Dear Volunteers and Supporters,
Thank you for all your support throughout 2024. We look forward to seeing you out on site for tree growing and planting, wildlife surveying, plenty of hedgerow and habitat improvement sessions, re-tracing and recording our local heritage, and more!
Firstly, we are delighted and very grateful to have received further funding from F Glenister Woodger Trust to continue our Community Conservation project for another 12 months.
We are also happy to announce that, thanks to a nomination from a local supporter, we have won £5,000 to put towards our conservation work from the Co-Op Members ‘Winners Share It All’ prize draw.
Wittering Area Community Conservation Project Update
By Jane Reeve | Wittering Area Community Conservation Project
The good news is that the F Glenister Woodger Trust have agreed to fund our Community Conservation Project for another 12 months and we have a meeting with them in February to sort out the details. We have put a heavy emphasis on education with Emma Horton becoming our dedicated Education Officer, tree planting, and working with local landowners and parishes to make biodiversity gains. This means that we can continue with, and encourage, volunteer engagement for all of its health and wellness benefits as well as the local environmental improvement aspect.
Up to Christmas we have been busy creating a new hedge in West Wittering across a very open field. In three sessions, in slippery and windy conditions, we planted approximately 155 metres of new hedge made up of 845 trees. We are going to continue here over the next couple of months as we want to plant the whole 600+ metres if we can. We also have adjacent new hedges we can plant in the same field so lots to do. It is very rewarding to get these trees in the ground and to then see the young hedge in the field when driving past. Hopefully this will be here now for decades / centuries and a legacy left by the volunteers and the MWHG.
We have had some help from other organisations too who let their staff have a community day out and so they volunteered with us. This has included teams from the EA, Target a company in Selsey, WSP, a civil engineering company, who have come out with us before, and a team from Waterhaven Place, a care home in Shopwhyke. This has been enriching for everyone as it is great to meet new people and show them what we are doing and to explain why. Some even return on other days when they can as they enjoyed the work, company and cake!
Thank you to everyone who has been out and helped us despite the challenging weather and hard ground. Also, to the people that help behind the scenes and, of course, The F Glenister Woodger Trust who kindly support our work.
West Wittering Tree Nursery
By Alex Ainge | West Wittering Tree Nursery Project
I have put compost from our bin and woodchip onto the 3 beds, but we have no home-collected seeds to pot up. If you have any spare native tree seeds to donate, please contact us. We will happily also take native tree seedlings that have popped up in lawns or other inappropriate places.
We are looking for local, enthusiastic people who want to help grow trees from seed, which will be planted up across the Peninsula to create valuable hedgerow habitats for wildlife.
Maybe you are a student working on an environment-focused project or someone who wants to get involved in a rewarding hobby. We provide the tools and the growing area. Please contact us if you'd like to get involved!
Hedging Our Future Project
By Jane Reeve | Hedging Our Future Project
We have had an amazing start to our hedge creation project in South Mundham and have just flown along the field/footpath boundary, over 8 sessions, planting 430 metres of new hedge, made up of 1891 trees. We are now onto the other side of the footpath and managed 10 metres just before Christmas on very stony ground. Thank you to all the volunteers for getting muddy with me.
The various storms have been challenging and the poor trees and their guards have been blown about but luckily, we haven’t lost any. They just needed a bit of re-adjustment and help standing back up again!
We have also been digging out the trees from our nurseries in Selsey and West Wittering, so that they now only contain baby trees ready to grown on for next year’s planting season. The trees in Selsey had really taken to this site and it took a lot of effort to get them out. If left any longer we would have had an unplanned woodland there so thank you to everyone that helped with the extraction there! We had a drive for donations in December as, while we can grow trees, we cannot grow canes and guards, so these were needed for our home-grown trees. We had a quick and generous response which meant we could finish our planned planting up until the end of 2024. Thank you to everyone who helped us. It is very rewarding getting the trees that we have grown ourselves, as well as trees donated to us and grown on, into the ground into their final growing place.
We are going to be continuing our planting at this site for the next couple of months and with funds from the Tree Council’s Branching Out Grant we have managed to get 1250 more trees, plus guards and stakes. We have also had another delivery of free trees from the Trust for Conservation Volunteers (TCV) which Paul Sadler from the Hidden Garden in Selsey helped me access. These trees are all invaluable to help us reach our goals. Big thanks to them.
Please do come out and help us if you can with this valuable work creating wildlife corridors and conservation landscape features. We have fun and one tree planted in the ground helps. Sign up to hear about our volunteering opportunities, which are regularly emailed to our Volunteer News subscribers.
2024 Wildlife Survey Results Recap
By Nikki Timney | Find Wildlife From Home Survey
Watch our 2024 FWFH Survey Results Recap
Thank you to our volunteers and supporters for submitting 28 records throughout November and December, totalling 67 individuals. Our Find Wildlife From Home Survey has now received 1,656 records! All the records sent in for this surveying period were of bird sightings, which is a common occurrence for the time of year. A selection of our recent survey results are available, below.
In January 2024, the RSPB annual Birdwatch survey reported that the top 3 sighted birds were House Sparrows (1,442,300), Blue Tits (1,094,401) and Starlings (879,006). Which bird species will you spot this January?
Survey Results for November and December 2024
15 Woodpigeons | 11 Blackbirds | 1 Goldfinch |
5 Dunnocks | 1 Robin | 32 Starlings |
Tell us about the wildlife you've seen in your garden, neighbourhood and surrounding local area and we will also submit your records to the National Biological Records Centre on your behalf.
To take part in our wildlife survey, click on the button below.
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