Out & About February 2017

Share your love for nature in February says Jacky Akam Nature worship

A t the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Berkshire, we know that thousands of people who live and work here love their local wildlife too. My job as the Linking the Landscape project manager gives me the chance to create opportunities for more people to enjoy being outdoors and closer to nature, not only in the wild spaces of the nature reserves that the trust looks after, but also across the wider landscape. Over the last three years, the Wildlife Trust has been working with local landowners to create wildlife-friendly ‘corridors’ by using hedgerows, field edges and woodlands to link habitats that are essential for species such as dormice and butterflies. Ponds, meadows and coppiced woods have become wild ‘stepping stones’ to help wildlife such as reptiles and birds move through the landscape to find food, homes and mates. This has all been achieved through the extraordinary work of our regular volunteer groups as well as corporate teams who enjoy a wild work-out away from the office. Hundreds of volunteers take part in weekly and monthly work parties doing scrub clearance, coppicing, hedgelaying and pulling up Himalayan Balsam. Other volunteers spend time carefully surveying butterflies and birds so that we can monitor the effectiveness of the habitat management work. Wildlife Trust everyone’s Wild at Heart; and, through our Linking the Landscape project in West

Key to the success of Linking the Landscape are people from the residential areas of Thatcham, Newbury and surrounding villages, who are enjoying making stronger connections with the wonderful wild spaces on their doorsteps. The popular events at Thatcham Community Orchard, including our recent noisy wassail and last autumn’s harvest celebrations, attract huge crowds. Children are fascinated by the natural world; they instinctively love it and want to know more. toddlers to teenagers discover nature in ways that feed their curiosity, excite their imaginations and enable them to understand the importance of wildlife for us all. I am very proud of the Teen Rangers who recently received their John Muir Discovery Award. It’s great to see young people with a real passion and enthusiasm for looking after nature. Any of them could be the next Chris Packham or David Attenborough because Teen Rangers gives them an outlet for taking real, practical action for nature while having a bit of fun at the same time. Find out more on Wildlife Clubs page at www.bbowt.org.uk At the Nature Discovery Centre in Thatcham, we help children from

Teen Rangers take practical action for wildlife

Volunteers fromThames Water help to improve the paths in Thatcham Reedbeds

Bullfinch, one of the bird species benefitting from the wild ‘corridors’ and ‘stepping stones’

FURTHER INFORMATION:

The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust’s Linking the Landscape in West Berkshire project is funded primarily by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and we are very grateful to our wonderful volunteers with whom we are able to make the funds go so much further. Come and be Wild at Heart with your local Wildlife Trust this month. Join in the fun with one of the volunteer work parties, go on a guided walk to see birds and mosses, or find Magic under the Microscope at West Berkshire Museum in Newbury. All details on: www.bbowt.org.uk/whats-on

Pictures: Rob Appleby, Katie Smith and Bob Coyle

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