Herefordshire Wildlife Trust
A Wilder Herefordshire More Nature Everywhere Opportunities for Giving and Support 2024
KINGFISHER (C) JON HAWKINS SURREY HILLS PHOTOGRAPHY
Contents Introduction Our Strategic Goals Nature Recovery: managing our nature reserves Nature Action: making nature accessible for all Sustaining our Future: reducing our carbon footprint
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Herefordshire Wildlife Trust is part of The Wildlife Trust movement. There are 46 Wildlife Trusts across the whole of the UK, the Isle of Man and Alderney. Together we have more than 870,000 members, over 32,500 volunteers, 2,500 staff and 600 trustees. The Wildlife Trusts make up the largest UK voluntary organisation dedicated to conserving the whole range of the UK’s habitats and species.
HEDGEHOG (C) TOM MARSHALL
Our vision is A Wilder Herefordshire: More Nature Everywhere and our mission is to lead local action for nature’s recovery. Our ambition for nature is bigger and bolder than ever before. To achieve our long-term goal of nature being in recovery we want to see 30% of the land across Herefordshire well managed for nature by 2030. From managing our 60 nature reserves, collaborating with others to restore landscapes and habitats, providing advice to landowners, supporting local community groups and inspiring individuals to take action, the Trust is dedicated to restoring and celebrating Herefordshire’s wildlife and wild places. We can’t do this alone. We need to collaborate with landowners, communities, schools and businesses to create a wilder, greener and more sustainable Herefordshire. There are a multitude of ways we can make a difference together. Herefordshire Wildlife Trust | 3
COMMON BLUE (C) PAUL LLOYD
RIVERFLY SURVEYS, YAZOR BROOKS (C) HWT
Our Strategic Goals Herefordshire is a special and unique county. The tapestry of the natural world is rich from our iconic rivers, the Wye and Lugg, and their floodplain meadows, the wonderful wooded valleys of the Marches, our traditional orchards and the uplands of the Black Mountains and Malverns. We all need nature for sustainable food production, good health, mental wellbeing and a thriving economy. But, facing an ecological and climate crisis, nature needs us more than ever too. Our mission, therefore, is to lead local action in our county, enabling our communities, businesses and wider partners to bring back nature. To recover nature, we need 30% of all the land in our county properly managed for nature by 2030. And that’s good for other ‘public goods’, including carbon sequestration, climate adaptation and mitigation, and nutrient neutrality. Working together, we can create bigger, wilder, more connected landscapes across the county, so nature, people and local economies can thrive.
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To get there we have three strategic goals: •• Putting nature into recovery •• Taking action for nature •• Sustaining our organisation’s future
Take Action for Nature
Sustain our Organisation’s Future
1. We will manage our nature reserves to ensure they are rich in wildlife and we will strategically focus our landholdings
1. We will connect people to nature
1. We will embed effective planning and governance
2. We will support local groups and businesses to take action for nature
2. We will continue to grow and diversify funding streams to grow unrestricted income, whilst also continuing to grow restricted funding
2. We will work in partnership to create more, bigger, wider connected habitats 3. We will demonstrate how restoring nature can deliver multiple environmental benefits, and help tackle the climate and nature emergencies
3. We will develop a bolder campaigning voice and deliver proactive advocacy
BIRCHES FARM NATURE RESERVE (C) PAUL LLOYD
Put Nature in Recovery
3. We will develop an inclusive workplace for all staff and volunteers 4. We will reduce our carbon footprint and embed sustainability practices LANDOWNER ADVICE (C) HWT
4. We will promote sustainable land use and challenge harmful practices and infrastructure that threaten nature’s recovery Herefordshire Wildlife Trust | 5
Nature Recovery We will manage our nature reserves to ensure they are rich in wildlife Our Nature Recovery Officers lead and collaborate on habitat and landscape restoration projects, such as Recovering our Rivers, across the county. They advocate for wildlife through forums including the Local Nature Partnership and Nutrient Management Board and they work closely with our Consultancy Team to provide advice to landowners on how to best support nature’s recovery on their farms and within their businesses.
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Our Nature Reserves staff oversee the management of 60 nature reserves, helped in no small part by our volunteers and voluntary wardens. Our Nature Reserves showcase some of the best examples of wildlife habitats in the county from wildflower meadows and traditional orchards to ancient woodlands andthriving wetlands.
Nature Recovery
LOWER HOUSE FARM ORCHARD (C) PAUL COOPER; DORMOUSE (C) DANNY GREEN; HEDGEHOG (C) TOM MARSHALL
Hedgerow restoration £10 per metre We maintain the hedgerows on our Nature Reserves through active management, supporting their annual regeneration. Hedgerows create the perfect habitat for a wide variety of species including hedgehogs, dormice and several bat species as well as 12 of the UK’s most threatened bird species.
Reviving our Traditional Orchards £70 to £170 per tree Herefordshire Wildlife Trust wants to revive our traditional orchards by planting new generations of fruit trees. Orchard trees are fabulous for a whole range of wildlife as they provide food and shelter but also because they have a relatively short lifespan and so display characteristics such as decaying branches, rotting wood and nooks and crevices - all great for invertebrates and other wildlife - at a relatively young age. Species that thrive in this habitat include woodpeckers, the mistletoe tortrix moth and noble chafer beetles. Herefordshire Wildlife Trust | 7
Nature Recovery
Wildflower meadow enhancement £150 per hectare
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ORCHID (C) JAMES HITCHCOCK; DAVIES MEADOW (C) HWT BIRCHES FARM (C) PAUL RADCLIFFE
Did you know that 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost in Britain since the 1940s? Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has guardianship of over 170 hectares of precious wildflower meadow at sites such as Birches Farm, Stockings Meadow and Common Hill. Protecting these precious habitats is not easy and requires traditional management techniques and specialist tools to maintain a habitat which supports the rich and diverse plant life.
Nature Recovery
Restoration at Titley Pool Nature Reserve £5,000 to £25,000 Titley Pool is one of Herefordshire’s largest natural open water pools. Alder trees growing around the edge of the pool are shading out aquatic vegetation, resulting in a loss of habitat for fish, insects and amphibians. The Trust want to coppice trees growing at the edge of the lake, flooding the pool with light these species need. We also want to develop the precious and scarce reedbed habitat to thrive into a home for the pond-dwellers The coppicing of the Alder trees will also support the local bat population. Titley Pool Nature Reserve is an important foraging, roosting and breeding habitat for bats. By thinning the trees and creating ‘corridors’ for the bats to move along, we hope to increase the amount of endangered bat species using the site as a breeding ground.
TITLEY POOL (C) BOB LANGRIDGE
To further protect these precious species, we also want to fence off the pool from neighbouring livestock to prevent eutrophication of the water.
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Nature Recovery
Save the native black poplar tree £50 to £5,000 The black poplar tee is endangered, with only 7,000 left in the UK. Once popular for wooden-framed houses, carts, matches and artificial limbs, the last 200 years saw the native black poplar replaced with imported products and the decrease severely reduced the need to plant it. With a natural balance of male and female trees required to ensure the survival of the species (of the 7,000, only an estimated 600 are female trees), this deciduous tree is under a significant threat of becoming extinct, vastly impacting our ecosystems. Nine black poplar clones have been identified around the county, with further testing ongoing. We plan to create an arboretum that will have three trees of each clone. One of the three will be allowed to grow into a maiden tree, the remaining two will be pollarded to provide truncheons for planting around the county and beyond.
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PLANTING BLACK POPLARS AT YAZOR BROOKS (C)
We also plan to develop a black poplar database to ensure the effective tracking and growth monitoring of the species.
Nature Recovery
Creating woodland glades £300 per 100m
GREATER BUTTERFLY ORCHID (C) PAUL LLOYD
Many of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust’s nature reserves are ancient seminatural woodlands which were traditionally managed through coppicing. The coppice areas, usually stands of hazel and other under shrubs, were cut on a 15-25 year cycle to provide firewood, bark for tanning and a range of coppice products and then allowed to regrow from the coppice stools to keep the cycle going. This management creates open glades within the woodland which allows for a far greater diversity of species to thrive, such as early spring flowers, butterflies, dormice and other woodland wildlife. Herefordshire Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers maintain this cycle of coppicing, wherever possible. However, deer number in our woodlands have increased to the extent that in many areas the regrowth from the coppice stools is grazed out by the deer, which prevents the cycle from continuing. To prevent this, and continue the cycle, we need to install deer fencing around newly cut coppice ‘coupes’.
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Nature Action We will connect people to nature The Nature Action Team work to engage everyone with nature by delivering a diverse range of projects and engagement sessions. Our Nature Action team aim to connect people to nature under the banner of Connect - Act - Be Bold.
WILDLIFE WATCH CLUB (C) HWT
We work to connect people of all ages through a variety of projects such as; Nature, Nurture, Nourish, Building Better Opportunities, Nature Tots, Adventure Club and Wildlife Watch Groups. We are supporting people to take action for nature via our Nature Action Network, connecting groups and individuals together to 12 | Herefordshire Wildlife Trust
share, learn and act for nature with others from across the county. Hundreds of our supporters took bold action through the #DefendNature campaign and contacted their MPs directly to keep our campaign issues firmly in the spotlight though traditional and digital media.
Nature Action
INTERPRETATION BOARD (C) PAUL LLOYD: VISIT FROM RNC STUDENTS AND STAFF, QUEENSWOOD (C) HWT
Accessible interpretation on Nature Reserves £500 to £1,500 per sign Herefordshire Wildlife Trust know how vital connecting to nature is for our physical and mental wellbeing. At present, our reserves have traditional interpretation boards. Following consultation with The Royal National College for The Blind, Accessible Herefordshire and our members, we have highlighted the need for a diverse range of interpretation. Following the success of our story trail at Queenswood, we would like to roll out a range of tactile, auditory and sensory interpretation resources at our reserves to allow everyone to make a deep and meaningful connection to nature.
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Nature Action
Accessible Play Equipment for Queenswood £15,000 We carried out online and face to face visitor surveys from May to August 2022. From these we found that families often visit the playground before or after walking around our Gruffalo-themed children’s trail, but visitors from the face to face survey highlighted a lack of accessible play equipment and suggested a wheelchair/ability swing. We also interviewed Hereford Carers’ Family Network, Disabled Ramblers, Herefordshire County Council SEND Engagement Officer and the Projects Co-ordinator and Leader at Marches Family Network and asked them what Queenswood could do better. A key theme from this was having more accessible play equipment. Accessible Herefordshire reviewed the Queenswood site in November 2022 and advised that the introduction of inclusive play equipment was a key requirement for improvement.
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Nature Action
Tramper - electric, off-road mobility scooter £10,000
CHILD RUNNING (C) EMMA BRADSHAW FMAILY AT QUEENSWOOD (C) HWT
At Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, we are striving to break down barriers to connection with nature. One of the ways we do this is through our offroad mobility scooter which is available at Queenswood Country Park and Arboretum for visitors to use. Our current mobility scooter is around 30 years old and is sometimes unavailable when it needs repairing or is already booked out, particularly in peak times. We need a new scooter so that visitors can ride with a companion, and a modern vehicle with better hand grips and controls will be easier to operate. A fourwheel scooter would be more stable and enable users to explore trails further into the park that aren’t currently accessible.
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Sustaining our Future We will reduce our carbon footprint Across The Trust, we want to ensure that we are all taking proactive steps to reduce our carbon footprint As a wildlife organisation, care for the environment and nature is central to what we do. It must also play a leading role in how we do it. Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has a history of investing in sustainable technology and energy sources, and we aim to build on this history.
VISITING QUEENSWOOD (C) HWT
We have sought independent support in identifying our current carbon footprint and have identified key areas for improvement with concrete targets. These are detailed in our Carbon Action Plan.
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We are striving to take positive steps across all departments at Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and all staff are committed to achieving this goal.
Sustaining our Future
VOLUNTEER PRUNING (C) HWT; AMELIA BALDWIN-HAY USING CHIANSAW (C) HWT
Electric Tools £50 to £1,000 Much of the work carried out on our 60 Nature Reserves is completed by our diligent volunteers who enjoy getting out and making a real difference to nature. As a result, much of our equipment is in constant use. We want to replace our outdated petrol kit with electric tools. This will make our work far more sustainable and reduce our
reliance on fossil fuels, allowing us to fully utilise the energy that is generated via the solar panels on our workshops. In addition, electric tools are safer for our staff and volunteers, more cost effective to run, easier to transport and will significantly reduce our running costs. This frees up more of our precious funds to take further action for nature.
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Sustaining our Future
Electric Vehicles ranging from £10,000 to £40,000 Electric Van Our Nature Action Team works with groups across the county and beyond. In order to connect people to nature in a diverse range of settings, the team have vast ranges of resources to facilitate naturebased sessions for all. The team currently struggle to transport the kit due to the size of their current vehicle and indeed have been unable to access some communities. An electric van would be a great asset. Fleet Enhancements To support our goal of achieving NET Zero, The Trust aims to replace our diesel powered vehicles with electric/hybrid vehicles. These include our flat bed trucks, minibus and naure reserve vehicles such as our tractor, mowers and Polaris UTV.
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Herefordshire Wildlife Trust
More ways to support Herefordshire Wildlife Trust
•• Sponsor events held on our Nature Reserves •• Become a member of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust •• Take part in our events •• Donate •• Volunteer with us •• Like and share our posts on social media
•• Visit our Nature Reserves and connect with nature •• Join the Nature Action Network •• Book to host your meetings and events in our conference rooms
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DAVIES MEADOW (C) PAUL LLOYD QUEENSWOOD (C) HWT VOLUNTEERS AND STAFF ON VEHICLES (C) HWT
There are a multitude of other ways through which you can help Herefordshire Wildlife Trust achieve a Wilder Herefordshire. You might wish to:
Herefordshire Wildlife Trust
If your interest has been caught by anything you have read here about the work of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, a particular project you would like to support financially or a Trust activity you would like to take part in, please contact: fundraising @herefordshirewt.co.uk – to discuss making a donation enquiries@herefordshirewt.co.uk – for information about membership and our programme of events We look forward to hearing from you from you.
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