Avon Wildlife Trust

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Avon Wildlife Trust
Folly Farm, near Bishop Sutton, Somerset
Formation	1981
Type	Registered Charity
Headquarters	Jacobs Wells Rd., Bristol
Membership	14,000
Official languages	English
Chief Executive	Steve Grainger
Website	Avon Wildlife Trust

The Avon Wildlife Trust aims to protect and promote wildlife in the area of the former county of Avon — now Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, in England. It has its headquarters in Bristol and runs wildlife centres at Folly Farm in Somerset and Willsbridge near Keynsham.

The trust was formed in 1981, has 14,000 members, and manages 38 nature reserves, ranging from salt marshes and reedbeds to wildflower meadows and ancient woodlands, covering a total of 7 square kilometres (3 sq mi) including 12 Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The Trust also provides advice to local authorities and landowners on land management and conservation, and provides educational visits for school children and lifelong learning for adults.

The Avon Wildlife Trust is part of the Wildlife Trusts partnership of 47 wildlife trusts in the United Kingdom, and carries out its work through a network of staff and over 500 volunteers.

Contents 1 History 2 Nature Reserves 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

The first development following the formation of the Trust in 1980 was the establishment of England's first urban nature reserve at Brandon Hill, bringing hay meadows, wildlife ponds and butterfly gardens into a formal city park.^[1] In 1981 Stockwood Open Space came under the trust's management^[2] to encourage a range of wildlife and have been particularly successful with Common spotted orchids. Other early work in the 1980s included taking over the management of Littleton Brick Pits near Littleton-upon-Severn, an artificial lagoon once the site of clay extraction for brick making, and reintroducing reedbeds close to the Severn Estuary, as a feeding and resting place for migrating birds.^[3]

Since the 1980s the Trust has campaigned to save wetlands in the Gordano Valley in North Somerset where Clapton Moor (40 hectares of grassland) near Clapton in Gordano, Weston Big Wood, (38 hectares of ancient woodland), and Weston Moor (59 hectares of wet grassland) near Weston in Gordano and Walton Common north east of Walton in Gordano are now rich in birdlife. The installation of sluice gates in the 1990s raised the water levels and encouraged lapwing to breed.

At Dolebury Warren iron age hill fort, special grassland and rare butterflies have been encouraged by the Trust's scrub clearance work.

In 1987 the 250 acre Folly Farm was purchased from the Strachey family to be developed as a nature reserve with traditional farm operations.^[4] The purchase was made possible by an anonymous donation of £250,000, which was followed by grants and donations from the South West of England Regional Development Agency, and Biffaward supplementing local fund-raising efforts with the centre finally opening in April 2008.^[5]

The trust was one of the first to carry out garden wildlife surveys.^[6] One of these revealed the astonishingly rich flora that existed in Narroways, St Werburghs, an inner area of Bristol, and was used as part of a campaign against the use of 5 acres of the hill as a storage depot for heavy equipment and lorry access for construction of the Avon Tramway.^[7]

In 1991 campaigns to save Royate Hill in Bristol from development resulted in the first compulsory purchase of a wildlife site in England. In another Bristol campaign, the Trust fought Bristol City Council against the extension of the quarry next to Ashton Court.^[8] In 1997 the Trust bought Puxton Moor to prevent it being converted into a golf course and holiday resort.^[9] Other campaign have included preserving breeding space for Skylarks at Hengrove Park.

The oldest Greater Horseshoe Bat ever recorded in Britain, "Boris", was discovered at Brown's Folly in January 2000. Work to secure grilles on the old mines had reduced disturbance, increasing the number of bat species breeding.

Since 2000 the Trust has been a leading partner in the Avon Biodiversity Partnership which aims to create "A landscape rich in wildlife, where species and habitats are part of healthy, functioning ecosystems that are well-managed and valued by everyone; where conservation of biodiversity is integrated with social, cultural and economic activities".^[10]

Each winter since 200/2001 the Trust has organised a Birdwatch. Between 2000 and 2007 this demonstrated falls in the Starling and Sparrow populations, with Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Jackdaws on the increase within the area.^[11]

In 2008 a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund resulted in an award of £396,000 for the new 'Wildlife - it's all about us!' project which will offer a variety of ways for people to get active in their own neighbourhoods through talks, walks, and events, including wildlife gardening workshops and practical volunteering work.^[12]

[edit] Nature Reserves

The Nature Reserves include: (* = Reserves designated as Sites of Scientific Interest}

Ashton Court Meadow Avonmouth Sewage Treatment Works Bathampton Meadow Blake's Pools near Kingston Seymour Brandon Hill Brown's Folly* Burledge Hill* Charfield Meadow Chew Valley Lake* Clapton Moor

Cleeve Heronry Coombe Brook Valley Dolebury Warren* Folly Farm* Goblin Combe* Hellenge Hill Kingsweston Down Lawrence Weston Moor Littleton Brick Pits Lower Woods*

Max Bog* Monk Woods Netcott's Meadow Pill Paddock Priory Farm Prior's Park & Adcombe Wood* Purn Hill* Puxton Moor* Royate Hill Stephen's Vale

Stockwood Open Space Tickenham Hill Tucking Mill Walborough Walton Common* Weston Big Wood* Weston Moor Willsbridge Mill & Valley

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Avon Wildlife Trust
• The Wildlife Trusts partnership