Under practical conservation action in your local area

Groups participating in the project can apply to the 'Your Natural Heritage community Biodiversity Fund' for funding to undertake practical conservation actions to encourage or conserved local biodiversity. The first round of practical conservation projects were completed in Winter 2011.

We are now asking participating groups to submit their requests and ideas for local practical conservation projects to be undertaken in Winter 2011/12 . The application form can be downloaded here or completed online.

The fund is open to groups that are actively participating in the project, demonstrable by having undertaken at least two local habitat surveys through the project. The work must also take place within the LEADER funding area, (North Shropshire). Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that all applications will receive funding. Priority will be given to proposals that offer the best potential biodiversity benefits.

Completed Projects

Winter 2011 saw the first practical conservation managment actions undertaken by the Your Natural Heritage Project. The projects were selected based on their potential benefit to local biodiversity and local communities. A raft of new projects have been funded in winter 2012, with the Shawbury moat site the first to be completed.

Shawbury Moat Site

The Shawbury moat site contains a mosaic of habitats, including some fantastic veteran trees. For the past few years an enthusiastic group of locals have looked after he site, restoring and creating wildlife habitats. A survey of the moat site and the adjacent Glebe field indicated that it they may contain valuable unimproved grassland. There are also areas of wet pasture close to the river, Roden which required management. The Shawbury moat group applied to the Community Biodivery Project fund for work to restore a wetland area next to the river. This area had become overgrown with willow and bramble and was rapidly succeeding. The work cleared all of the scrub and straight away a large shallow pool was restored. By spring and summer it will become a great habitat for odonata, emergent and aquatic plants, amphibians and maybe even Water voles.

Weston Lullingfields Churchyard

Over the past few years Weston Lullingfields churchyard has been managed to encourage biodiversity by a group of local volunteers. This has meant changing the mowing regime and creating a mosaic of habitats within the churchyard. 

The Baschurch Parish  survey  group identifed this site as a local biodiversity hotspot. The group requested tree surgery to remove damaged trees, which would reduce shading on the sward, thus benefitting botanical diversity. Bat and bird boxes were aslo installed and less than two week later a nuthatch had moved into one of the bird boxes.  Finally a sign was designed and installed to show the species present in the churchyard and to explain why the churchyard is maintained in the way it is.

 By June the churchyard was showing plenty of indicator species for an unimproved species rich grassland. A large amount of Birdsfoot trefoil Lotus conrniculatus and Crested Dogs-tail Cynosurus cristatus was growing underneath the area where the trees had been felled. 

Walford Pools

Tree and scrub removal taking place at Walford Pools in late February and the same site in June. The decreas in shading has encouraged botanical diversity and is being used as a foraging area by several different species of dragonfly.

Historically Walford pools were an important site for Dragonflies and Damselflies  and contained many LBAP plant species. Over time the pools had become overgrown and trees around the perimeter were overshading the emergent aquatic plants.A signifcant reduction in sucesssion was undertaken around the pools and it is hoped that this will see a return of some BAP plant and invertebrate species that were once recorded at the site. Students of the Countryside Management course helped with the management and will help to survey the botanical and invertebrate species using the pools this summer.

In June the Walford pools site was visited and the results are very encouraging. In areas where trees and scrub had been removed, emergent vegetation was abundant and diverse. The Fen nettle Urtica dioica ssp. galeopsifolia was found, which is one of only a handful of records for this species in the county. There was also a first county record for the non-native Cape pond weed Aponogeton Distachyos. Among the native flora were a number of indicator species (axiophytes) such as Greater Spearwort Ranunculus lingua, Bottle Sedge Carex rostrata and Water parsnip Berula erecta.

Although it was a bit windy and overcast for surveying invertebrates, sightings included a four-spotted chaser Libellula quadrimaculata Dragonfly, Snout moth Hypena proboscidalis and a Wasp beatle Clytus arietis.

The habitat management work appears to have made a  big difference and Shropshire Council are now helping Walford college to develop a long-term management plan for the site.  

Whitchurch  

Whitchurch is a hotspot for Water vole activity and one of the major threats to this threatened UKBAP species is poor habitat management. The Whitchurch local group are aiming to survey and map Water vole habitat in the Parish. This survey  will be conducted in conjuntion with the Whitchurch Community Water Vole Group and the Shropshire Mammal Group. The local group requested funding to produce an advice leaflet to help people identify Water vole signs and to encourage landowners to manage ditch habitats for the benefit of Water voles.