Desai divas

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

Wonderful Willsbridge

Reaching out

We’ve recently been working with more diverse audiences too, celebrating traditions from other cultures. We work in partnership with South Gloucestershire Council branching out into varied community outreach initiatives. Willsbridge has gone on the road adapting many of its innovative event activities and workshops in linking communities and schools to other Council local nature reserves and wild spaces.

Guest spot
John Morris is South Gloucestershire Council’s Wild Roots Officer, working on a three year project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). “My role as Wild Roots officer is to work with local communities in South Gloucestershire, helping them to identify and celebrate sites of natural/cultural/industrial heritage which were selected through a consultation process. Willsbridge was one of the sites! The others are Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in Bradley Stoke, Wick Golden Valley LNR in Wick, Avon Valley Woodlands near Hanham, Warmley Forest park in Warmley and open spaces in Emerson’s Green.”

“Working in Partnership with the Wildlife Trust and other organisations is really important in helping deliver the project. I have tried to create innovative projects to engage people - such as the Bat Audio Trail project which focuses on three of the sites - Avon Valley Woodlands, Warmley Forest Park and Wick Golden Valley. It’s been developed with Dan Merritt, Batscapes Officer and members of the South Gloucestershire Disability Action Group and aims to encourage people to visit open spaces and experience the magic of bats - special packs have been created to help you learn about bats and to enable people to follow waymarked trails that glow in the dark. The packs and trails have been adapted for the blind and partially sighted people, making them as accessible as possible. The pack is full of information about the site heritage and the bats that occur there, and can be borrowed through the library service.
I’ve been working with Willsbridge Mill for over five years, and every time I come here I know I’ll leave feeling inspired and re-energised - the team at the Mill are always full of new ideas and are so enthusiastic. Partnership working couldn’t be easier!”

Festival of Light
In November 2007 Savages Wood was the chosen site for South Gloucestershire’s Festival of Light - an illuminated woodland walk for all the family led by Helen Adshead, our Environmental Interpretation Officer - Inspired by the Hindi festival of Diwali, young people in Bradley Stoke were invited to light up the woods for the evening. We were working with young people from the South Gloucestershire Asian Project and Bradley Stoke Youth Club and together we decided to erect a white tent in the woods and light it up from inside like a giant lantern. Members of the two youth clubs made decorations to hang in the lantern which included rangoli patterns (using seeds and beads on tissue paper), silhouettes of woodland wildlife, and a dragon breathing out a galaxy of stars. Groups of young people had also made luminous banners which hung in the woods, some were part of a dancing display, and others had helped to design the lighting which illuminated the trees. On the Festival evening we welcomed people to the woods with an invitation to make a little clay pot, or diva, with a nightlight in it. Some beautiful pots appeared - shaped like birds, turtles, hands, and decorated with leaves and seeds. We placed them on the woodland floor to create a spiral of light. People loved working with the clay, actually lighting their candle, and sitting watching the flickering light of the spiral in the dark of
the woods.

Wild play
It’s widely acknowledged that children today have far less access to the great outdoors for play. Many children are denied the opportunity to explore and play freely in wild places, which not only is an essential part of childhood but can equip them with many useful skills for life including managing risk and nurturing inquiring, inquisitive minds and creative imaginations. The benefits to health and quality of life too are obvious. Staff provide ‘spring board’ activities for organised Holiday Playschemes such as den building and mini raft racing to capture those young imaginations and encourage that sense of wonder for all things natural.

Keep cool for wildlife
As part of our education programme we have a responsibility to communicate the wider environmental issues which may directly or indirectly impact on wildlife. In 2002 we responded to growing concern about the effect of waste on the environment by trialling and developing a highly successful recycling education project. It involved creating a dedicated outdoor study area using reclaimed timber, and displaying staggering statistics about the different materials which we throw away. The Wild Waste Garden was developed to show how discarded household items could become homes for wildlife. Old bath tubs have helped increased resident frog populations whilst wild flowers flourish in tyres filled with compost made on site.

New learning programmes are currently being worked up to demonstrate other ways in which we can reduce our impact on the planet. The Mill exhibition is also being developed to help explain the impact of global warming and climate change on the planet and our local wildlife.

Backwards and forwards!
As well as looking into the future, the Mill is currently looking back in time. Spring 2008 sees the launch of the ‘Step back in time’ trail, which reveals how the rocks beneath our feet have shaped the Willsbridge Valley and it’s wildlife seen today.