you... ::Invasive invasion ::Sowing the seeds: Willsbridge Mill ::Round the reserves Wildlife articles 2005 -- Autumn 2005 -- ::Indentify common funghi ::Build a hedgehog hideaway ::Big Bird Watch ::Champions for wildlife ::Round the reserves ::Seeds of the futre: Willsbridge Mill -- Summer 2005 -- ::Restoring Folly Farm ::How to become bee-friendly ::How to identify the butterflies of spring ::Save our seas ::The variety of life: hedgerows ::Round the reserves ::25 Ways to make a difference -- Spring 2005 -- ::The variety of life: water voles ::The Avon Biodiversity Action Plan ::How to take really good wildlife photos ::How to help your garden grow ::Round the reserves ::Seasonal strolls: Browns Folly ::Sowing the seeds: for wildlife for people ::Sowing the seeds: looking back

Sowing the seeds

for wildlife, for people

When Avon Wildlife Trust began in 1980, urban nature conservation was a new and untested part of the conservation movement. It meant a chance to work with tools that not only included an urban wildlife that grew out of walls, perched on rooftops and scavenged the late-night city streets - but also with people.

In the last 25 years there have been many memorable moments, amazing discoveries, much hard campaigning and involvement from local people..and yes, precedents have been set, landmark decisions made, innovative projects launched and the impossible made possible. Here is a snap-shot of some of the highlights in the Bristol area.

1980
In 1980 Bristol City Council allowed the Trust to create an inspiring jewel of wildflower meadows, woodland, ponds and even a heathland right in the middle Bristol on Brandon Hill. The park is still thriving today, providing delight to thousands who share the sight of cowslips emerging in the spring, watching the seasonal life of the pond, and wandering through the woodland. And all of this just moments away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre.

1989
The production of the Bristol Wildlife Guide in 1989 provided information on all of Bristol's known wildlife sites and where to find them and introduced the concept of wildlife corridors - railway lines, rivers and other linear features that wove their way through the city, linking together wildlife rich areas and providing conduits along which wildlife could get about. In 1991 it helped lead to the development of the Greater Bristol Nature Conservation Strategy which set out policies to protect and manage wildlife and engage with local people. The strategy was also officially recognised by Bristol City Council, and ultimately led to the development of policies in the 1990's in the Bristol Local Plan to protect wildlife in the city.

1990
In 1990 developers proposed the removal of the wildlife rich railway embankment at Royate Hill to build houses. The threat sparked a public outcry and led to a campaign by the Trust and local people to save the site. The subsequent public inquiry threw out the developers plans, recognising the value of Royate Hill to wildlife and local people - but unfortunately the story didn't end there. A few months later the developers put bulldozers onto the site and after a 14 hour confrontation in which a third of the site was destroyed, an injunction was obtained to stop further damage. With enormous determination the Trust and local people kept the developers at bay, through a constant on-site vigi until Avon County Council took the unprecedented step of issuing a compulsory purchase order. In January 1996, almost four years after it was bulldozed, Royate Hill was finally made safe and turned into a statutory Local Nature Reserve. Today it is very much a part of the local community, with an active conservation group linked to the Trust.

2000
Bristol Bird Watch was launched in 2000 and in the first two weeks of its launch over 3000 phone calls were taken from people who wanted to help record their garden birds. It became established as an annual bird count and the results have been used to show bird numbers and population trends in every ward in Bristol. The recordings on sparrow numbers have been used in a report commissioned by the government on sparrow decline. Once again local people have been crucial to the success of the project.

2002
In 2002 the Trust inspired people to take a closer look at wildlife right in the city centre with
the launch of the City Centre Nature Trail, designed to celebrate and promote the wildlife we walk past every day. We discovered the ultimate urban wildlife story: buddleia, rooftop gulls, pigeons, fig trees and Mediterranean spiders.

The guide was sponsored by Bristol City Council, and inspired public art ( bird box sculptures in Queen's square). Recognition if it was ever needed that urban wildlife was on the map in Bristol and here to stay!

Benefits of wildlife to you in towns and cities

Did you know:

• 
  Children playing in natural areas rather than on fixed play equipment can develop new skills faster
• 
  Patients recovering from illness have been shown to recover quicker looking out on to an natural view rather than another building
• 
  Local people involved in practical wildlife conservation on their doorstep frequently show greater pride and commitment to their area
• 
  Surveys around the country have shown contact with nature in the urban environment is particularly highly valued and many people want to see more natural areas in towns and cities.

In the blink of an eye

Rupert Higgins has been closely involved with the Trust's conservation work since 1983 and we asked him what difference he thinks the Trust has made in this time...

“A week, as everyone knows, is a long time in politics. By contrast, 25 years is a blink of an eye for wildlife, where the lifetime of a veteran tree is measured in hundreds of years and of an ancient woodland in thousands. Despite this, when I thought back to the state of wildlife in Avon in the early 1980's, the changes that have occurred in those 25 years are striking. Who in 1980 would have predicted that both raven and peregrine would be breeding annually in the Avon Gorge, or that otters would have returned to almost all of Avon's rivers ? All the news is not good, of course. For many people the first cuckoo of the year has now become the only cuckoo of the year and numbers of yellowhammer, skylark and several other once familiar birds are a fraction of those breeding 25 years ago. I could go on, but the question you've asked is: how different would things have been without the Avon Wildlife Trust?

The most obvious part of our conservation work has always been the acquisition and management of nature reserves and the contribution that these have made to Avon's biodiversity (that's a word I wouldn't have used 25 years ago) is immense. Both of Avon's populations of moonwort (a bizarre fern) are on Trust reserves as are all of Avon's marsh helleborines, stripe-winged grasshoppers and keeled skimmer dragonflies. To see what would have happened without the Trust all you have to do is to look at the slopes in the field beyond Dowlings Wood, just outside the Folly Farm reserve. When I first went to look at Folly Farm in 1985 these slopes were just the same as the fields that are now in the reserve - ablaze with the flowers of dyer's greenweed, devil's-bit scabious and a host of other plants. Sadly, we were unable to buy this field with the rest of the site and within weeks of the auction the new owner had dowsed the field in fertilisers, replacing the patchwork of purples, yellows and other colours with a blanket of bright green. If the Trust hadn't been there, I am certain that this would have happened at Folly Farm too.

Conservation work doesn't stop at reserves, however, and from the start the Trust was a trail-blazer in trying to influence the management of the far larger areas of land, from large farms and forests to urban road verges and parks. The Trust was also one of the first nature conservation organisations to realise that understanding the planning system and searching through documents such as local plans was a vital part of conservation work.

I have no doubt at all that the Trust has done more than any other local organisation to ensure that Avon remains an area rich in wildlife, with water voles in Avonmouth, herb-rich grassland at Latteridge and snipe at Weston Moor and offering enrichment to the lives of everyone who lives here.”

25-Year Highlights - our nature reserves

Prior's Wood - the latest addition

Long known as the best bluebell wood for miles around, the Trust is very proud to have acquired Prior's Wood at last, as the latest addition to our nature reserves.

In early 2002 the Trust heard that much of the historic Tyntesfield Estate, stretching from Portbury to Flax Bourton, was being put up for sale following the death of Lord Wraxall. This included two woodlands that are very important for wildlife. Now, at last, one of those woodlands - after nearly three long years of negotiations during which the woodland was sold twice to other purchasers - is finally coming into the safe ownership of the Trust. By the time you read this (barring any last-minute legal hitches), the Trust will finally have acquired Prior's Wood near Portbury as its 38th nature reserve.

Long known as the best bluebell wood for miles around, this 62-hectare woodland is a magnificent addition to the Trust's reserves. Although it has been subject to a variety of management in the past, including larch plantations for timber production and cover for pheasant rearing, parts of the wood still represent wonderful examples of ancient semi-natural woodland. Such places have been present on the same site since the 1600s, and are the closest Britain has left to the woodlands that developed after the last Ice Age (approximately 10,000 years ago).

As part of the Tyntesfield Estate the wood has been well cared for and Lord Wraxall has left it much as he found it, a wonderful habitat supporting a huge variety of wildlife. Entering some parts of the wood is almost to enter a time warp, with trees untouched for many years and allowed to mature to their natural splendour Roger Weeks is a local member who has always had a passion for Prior's Wood. "I've known the wood since boyhood explorations," he told us. "I'd creep into the wood with a dexterity that a fox would be proud of, and as I proceeded it just got better and better; the sheer size of the oak trees, the life teeming around me, the sounds of a truly wonderful place.

I'd just sit, sometimes for hours, watching green woodpeckers anting in the glade, or wood mice scurrying around my feet. I'd see treecreepers ascending the tree trunks while nuthatches called in the branches above and great-spotted woodpeckers nested in tree holes.

The calls of summer migrants, whitethroat, blackcap, chiffchaff, willow warbler filled the air. On one visit I decided to track down a call that I had heard before but could not identify. It revealed itself to be a wood warbler. And spotted flycatchers were common, with their weaving flight to catch their prey.”

Apart from the birds, the woodland is very rich in ground flora. As well as the hazy bluebell mists, you may find the elegant twayblade, delicate moschatel (known as townhall clock due to its four-facing flowers) and the ghostly toothwort. Even the umbrellas of herb Paris can be found in the north of the wood. Other unusual species include nettle-leaved bellflower, yellow pimpernel and the spindly spikes of hard fern.

Now we're looking forward to the opportunity to thoroughly survey Prior's Wood; who knows what further wildlife discoveries are yet to be made?

The purchase was made possible through the generous support of Trust members, the general public, local parish councils and charitable trusts; also through a major donation of Landfill Tax credits by YANSEC (the Yanley and North Somerset Environmental Company, a landfill-tax body affiliated to Viridor Waste Management Ltd).

During 2005 the Trust hopes to start management work in the woodland to make it safe and accessible to Trust members.

For a wildlife-rich future

'You just stick it in the ground and it grows' a child says with confidence. And it's true. She's talking about willow as we're planting some in the school grounds that morning, but it also feels true in a wider sense...

Children are, of course, as varied as adults are, but one thing they seem to have in common is a direct line into straightforward common sense, and lively and active imaginations. This means environmental education is a joy with children. They can see what is fascinating in the world around them and wildlife comes high up on the list. They love having their imaginations fired, and again wildlife is a top stimulus for any creativity. And they have a keen grasp of how exciting and important our wildlife is.

The Trust has always put working with children high on its agenda. In our education team we work with people of all ages, but children are certainly the easiest to reach and offer the most fertile ground and hopefully the most far-reaching effects into the future. Our education programmes for children at Willsbridge Mill and Folly Farm are well established, but over the last 10 years we have developed an extensive Outreach Programme with the School Grounds Project, Reserve Links Project and many other partnerships with local organisations. Our aim is to introduce children to their local environment and wealth of local wildlife. Our approach is to have lots of fun, be creative, investigate insects, puzzle over plants, marvel over minerals, see the beauty in birds, hear the buzz in the bees, and touch the truth in the trees. And probably go home with mud on our shoes and a few acorns in
our pockets.

Here are 4 projects we have worked on this year with children, our seeds for the future.

Seeds in Southmead
Throughout 2004 the School GroundsTeam have been working with children and staff at Fonthill Primary School in Southmead. Fonthill Primary is one of four schools that are involved in the 'Schools for Sustainability' project, co-ordinated by Future West and funded through the SEED project. Four partners were involved including the Trust, the Recycling Consortium, Centre for Sustainable Energy and Cannington College's Horticulture team. We began with the children planting lots of sensory plants along the borders of their nature garden and in the spring we moved 20 giant 'meadow pots' into the playground - donated by Bristol University Botanical Gardens, and transported (two strong adults per pot) by our Estates Team. The pots flowered beautifully over the summer, bringing colour and wildlife to the tarmac playground. We constructed a dipping platform for the children so they can make full use of their existing pond. On our most recent visit to the school in November we helped the children clear the pond, and weeded the sensory garden.

Last February the children helped us to plant and weave a living willow igloo in the nursery play area. It is doing very well, and pupils and teachers have since created more structures themselves and the children were also inspired to draw and paint colourful pictures of the willow structures. This is our aim - to leave schools with a wonderful wildlife-friendly environment, and also with the inspiration and knowledge to continue the work themselves.

An after school grounds project
We've been making new links with the Humdard Project in St. Pauls. Humdard means 'Supportive, Sympathetic Friendship' in Urdu and the Project includes an After-School Club. This was set up by an Asian women's group who wanted to improve their children's learning experiences by meeting after school and in the holidays. Over the summer we worked with the children, tidying the garden, planting lots of fragrant and 'feely' plants in tyres and other planters and making willow chains to decorate the garden. In the autumn we returned with an old sink which we planted up as a pond.

We also spent time exploring other wildlife areas including Narroways Junction, their local green space, and we travelled out to Folly Farm to collect and investigate natural materials. We're now planning to return early in 2005 to construct a shelter in the garden with the children. This project has been funded through Hemmings Landfill Tax.

Sweet and sour
National Apple Day in October was celebrated in style at the Travis Family Orchard at Middle Lane Farm in Kingston Seymour. Our day began by exploring the orchard and tasting apples from different trees. The children came up with some interesting names for the trees, based on lots of words describing their chosen tree and its fruits, so that as well as the prosaic Newton's Wonder and the delicious Russet, we had our very own 'Pink Heaven', the 'Secret Surprise' and the aptly named ' Juicy, Tangy, Sweet and Sour Apple Tree'! We played apple-related games in the orchard - such as an apple and spoon race - and spent the afternoon making apple prints with paint and tasty baked apples to eat. The children planted apple seeds to take home in a pot, which just may give them a tree of their very own. This event was funded and organised through the North Somerset Levels and Moors Project.

Gorge-ous banner
To mark the launch of the River Avon Trail we've been working with two local primary schools to investigate and celebrate the wildlife of the Avon Gorge. The River Avon Trail is a walk along the river from Bath to Pill - cutting right through the heart of our area. The project includes a guidebook, interpretation boards along the route, and has involved several different communities in art projects, Ashton Gate Primary School in Bedminster visited the Gorge from below and Christchurch Primary School in Clifton looked down into the Gorge from above. Each school investigated the rich wildlife, history and leisure opportunities of both the river and the gorge and represented their findings in huge silhouettes which they cut out and stuck on to two giant boat sails, donated by Bristol Sail Loft. The schools met together for the first time to see the flag unfurled against the giant rock in the gorge, and to interview each other about the project. Children, teachers and parents have all told us how exciting and worthwhile this project was.

We were working in partnership with the National Trust and the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project. Funding came from Heritage Lottery Fund through the Forest of Avon who manage the River Avon Trail Project. The banner was hung by Hi Access - our helpers on many occasions! Ffi on the project visit: www.riveravontrail.org.uk