A project inspired by our recent talk - artist Will Nash unveils his new design.
The plight of swifts
A swift tower for Shalford
Last summer, we gave a talk about the plight of swifts at a village meeting in Shalford. The talk was well received and inspired a project to build a new swift tower for the village.
A new swift tower
A swift tower is a free-standing structure, with lots of boxes for swifts to build their nests in. It’s an ideal place to return to every year.
Artist Will Nash was appointed to design the new swift tower. His design was unveiled at a presentation at Shalford Village Hall on 28 March.
The AGM took place on 14 March 2019 at the Sandhurst Community Hall.
Chairman’s report
Save our hedgehogs
On 14 March, we held our 13th AGM – my first as Chair – to a packed room in Sandhurst Town Council offices. We were pleased to be joined by many of our members, the Mayor of Sandhurst Town Council, Councillor Andy Blatchford and the Mayoress, various councillors, and Councillor Paul Bettison OBE, Executive Member of Bracknell Forest Council. Several of our associate members kindly put on interesting displays of their work.
We were able to report on another successful year for the Trust, with changes in the Trust management team and structure, several projects completed and grants awarded, and a packed and varied schedule of events during the year.
Projects included providing advice and grants to schools, the development of our ongoing woodland flowers projects, lots of activity on our Saving Our Swifts project, some good work arising out of our joint initiative with the Camberley Society called “Natural Surrey Heath” through which we distributed nest boxes and the Lost Words book to 90 Schools and held a live event with Michael Gove about the 25 Year Plan for the Environment.
Our events programme included 10 circular walks, the successful Big Valley Ramble round Yateley called ‘Beating the Bounds’, our ‘Walk off the Christmas Pudding’ walk and 5 events at the Sandhurst Chelsea Fringe. We also raised awareness at local fairs and fetes, staged several specialist walks, and participated in local planning applications and submissions.
We also looked forward to another busy year this year, and an interesting series of events planned, including our Big Valley Ramble on 28th April. We were excited to announce that for the first time, we shall hold a series of varied events called Blackwater River Week, to celebrate the past and present work undertaken in the Valley, primarily centred around the River Blackwater. The events will take place during 21-29th September to coincide with Loddon Rivers Week.
As well as continuing to build a new website, we have a new logo, and several projects are being planned. Our focus would be on greater use of social media to improve our profile, working with the business sector for fund-raising and attracting more team members to help with our work.
During the refreshment break, there was much lively discussion as old friends met again, and new friendships were made.
After the break, Anne Brummer gave a fascinating talk on the work of Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue, in particular the Amazing Grace campaign to save our hedgehogs.
I would like to thank all those who helped make our AGM successful, in particular our Trustees and management team, our friends and constant supporters at the Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership, our exhibitors, Sandhurst Town Council for providing the venue and for their ongoing support and Anne Brummer for her great talk.
Last, but by no means least, I would like to thank new associate member, Kebur Garden Materials, for their kind sponsorship of the AGM and for providing a discount to our household and associated members on their extensive range of garden products.
We’re supporting Surrey Heath Tree Wardens to improve this ancient woodland.
Removing unwanted vegetation
Restoring Warren Woods
Invasive laurel and overgrown holly have been removed in order to open up the ground, let more light in and allow a more natural understory to be planted or grow naturally.
This is already showing big benefits. The woodland is changing with interesting new growth emerging. In one or two corners, we have native bluebells and daffodils, although there are still a lot of garden plants to remove including large clumps of Spanish Bluebell.
Homes for birds
At the end of January, we donated 12 bird boxes to Surrey Heath Tree Wardens. Colin Wilson, Vice-Chair of the Trust handed the boxes to Jerry Brownlee, Vice-Chair of the Tree Wardens, assisted by John Mackey who made these superb boxes for us.
They were installed in February, just in time for the nesting season. This will create more habitat for the small birds that haven't been able to find a suitable home due to the removal of the invasive laurel and overgrown holly.
Looking ahead
Warren Wood is beginning to look cared for once more, although it will be some time before it is back to truly demonstrating what an ancient woodland looks like.
On 7 November at St John’s, Lower Hale, we took another big step in providing swift homes.
Boxes in the belfry
A steep climb....
In this beautiful church we clambered up high in the bell tower where John skilfully constructed the parts of the swift and bat homes right next to the bell.
But don’t worry, swifts don’t mind the occasional noise!
We're very grateful
Thanks to St Johns for their help and encouragement and especially to John Mackey for his skills and time.
We donated 90 copies of 'The Lost Words' to local schools
Donating The Lost Words
Disappearing words
All over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. Kingfisher, dandelion, otter, bramble, acorn and many other words have been removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, distancing our children from nature.
The Lost Words book
This beautiful book highlights the loss of these simple words and is a joyful celebration of nature words and the natural world they invoke.
Thanks to a generous grant from SC Johnson, we sourced enough books for almost all infant and primary schools in Surrey Heath and two adjoining District Council areas, Rushmoor and Hart.
Our volunteers spent a busy weekend packing them up.
We also included a full lesson plan to guide teachers on how to use this book as part of the curriculum.
Finally, we distributed them free of charge.
We’re very proud of the fact that we were one of the first organisations to run a project of this kind – it’s since been copied by many others.
A new tower provides homes for swift families when they return from Africa.
Enticing swifts to Tice's Meadow
A community effort
Plans for the swift tower were provided by Action for Swifts, and the planning application kindly paid for by landowner Hanson.
The tower was built by volunteers from the Tice’s Meadow Bird Group, with funding from the National Lottery’s Big Lottery Fund.
The nest box was mounted on a utility pole donated and erected by Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) as part of the company’s ‘Be the Difference’ scheme which allows their staff to take time away from their day jobs to help local charities and communities.
We're very grateful
Colin Wilson, our vice chair said: “The Aldershot area is an undoubted hotspot for swifts and the support of the Tice’s Meadow Bird Group has been colossal in promoting and actively supporting the aims of the project. The beautiful location, close to existing populations of swifts and with such excellent feeding territory on the doorstep, fills us with hope and enthusiasm for this venture. This is a great demonstration of community teamwork at Tice’s Meadow and we are very grateful.”
Our first step in helping nature was to give away 50 free nest box kits to Surrey Heath residents to celebrate National Nestbox week. The boxes will be strong enough to last for many years.
Owning a nest box
Getting a nest box allows you to see nest building, egg laying, incubating, feeding young and fledging in your own garden – a wonderful way to get close to nature.
Installing a nest box
If you didn’t manage to get a free nest box from us, they are widely available. As long as you get one in place by mid-March, you could soon have birds nesting in your garden.
