Wilder Towns Wilder Villages

Wilder Towns,

Wilder Villages

We need to see wildlife spilling out from the boundaries of our nature reserves and expanding across our landscape, which Essex Wildlife Trust cannot do alone. This summer, we launched our Wilder Towns, Wilder Villages project, to recruit parish and town councils across the county to take action for wildlife in their parks, gardens, allotments, green spaces, open spaces and urban sites.

After signing up to be part of the programme, the Trust works with councils to share expertise and offer bespoke guidance, site visits are held with Trust experts and staff have been attending parish council meetings. Next year, a programme of webinars and workshops will be available to support councils to take measurable steps to create, protect and enhance habitats for wildlife.

We now have 15 parish or town councils who are working towards our vision of a Wilder Essex, and we’re looking forward to working with more in the new year.

Saffron Walden Black Notley Wickham Bishops

Operations Manager Terry Frostick is leading his council on a mission to wild up road verges and green spaces. Initial actions are taking place in Lime Avenue recreational grounds, where grassland management cycles, natural regeneration and hedge planting are being used to increase the quantity of habitats available. Councillor Sandra Douglas and Clerk to the Council Helen Waterfield are setting in motion a vision of a wilder Black Notley. With Essex Ecology, the Trust’s ecological consultancy, the council are looking to improve habitat quality and availability across two sites, Millennium Green and Cokers Peace. Councillor Jane Williams and Clerk to the Council Lorraine Bailey are working alongside the Wickham Bishops Biodiversity project to make the village wilder. In collaboration with John, an Urban Wildlife Champion, multiple projects are already underway such as the creation of a native wildflower meadow on Rainbow Fields in partnership with the Sports Association.

Broomfield kelvedon

Clerk to the Council, Mark Hembury, and Councillor Angie Faulds are hoping to work across Broomfield from woodland management to natural regeneration and grassland habitat creation. Initial action will take place along Church Green and Parsonage Green.

thaxted

Councillor Alison Howells, alongside other members of the council and Wild Thaxted have an ambition of increasing the floral diversity on Mosscotts Meadow and across two other trial sites. Action has already been taken to widen and manage a new hedgerow.

hatfield peverel

Councillor Sue Green and Councillor India Jayatillake are working together to increase the variety of native floral species in Brockwell Meadows nature reserve, on the boundaries of the Blackwater river. Councillor Diane Wallace and Ted Munt are working alongside our Urban Wildlife Champion, Donna, to enhance Stonepath Community Open Space. Various strategies such as hedge planting and grassland management are now being used to wild the area.

Do you want your council to lead changes like these in your town or village? Scan the QR code below to find out how you can make this happen:

Wilder Towns Wilder Villages