Our project to restore a mosaic of habitats at Bartonsham Meadows in Hereford continued this year, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.  

Alongside our practical work we’ve had a fantastic year of activities too, including regular family events, a community bioblitz, 18 school field trips (engaging almost 500 children), sessions with Close House Youth Centre, a youth rangers club for Hereford 6^th Form students and volunteer work parties, bringing people together and onto the meadows.  

The summer term was especially busy with 11 school groups visiting the meadows, from reception to Year 10s, doing a range of activities from bug hunting, map reading, life cycles, food chains and river systems.  We also built a team of learning volunteers to assist with the sessions’ delivery, which really helped ensure the children had a rich experience. We will use the excellent feedback to further develop our learning offer and support more schools to visit us next school year.  

Bartonsham’s Artist in Residence also organised several events including a Midsummer Gathering on 21st June which featured a ring of five flags which were dyed using plants and materials from the Meadows and a meal celebrating food and produce related to floodplain meadows. 

This year we have played more than ever before and reached over 1200 children. Some highlights included: 

Playing in Belmont, Hereford where we delivered six sessions. In total 103 children came out and played, and 51 family members joined in too with activities from bug hunting and nature trails to fire cooking and water play. 

Playing in Kington where we ran play sessions in the community as well as nature discovery sessions at Kington Primary School and created a scavenger trail in Kington nature trail at nearby Birches Farm Nature Reserve. 

We also launched a new programme, WildPlay Thinks Differently, dedicated to children and young people (ages 8 to 14) with special educational needs, with a focus on autism and ADHD. We ran weekly after school sessions at Queenswood Country Park. The sessions prioritised making new friends and socialising with others, having fun in nature, learning new skills and trying new things, and building confidence. This was achieved through self-directed activities in a natural and safe setting. 

The children thrived in small regular groups where they knew the Ranger and the other children. This help to alleviate the anxiety prior to arrival and they all asked for the club to continue. 

The children said: “It’s so much fun and can’t wait to come every week.”  “I enjoy making fires and food. The teachers are kind and make the experience fun.” “I like building dens, climbing trees and making a rope swing.” “[I enjoy] ... making new friends.” 

Their parents said: “Nature club has been really enjoyable for my child. Being a small group has helped him a lot as he struggles with other children. The Rangers have been really encouraging and understanding of his needs.” “My child also usually struggles to stick with things... This hasn't happened with this club. He gets excited every week when he realises it's Tuesday and woods day.” 

We piloted new schemes for young people aged 14 to 25 to try including Green Young Minds, wellbeing activity sessions at Queenswood and a Youth Forum to discuss key issues and areas for action. Most enthusiasm, however, was for opportunities to get involved with practical conservation so, in November, we launched a new Youth Rangers group which is open to anyone aged 14 to 25 and runs once a month at Queenswood Country park and Bartonsham Meadows alternately. 

In collaboration with the Howard Bulmer Trust, we created the Howard Bulmer Young Nature Champion Awards. Entrants needed to submit a plan to engage people with a particular green space and the nature found within it, whether at their school or college, a local nature reserve, a community space or private land with public access. 

The winners in the 16-18 category were Iska Metz and Tatiana Hale, students at Fairfield High School. Their bold plan was to transform a disused overgrown area of the school grounds into a space for education and conservation, engaging students and the local community. While Iska and Tatiana were unable to realise the project themselves, we are continuing to work with the Fairfield School Eco group to make the original vision a reality. 

The winner in the 18-25 category was Charles Gundy, a teacher living and working in Hereford, with his project, “Weaving Nature: Reviving the River Wye through Art, Awareness and Wellbeing.” This project with the aimed to fostering a deeper connection between the community of Hereford city and the River Wye, emphasizing biodiversity, mental wellbeing and river health. Charles delivered a fantastic event at Bartonsham Meadows in the summer which included participatory arts, crafts and conservation. 

We have again collaborated with Hereford College of Art this year too. We teamed up with the students, who walked the Yazor Brook from Yazor Road to the Heineken factory taking inspiration from the landscape, both human and natural. They produced some creative and thoughtful pieces, which you can see by scanning the QR codes installed along the path or following their Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/hca_wildlifetrust/ 

Ensuring that everyone can enjoy all that Queenswood has to offer, this year we have introduced new ways for people with limited mobility to explore the country park and arboretum. These include two electric mobility scooters (“Trampers”), a swing for wheelchair users, automatic doors on the café and visitor centre and a “map for all” that can be read by sight and touch thanks to its braille lettering.  

On Saturday 6th September, over 200 people took part in events and activities across Herefordshire and the Wye Valley as part of Rivers, Roots and Resilience - A Day of Climate Action. Led by the Wye Adapt to Climate Change project team at Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and the Wye Valley National Landscape, the day aimed to celebrate the wildlife and habitats of the Wye Valley landscape area, highlight some of the issues and challenges being faced, and provide ideas and opportunities for people to get involved and take action themselves. 

Many thanks to all the groups who ran events and to everyone who came and participated in the day. 

We ran a full programme of Discovery Days, plus Discovery Walks, for members to learn more about our work first hand and a chance for members to meet some of the staff – and other members! Our Discovery Days include an introduction and discussion with our CEO, a presentation on a particular project or nature reserve and walk around a related site. This year, our summer Discovery Day was at Birches Farm and our Autumn Discovery Day was at Bodenham. 

We have aimed to provide more support for and collaboration with our volunteers this year with a number of new initiatives. We now send out a weekly newsletter listing upcoming work parties, training opportunities, events and other useful information. We run a Volunteer Voice forum four times a year where volunteers from across the organisation can share ideas and raise questions or concerns. We have extended the invitation to our Discovery Days to volunteers and revitalised our social events calendar! 

Our six branches have gone from strength to strength this year. 

The Hereford City Branch has continued to run regular volunteer days to clear and conserve the Yazor Brooks as well as taking on some of the management of the Ledbury Road Rose Gardens, through which the brook flows. They also conduct Riverfly Surveys to monitor the brooks’ water quality. This work makes a key contribution to recovering nature in the city as the brooks are important wildlife corridors benefitting a wide range of species. A new WhatsApp group now has many contributors recording their many and various wildlife sightings. 

The Ross-on-Wye branch has continued to run a brilliant programme of wildlife gardening workshops, talks and other events. They have also continued their work with schools, running competitions and delivering assemblies.  

The Kington Branch have continued their excellent talks programmes as well as running summer field trips including a bug hunt at Mowley Valley. 

The Weobley branch ran a programme of exciting field trips and talks. Our regular activities include moth trapping down in the Weobley Wildlife Meadows where we regularly identify around 25 different species. Their members also participate in winter bird surveys and make and install bird boxes and take part in river water monitoring and are soon to begin light pollution monitoring. They create activities for the local cub scout groups, such as pond dipping and building bird boxes, and work with churches to manage their wildlife spaces. 

The Marden branch continued their packed programme of talks and events, though sadly now without the support of founder member Mary Mackay who sadly passed away this year. They also ran a wonderful morning of moth identification (with breakfast!) as part of Rivers, Roots and Resilience. 

Our newest branch, Leominster, are getting busy with new projects in the town including creating species-rich grassland areas at the cemetery. 

At Bartonsham Meadows we will continue to deliver a broad range of activities in collaboration with local communities and schools, enabling more people to get involved and help nature thrive in the city.  

We will continue to deliver WildPlay activities across Herefordshire but with a particular focus next year on reaching communities in Leominster and in Hereford City. 

For young people, we will continue our Youth Rangers group as well as offer a new opportunities for regular volunteering and work experience. 

We will develop and begin new projects which support and empower people to restore our rivers and streams. These include: 

• a project working with communities in North Herefordshire, providing training, skills and support for them to improve freshwater habitats in their local areas.
• a project in Hereford City to restore more of the city’s brooks and streams, create wildlife corridors along these waterways, and engage communities from across the city in celebrating and protecting these hidden treasures.