Much of our work is project based, working with individuals, community groups and partner organisations to protect Herefordshire's wildlife. Below are the main projects the Trust is working on at the moment or has recently been involved in. Contact the relevant project officer or follow the links for more information.

Community Commons

Community Commons was a five year project run by the Trust that aimed to work with local landowners, commoners and stakeholders to increase their awareness of wildlife on commons and their involvement in its conservation.

A generous grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund underpinned the project, with additional funding obtained from the Trust, English Nature and Herefordshire Council.

» Click here to find out more.

Landscapes for living

This name is an umbrella term used for conservation projects that will work towards helping wildlife adapt to climate change. Projects will be based at the landscape scale and will look to link priority habitats and to increase the size of each block of habitat. The Trust’s Woolhope Dome Project is such a project, where we leave the security of our nature reserves and venture out into the wider countryside working with land owners and managers.

Now, try to imagine taking that holistic approach and applying it to the whole of the West Midlands! This is the vision that the West Midlands Wildlife Trusts and Biodiversity Partnership are developing through a new, innovative project called Landscapes for Living (LfL). The project will produce both a vision document and an opportunities map, which will guide our work in conservation for the next 50 years.

» Click here to find out more.

Learning Environments in Marine Urban Rural areas (LEMUR)

The Nature Trust, alongside project partners Ambios Ltd (Devon) and Sheffield Wildlife Trust, was one of ten exclusive national heritage partnership projects in the country to be awarded funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund to run a heritage work based training scheme.

This project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

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Herefordshire Parklands Project

This three year project will be the first in the UK to look at the whole of a county’s parklands and attempt to survey it in order to assess its condition and to start its active conservation.

This project is funded partly by the Heritage Lottery Fund and partly by the European Union (EAFRD) and Defra through the VITAL Herefordshire LEADER programme.

» Click here to find out more.

Play Rangers

This is a new project, but will continue the work of WildPlay – offering open access and outreach environmental play. Consultation was carried out across the county and it was found that children wanted more outdoor play, facilitated by adults – so that they felt safe. They wanted to play by rivers and woods; the project will aim to address this.

The project is in partnership with Herefordshire Councils Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP) and funded by the BIG Lottery.

» Click here to find out more.

Pond Restoration and Celebration Project

This project started in March 2007 and restored five ponds and, through a series of five pond celebration days, encouraged and enthused landowners to create or restore their own ponds. Local communities were involved in all stages of the project. We also raised the profile and importance of ponds, generated a wider interest in them and a better appreciation of their biodiversity.

This project was jointly run by HART and Herefordshire Nature Trust.

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Ross Wild Connections

This project created wildlife areas in and around Ross-on-Wye and linked them with a circular walk. There are five sites that local volunteers worked on with the Trust to improve. These included ponds, wooded paths and green space. Native flower and tree planting, woodland coppicing, litter clearance, bird and bat boxes all helped improve the wildlife value of the town. Leaflets and interpretation boards and a schools’ pack to help local children learn about the wildlife along the route, were produced. Its hoped that the walk will help to attract more visitors to the town and encourage more local people to walk rather than use their cars.

The project was funded by Biffa Awards and the Wye Valley AONB.

» Click here to find out more.

WATCH

Wildlife WATCH is the junior branch of the Wildlife Trusts and is an exciting way to explore your surroundings and get close to the wildlife you share it with. There are several groups based at different locations around the county.

» Click here to find out more.

Wetland Vision

Natural England, the Environment Agency and the RSPB have been working together with the Wildlife Trust to develop a 50-year vision to renew wetland environments. As creation is a given aim the first issue is to outline of the scale of wetland creation we are aiming for in Herefordshire. The question is where are the most suitable places in Herefordshire for different wetland types, and what are the conditions needed to sustain wetland wildlife?

The Trust is in a prime position to co-ordinate partnership work to develop one or more wetland sites in Herefordshire. Key partners have been identified and initial consultation has began. Potential sites need to be investigated to ensure that ecological, geological and hydrological are suitable for creation or extension of wetland habitat.

The initial stages of the project will require mapping of suitable sites and then at a later date working with the UK Wetland Visions Geographical Information System (GIS) toolkit to support our understanding of where and how we can make wetland creation most effective.

What's That Snake?

Snakes can cause either complete fascination or total fear and loathing, even amongst ‘wildlife lovers’. People have a genuine problem correctly identifying, understanding and appreciating snakes. Even slow-worms, a legless lizard, prove difficult to identify and are regularly mistaken for adders. The public now have the opportunity to learn about and observe Herefordshire’s reptiles with this exciting wildlife initiative; “What’s that Snake?”.

What's That Snake? project was a partnership between Herefordshire Amphibian and Reptile Team (HART) and Herefordshire Nature Trust.

» Click here to find out more.

WildPlay

The Wildplay project is for four to fourteen year olds in Herefordshire. New WildPlay groups are been formed to encourage children to play constructively out of doors. Activities can include drama and music, creative play, wild food and cookery, sensory exploration and more traditional environmental education activities.

WildPlay will work with existing groups e.g. Play schemes, After school clubs, Holiday clubs, Pre-schools, Brownies, Guides, Scouts in fact any group where children between the ages of 4 and 14 already meet. If you are interested in improving the outdoor play and environmental provision of your group you can register as a WildPlay group and have access to training, support, resources and information.

The WildPlay project is funded by 'Better Play', a partnership between Barnado's and the Children's Play Council with lottery 'good causes' funding from the New Opportunities Fund.

» Click here to find out more.

Woolhope Dome

The Woolhope Dome is a special landscape and a great place for wildlife. Its mixture of woods, hedges, meadows and orchards support a wealth of important wildlife. This project has been set up to help it stays that way for the future.

This is an ongoing partnership project with local people, English Nature, the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Forestry Commission.

The last project phase was part-financed by the European Union (EAGGF) and DEFRA through the Herefordshire Rivers LEADER+ Programme.

» Click here to find out more.