Page 12 - Wildlife News December 2015
P. 12
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Next year sees the launch of BBOWT’s 2010 College Lake’s new visitor centre opened. In the first 10 months it attracted
new Strategic Plan, covering 2016 to more than 37,000 visitors, more than 70% of whom were first-time visitors
2020. So this edition of Wildlife News is to BBOWT nature reserves. (Wendy Tobitt)
an opportunity to look back at what the
Trust has achieved over the period of the 2010 We signed a lease to manage the Woolley Firs estate. Its derelict stable block was
outgoing Strategic Plan 2010–2015 transformed into an education centre, while a new tree trail and flower-rich chalk bank
provides memorable wildlife encounters for visiting schoolchildren. (rowanleaf.co.uk)
Every five years the Trust produces a strategic plan that
guides its work over the following half decade. The end of
2015 sees the end of one plan period and the dawn of
another, making it the ideal time to take stock of all we’ve
achieved over the past five years. Of course, none of this would
have been possible without your ongoing support.
So much has happened: new nature reserves have been
acquired, restoration work undertaken and people across the
three counties have had more opportunity than ever to get up
close to wildlife. Despite economic and political challenges,
wildlife within our reserves is facing a bright future, but there’s still
so much to be done to secure its future beyond them; our plan for
2016–2020 will help to achieve this. In the meantime this is a time
for celebration – for all that has been done thanks to you and your
vital support.
2010
A project to restore 20
hectares of heathland
at Crookham Common
and Bowdown Woods
began. Over the next
three years scrub was
cleared, trees thinned
and heather reseeded,
benefiting specialist
wildlife including
ground-nesting birds
such as the nightjar.
(Rob Appleby)
2011 Shepperlands Farm became our newest nature reserve in
Berks, enabling the meadow to be cut for the first time in
years to encourage more wild flowers, including orchids
and cuckooflower. (Kate Dent)
2011 Launch of the Heritage Lottery Funded Developing Green Talent scheme, which by early 2016 will have Wildlife news
equipped 43 trainees with the skills necessary to begin a career in nature conservation. (Neil Fletcher)
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