There are a lot of active, enthused and organised community groups in Worcestershire and we've worked with enough of you to know that it’s not easy acting as a community for local wildlife. Each group faces different challenges from funding their ambitions to recruiting their neighbours to the cause; it can be a long road, especially as a group of passionate volunteers who want to get things done.
There are some fantastic community groups working for wildlife all over the county. One of our main jobs in the here at the Trust is to support you where you need further guidance but we're also keen to help create more community groups in more locations. The county's wildlife would be in a much better place if every neighbourhood had a community group taking action for nature. Community groups come in all shapes and sizes but include 'friends of' groups, gardening or environmental-focused groups, school or business eco groups or just a group of local residents teaming up.
Whatever your group, we can help to support you in your passion to help wildlife. Below are just some ways that you can call on us for help.
- In some areas, we've got dedicated staff to offer expertise and support to groups. This can be suggesting perfect plants for pollinators or helping in making and installing bird boxes. In some cases, this can be support in how to get your group up and running. At the moment, we have teams in Worcester, Droitwich, Bromsgrove and Redditch but even if you're in other areas, get in touch to see how we can help your group.
- We can support you to try to find new members and grow a group of neighbours into an organised group. We can setup ‘bumping spaces’ to help you speak to local people about nature and have conversations about the role nature can play in your neighbourhood.
- We can spend time in urban areas listening to your local community about how you might strengthen your connection with nature and look at how improving your local patch could provide social and health benefits too.
- We've been working with community centres, housing associations and local authorities to help support community groups run activities and events to inform and inspire local people to connect with nature.
- Every year we run training for community group members on topics that you tell us you are interested in. How about learning more about hedgerow management or woodland habitat creation?
- Where appropriate, we can run habitat-based sessions on our nature reserves for your local community group to learn about the wildlife close to where you live.
- We've got an online map that features community groups across the county. It's there to celebrate and shine a light on those community groups already doing great things for wildlife as well as to help individuals to find a group close in their area. If you've not already done so, you can add your group to this online community hub to connect to other groups helping wildlife.
- If you're looking for help on how to set up a new group, we've got a community support webpage that's full of resources and ‘how to’ guides to help with admin as well as wildlife ideas such as pond creation and wildflower seed sowing, tree planting and bat box building.
- We can support you in running your own events with the donation or loan of resources and materials such as bug hunting kits.
There is a growing movement of people and groups taking action for nature in the county and only by coming together, supporting each other and reducing barriers for others to get involved can we help nature to truly recover and thrive in our local community spaces.
Please do get in touch if you have any questions about taking action for wildlife in your community action.
