Via the Pollinator Project, we are sowing wildflower patches in the local primary schools and around the villages and planting pollinator friendly flowers and shrubs to increase the bee population and other pollinators.
You can also ‘bee’ part of our ‘ our ‘nectar corridors’ by planting bee friendly shrubs, plants and flowers in your garden
In Easter 2024 we gave families at our local schools a packet of wildflower seeds to encourage and improve the bee population. We also handed out a template for a hedgehog shaped hole for fences/walls to encourage people to take part in a hedgehog trail through the villages, both north and south of the main road
We have bought hedgehog houses for the schools and erected bat, swift and house martin boxes around the villages. We have provided bee boxes for the schools and other areas. We are encouraging people to reduce their carbon footprint by surveying homes with a thermal imaging camera to determine where heat is being lost so they can address this. We also loan out a home energy kit to monitor and cut down on energy use.
We are advising people to stop using single use plastics and promoting the Plastic Free Read and Simonstone campaign, getting local allies, businesses and the council involved.
We are highlighting ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and encouraging people to think about the ‘Stuff’ they buy and where it might end up. We cannot keep opening up our green countryside to dump our rubbish into. Neither can we send it abroad for other countries to deal with for us – we are affecting their biodiversity too. We have a Dr Fixit and plans for a local Repair Café which would be a great help in repairing stuff and preventing land fill being used. We have set up a working party and are aiming to get rid of Himalayan balsam plants so that native species of plants can thrive.
We are collecting litter from natural spaces eg. hedgerows, woods and river banks so that it doesn’t interfere with local species and the litter doesn’t end up going down the river to the sea.
We are busy securing grants for some of the above projects.
We encourage people to inform themselves about biodiversity and contact their MP in relation to various campaigns and to take their own action to prevent species loss.