Wildspaces! at the BBC Natural History Event
New exhibition unveiled at the BBC Natural History Unit. more >

'Spike' adds colour to Community Festival
Spike the hedgehog, the Wildspaces! mascot helps to spread word of Bradley Stoke Community Festival. more >

Avon Valley Woodlands - have your say
Spring action plan for future management of woodlands. more >

Forest website gets spruced up.
The Forest of Avon's new website highlights green-spaces in South Gloucestershire, including all the Wildspaces! in the area. more >

A model plan for Gorse Covert
Over 170 local residents attended a special consultation day on Saturday 8th February. more >

Friends for life
A new friends group has been set up to help local wildlife in the Golden Valley at Wick. more >

Golden times ahead for a South Gloucestershire Valley
South Gloucestershire Council has been awarded funding. more >

Wildspaces! at the BBC Natural History Event
On Saturday 31st May the Wildspaces! Partnership Project's new exhibition will be unveiled at the BBC Natural History Unit FREE celebration of Natural History at the Bristol Harbour side. Come and find our stand in the I-Max Foyer. The display features our successful project with Wick Primary School and there are facilities to access our new website and give us feedback and a chance to fly through the South Gloucestershire landscape.

There will be films, talks, exhibitions and interactive displays from the Natural History Unit. For the first time there's a great chance to meet the people behind the camera. You will be able to share in the excitement and take a look behind the scenes at some of the hundreds of hours of wildlife programmes made for TV, radio, and the web here in Bristol.

Related links: www.bbc.co.uk/bristol ~ for the latest Natural History Festival programme details.

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'Spike' adds colour to Community Festival
Spike the hedgehog, the Wildspaces! mascot is helping to spread the word of this year's Bradley Stoke Community Festival on 28th and 29th June.

Spike features in a poster that will be used for a colouring competition. The poster is being distributed in June to all schools and community groups in Bradley Stoke.

Follow the link for details on how to enter the competition and to download the poster. (**link to PDF 'poster comp'**)
For Festival details please see our What's On section.

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Avon Valley Woodlands - have your say
This spring heralds the start of something new for the Avon Valley. South Gloucestershire Council is teaming up with the Forest of Avon and the local community to create an action plan for the future management of the woodlands. Residents have complained to the Council about a number of issues including, abandoned vehicles, illegal motorbike activities and the present management of the woods. A delegation of Council members and officers met with local residents in March to see first hand the issues being raised. As a result of the meeting it was agreed that action will be taken to enhance this beautiful part of South Gloucestershire.

The Wildspaces! Partnership Project has employed Red Kite Environment to work with local people to try and get the woodlands under active management that will enhance the landscape, habitats and access. There are over 20 different landowners that we need to consult with - finding who they are will be the consultants first job!

Over the summer there will be a number of public consultation exercises to gage local people's opinions on how they currently use the area and how they would like to see it managed in the future. By the end of the summer the consultants will be in a position to submit a grant application to draw in much needed money to help bring the woodlands into active management.

If you own land within the Avon Valley Woodlands, between Conham River Park and Cleeve Woods we would like to hear from you. Please give us a call on 01454 863581.

Consultation days are planned for 29th June 2003 at the Conham River Park and 20th July 2003 at Hanham Mills. To find out more about the consultation exercise please email Sarah Douglas or call her on 01453 822013.

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Forest website gets spruced up.
The Forest is a magical mixture of woodland habits - a green belt of ancient woodlands, new tree plantations, walking routes, historical sites and places of outstanding natural beauty.

Related links: www.forestofavon.org.uk ~ to find out more about local events, clubs, environmental projects and places to visit.

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A model plan for Gorse Covert
The Residents had their say in the future management of Gorse Covert and the open spaces that surround the woodland in Patchway.

A 'Planning for Real®' exercise was organised by the Wildspaces! Partnership Project in partnership with the Neighbourhood foundation and community groups from Patchway to gather people's views and issues relating to the area outlined on the adjacent map.

To help people orientate themselves on the day, pupils from Patchway High School created a large-scale map that included houses, roads, footpaths and areas of open space. It proved to be a popular talking point, with people being able to identify their own properties and showing just how close people lived to the site.

There was plenty to see and do, with activities including mural painting, henna painting, a bouncy castle and exhibitions from local groups, including Patchway Town Council, Patchway Conservation Group, BTCV and Patchway & Bradley Stoke Community Development Project. Local community groups were also approached to take part in the exercise, including Patchway Young Mums and the Youth Club. As a result a large number of issues and suggestions were raised relating to four main areas, namely:

To help formulate an effective action plan these issues had to be prioritised, with people, groups and organisations being put forward to help in the implementation of the ideas. On March 12th people were invited to attend an evening to help sort through the comments. 24 local residents helped officers from South Gloucestershire Council and Patchway Town Council produce an action plan. Key recommendations emerged from the evening that included keeping local people informed and involved, by creating a Friends Group for the site and declaring the site a Local Nature Reserve. A meeting is planned for September to update people on the progress.

Related links: www.nifonline.org.uk ~ learn more about Planning for Real® and the Neighbourhood Initiative Foundation;
www.patchway-town.co.uk ~ Patchway Town Council's official website.

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Friends for life
Over 50 attended the inaugural meeting of the Friends of Wick Golden Valley Local Nature Reserve on 31st March 2003. Chris Sperring MBE gave an inspirational talk about birds of prey in the area and the work of the Hawk and Owl Trust and gave plenty of food for thought on how we manage our countryside.

The Friends group is open to anyone who has an interest in the Golden Valley, a proposed Local Nature Reserve owned by RMC Aggregates Ltd and jointly managed by South Gloucestershire Council. If you would like to join the Friends group please contact John Morris on 01454 863581.

Related links: Group Constitution - Friends of Wick Golden Valley Local Nature Reserve Membership Form - Friends of Wick Golden Valley Local Nature Reserve

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Golden times ahead for a South Gloucestershire Valley
South Gloucestershire Council has been awarded £208,250 by the Countryside Agency through the DEFRA Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund and £40,000 from RMC Environment Fund to enhance the environment of the Wick Rocks area and to secure the long-term future of its Golden Valley Nature Reserve as a public amenity resource. The project will deliver access improvements in and around the reserve including a circular walk and provision for the disabled; implementation of traffic management improvements around the site; habitat, woodland and historical landscape improvements; on-site interpretation and documentation of the site's history; low key public art and educational materials. The latter will include the development of an interactive website which will highlight the sites history and links to current aggregates extraction.

Related Links: www.countryside.gov.uk/alsf ~ Countryside Agency site for the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund; www.defra.gov.uk ~ Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs' website www.qpa.org/home.htm ~ Quarry products association website; www.rmcef.org.uk ~ RMC Environment Fund.

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