Beds xmas appeal 2015

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<<Name>> <<Address 1>> <<Address 2>> <<Address 3>> <<Town>> <<County>> <<Postcode>>

HELP PROTECT AND RESTORE

GRASSLAND FOR WILDLIFE

<<Date>>

Dear <<Salutaion>>

www.wildlifebcn.org/grasslandsappeal

Pegsdon Hills is one of the jewels of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and offers some of the best views in Bedfordshire. Its chalk hills and quiet valleys are home to a wide range of wildlife, from orchids and butterflies to circling buzzards.

Chalk grasslands such as Pegsdon provide some of our best wildflower grasslands and, support a wide range of plants restricted to lime-rich soils including grasses and herbs such as common rock-rose, wild thyme and horseshoe vetch. These grasslands can support a diverse invertebrate fauna, including rare butterflies such as dingy and grizzled skipper, and the associated scrub can provide food and shelter for many bird and mammal species such as wheatear and ring ouzel that often stop off on their journey north to breed.

Across Bedfordshire, chalk grassland covers just 303 hectares. And of what remains, over 50 per cent is in poor condition. In the absence of effective habitat management, scrub can expand to obliterate grassland, which in time will develop into woodland often dominated by ash.

The Trust manages Pegsdon’s delicate balance of grassland and scrub through conservation grazing. We use rare breed sheep and cattle which help us to manage particular sites in the most effective and natural way possible. And unlike commercial breeds, our livestock find thistles, brambles and woody plants delicious.

If scrub is not effectively cleared through grazing or other conservation techniques, the herb rich grassland beloved by butterflies is lost. With fewer butterflies, this in turn impacts on the number of bird and mammal species, including some of the rarer species who depend on grasslands to survive.

Therefore, increasing the level of conservation grazing is vital which is why I write to you today to ask for your help. We need to raise £7,534 to ensure we can continue to safeguard Pegsdon’s rare and precious habitat – especially over the winter months.

A gift of £25 could keep our rare breed sheep and cattle safe At present, the site’s grazing infrastructure, particularly the fencing, is over 20 years old and has become unfit for purpose. This makes is difficult to move livestock around the site to ensure they are grazing where they are needed most. continued over...

I want to keep grassland special for wildlife <<Name>> <<Address 1>> <<Address 2>> <<Address 3>> <<Town>> <<County>> <<Postcode>> <<PV Key>> <<Source Code>>

Thank you for your support Beds Xmas appeal 2015.indd 1

I would like to give a gift of:

£25

£38

£50

£75

Other

I enclose a cheque or CAF voucher payable to The Wildlife Trust BCN Or, Please debit my credit card/debit card/or CAF card (please delete as appropriate): Card number Start date

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Expiry date

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Signature of card holder

Issue no (if applicable) Date

Your support will fund vital work across the three counties. Your donation may be used to make a Contributing Third Party (CTP) payment to a landfill operator to secure a grant through the Landfill Communities Fund.

Help local wildlife even more I am a UK taxpayer and I would like all donations made to the Wildlife Trust in the last four years and in future to be treated as Gift Aid donations. I confirm I have paid or will pay an amount of Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax for each tax year that is at least equal to the amount of tax that all the charities or Community Amateur Sports Clubs that I donate to will reclaim on my gifts for that tax year (other taxes such as VAT and Council Tax do not qualify). I understand the Wildlife Trust will reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 that I give and this may be used for any of the Trust’s work.

Name of tax payer

Date

Please tick if you would like an acknowledgement of your donation.

04/11/2015 09:09

Your support could help make chalk grassland management more efficient by installing over 650 metres of new fencing, separating areas across Pegsdon Hills into manageable grazing sites and helping to care for our livestock across the colder months. We need to install a cattle pen to help us care for and monitor our livestock and provide a clean and constant water supply across the site. Without grazing, these precious grasslands are under threat from invasive species and coarser vegetation.

Earlier in the year grazing was supplemented by staff and volunteers also manually tackling invasive species such as sycamore, ragwort and thistles. And monitoring has shown that rare species such as frog orchid and meadow saxifrage are now thriving within parts of the grasslands.

With your support we hope to see even more species return. These include sky lark; grey partridge; yellowhammer; and small heath butterflies; wild candytuft and eyebright. Turtle dove, lapwing and pasqueflower have not been recorded here in the last year or two, but with improved management they could return.

We have so much to rejoice in the beauty of Pegsdon Hills and it is a wonderful spot to work off some of the excesses of the festive season! Your support this Christmas can ensure Pegsdon Hills remains a landscape that can be enjoyed by both wildlife and people for generations to come.

With best wishes for 2016,

Brian Eversham, Chief Executive Ps: Your donation will be used to carry out vital work at Pegsdon. In the event that we receive more than £7,534, your gift will support work across our other reserves in Bedfordshire

Meet Pegsdon’s ‘Living Lawnmowers’ Red Poll cattle use their tongues to wrap around and pull up tufts of vegetation, leaving uneven sward lengths and producing a tussocky field.

They will eat longer, coarser grasses and push their way through scrub and bracken to create open spaces

Hebridean and Manx Loaghtan sheep prefer to nibble shorter grasses. Many traditional and hill breeds have a strong browsing requirement to their diet, so are good for scrub control. Their small size means they can access areas that machinery can’t.

This combination of cattle and sheep, can provide the maximum structural diversity to the vegetation Images Red poll cattle by Nancy Reed. Hebridean sheep by Tom Marshall The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, The Manor House, Broad Street, Great Cambourne, Cambridge CB23 6DH. Registered in England 2534145. Reg charity no 1000412

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Protect and restore grassland for wildlife – Donate today!

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n Post your donation using the form overleaf in the Freepost envelope provided

HELP PROTECT AND RESTORE

n Call us on 01954 713543 to make a donation by card

GRASSLAND FOR WILDLIFE www.wildlifebcn.org/grasslandsappeal

n Visit

www.wildlifebcn.org/grasslandsappeal

Beds Xmas appeal 2015.indd 2

04/11/2015 09:09