Into the Woods

Branching Out – grant £1,500

Into the Woods is delivering affordable outdoor education and awareness-raising activities. The sessions are themed around ancient woodlands and combined Forest School education with seasonal local nature knowledge.  The project welcomes children (aged between 6-11 years old) of all walks of life into the woodland through being affordable to the majority and offering two free places for households with a lower-income.

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Wildlife Pond Restoration Project

St George’s Academy, Clun - £2,000

Restoring the existing school pond to enable it to be used for educational purposes within lesson time, for extra curriculum clubs, by the local community such as the local nursery and scout/guide groups and offered as a resource for other local primary schools.  The school children are involved in all aspects of this project, including survey and monitoring work, site design and practical tasks.

Ancient yew tree conservation

Friends of Hope Bagot churchyard, £500

The yew tree in the churchyard in Hope Bagot is possibly pre-Christian and as such one of the most important trees in the county. In January 2023, the tree lost two thirds of its crown.  The grant is supporting volunteers to put a chestnut pailing fence around the tree to protect it from disturbance by visitors.  The tree remains a valuable ecological habitat as it continues to breakdown over the coming decades.

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Shropshire Hills Hay Meadow Festival

Grow Cook Learn, £500

To support the Shropshire Hills Hay Meadow Festival which celebrates traditional hay-meadows and raises awareness of their value as an important wildlife habitat. The festival includes guided walks, have a go activities and short talks to increase interest and engagement of hay meadows, their value for wildlife and the treat that they are under.

The Festival is being held on 15th July at the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, and attracts over 500 people.

Clun Memorial Hall playing field margin project

Clun Memorial Hall Charity, £2,000

This is a community project to develop the field margin at the edge of the Clun Memorial Hall playing field.  Following a site survey and ecological report, this project is acting on recommendations to create a series of good wildlife habitats including a wildflower meadow, mini-community orchard, improve the existing wet wood and plant native trees, including black poplar. 

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Supporting nature recovery in the Shropshire Hills

Middle Marches Community Land Trust, £500

The grant is supporting a conference, titled 'Creating Stepping Stones for nature to recovery across the Shropshire Hills & beyond', and series of site visits to encourage individuals, community groups and parish councils to take action locally to help nature by restoring habitats and connectivity. 

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Habitat enhancement for the Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary Butterfly

Caroline Uff, £1,500

This project is improving the condition of wet flush habitat on sites in the Stiperstones area to benefit the Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary Butterfly (SPBF).  Volunteers will be involved in the practical management and survey work.  Marsh violet (SPBF larval foodplant) will be propagated from cuttings and introduced to at least one site where it is in short supply.

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Swifts in towers

Caring for God’s Acre, £1,000

This project is tackling the decline in our swift population by installing nest boxes on four church towers where existing swift populations are known to be present. The towers are ideal sites for swifts as they are tall and not surrounded by other buildings offering an unobstructed upward ascent that swifts require.

more information  read project report

Abdon District Dormouse Project

Abdon District Community Wildlife Group, £1,997.10

The project is training local people to survey and record dormice activity to help build up a better understanding of their local distribution. Dormouse habitat will be restored by hazel understory planting and coppicing, and opportunities for targeted future habitat management work will be identified. A dormouse detection workshop is being held for local school children to involve them in the project, and a community event is planned to share project results.

more information about the group

Upper Onny River Naturalness and invasive plant survey and control

Upper Onny Wildlife Group, £1,000

The project will continue balsam control on the River Onny catchment to eliminate this invasive species from the headwater catchment. Himalayan balsam impacts upon native flora, sedimentation and the erosion of rivers. Volunteers will hand pull the balsam and will be trained to carry out river naturalness surveys to help target future river conservation work.

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Equipment enhancement

River Clun Monitoring Group, £1,000

The grant is supporting the purchase of improved river monitoring equipment to enable the River Clun Monitoring Group to make accurate observations and measurements of local water quality.  The Group have fixed monitoring stations along the river network and results, including when any pollutants are entering the river system, will be shared with the Environment Agency and Shropshire Wildlife Trust and other relevant organisations.

Wildflower Meadow Creation

Glyn’s Garden CIC, £560.99

The grant is enabling the volunteers create a wildflower meadow as part of their 2-acre gardening site, near Church Stretton, which offers assisted gardening sessions to a variety of vulnerable people who benefit from this gentle exercise.  The meadow will help to increase and support biodiversity, in particular pollinating insects, and will be an area for people to sit and relax and enjoy the nature around them.

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