Helping nature in Webheath

Hear from Brad who's helping nature at a community greenspace in Webheath, Redditch...

Claire and I would frequently walk past a small, but wild, patch of land at the end of our road that had been left for wildlife when the housing estate was built. We noticed how, once it had grown substantially, all of the growth would be flattened and the wildlife we would see in there would then seem to decrease in number. We wondered if there was anything we could do to get involved but we weren’t sure who owned it or why it was managed in the way that it was as it didn’t seem to be helping local wildlife.

Not long after we had this idea, we heard that someone from Worcestershire Wildlife Trust would be at the Headless Cross Apple Day; we decided to go along and speak to them about our ideas. This is when we met Yasmina, exchanged our contact details and the journey towards looking after the wild patch began.

Claire and I have wanted to be involved with conservation for some time but never really knew how to start. Yaz invited us to attend a conservation habitat management workshop in Bromsgrove, which really helped us to understand what exactly we needed to do to benefit nature the most, to create and look after wildlife-rich habitats. This got us on the right track.

Yaz approached the council who confirmed that the wild patch was being transferred into their ownership but that the land was managed by a separate management company. The council and management company were happy for us to access the site and do some surveys to see what was living there and to work closely with them to help make the site better for wildlife.

Brad, Claire and Yaz looking at a pond sample

We then invited the local community to have a look at the wild patch to see if anyone would like to be involved and what sort of ideas they had for managing it in a more pro-nature way. Quite a few people seemed to like the idea and so we made a WhatsApp group to keep in contact and update each other on our ideas for progress.

Since then, we have met as a group and decided on what to add to the site in order to make it a more nature-friendly environment. We determined that although getting people involved and inspiring them to be interested in the natural world is important, it would be best to keep the site as a wildlife-only area to allow for minimal disturbance of life within it. We have considered hosting small community events in the future to allow for limited time visits so that people can be more closely involved and get closer to nature, such as spotting different species of invertebrates, pond dipping or night-time events using bat detectors and moth traps.

Sketched out plan of wild space and ideas from community - hedgerows, new ponds, tussocky grass areas etc — Plan for Webheath Wild Space

After setting foot inside the site and getting an idea of what was in the area, we did some pond dipping and discovered that there were many young newts (efts) in the pool, which was really exciting. After returning home, Claire designed a map for the wild patch using the ideas that the community group had developed, which will help us to implement them and see what we could achieve going forward. We plan to add bug hotels, bat boxes, log piles and more.

We wish to highlight to our local community and beyond how important areas such as this are for wildlife. It is imperative that we protect the natural world in every possible way. No matter how small the area of land may be or what life resides within it, it all serves a purpose on our planet. If anyone knows of a place they want to make a difference to, please reach out to the Trust for advice or educate yourself online. The more of us that can work towards making a difference, the better.

Wild communities - Webheath (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOZG0dQ5w9w)