The Trust manages 700 acres of nature reserves including many of Herefordshire’s most important areas for wildlife. They include nationally important woodlands, wetlands, grassland and orchards together with a rich and diverse range of species. Our goal is to raise £25,000 over the next year, helping to secure the immediate future of our 54 nature reserves, enabling positive management and volunteer involvement to continue.
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Managing our nature reserves for their wildlife remains one of the most important aspects of the Trust’s work. To do so we rely upon committed staff, investment through local contractors and positive working relationships with local farmers. We depend upon a dedicated and loyal band of volunteers who undertake practical management on the reserves every week of the year. Thanks to our teams of volunteers, over 7000 man hours of conservation work were carried out on the reserves during 2008. Take a tour of the reserves around Herefordshire and you will find:- * Ancient semi- natural woodlands carpeted with bluebells, ramsons and herb paris where dormice and wood white butterflies can be found * Floodplain grasslands where great burnet, mud snails, skylarks and curlew abide * Rivers and streams with dippers, crayfish and dragonflies * Meadows and pastures with green winged orchids, betony, devil’s bit scabious and waxcap fungi * Old orchards where ‘Catshead’, ‘Lady’s Finger of Hereford’ and ‘King’s Acre Pippin’ trees provide habitat for little owls and mistletoe * Miles of ancient and species rich hedgerows with massive pollarded oak and willow trees The cost of managing land never decreases and in the current economic climate the future of wildlife conservation will rely upon better investment, prudent spending and further funding being generated. Managing and employing the unstinting labour of volunteers does not come free. It requires investments in vehicles, tools and machinery, training, travel and insurance, all of which cost the Trust upwards of £45,000 per year. To continue the positive management of our reserves and the involvement of volunteers from all walks of life, all funding received will enable us to: * Provide chainsaws, brushcutters and motorscythes which allow coppicing, grass cutting bracken and scrub clearing to be carried out * provide training for volunteers – tractor driving, chainsaw use, brushcutter use, first aid, etc * run and maintain the Trust’s tractor used for hay making, path cutting, thistle topping, hedge and log cutting, etc. * cover volunteer travel costs * secure the funds needed to cover minibus and landrover running costs * purchase and maintain hand tools * purchase safety and protective gear