The Archers Green Appeal in Hertfordshire needs our help!

The Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust are trying to raise £500,000 to buy land which has vulnerable habitats.  The 20 acre site is near Welwyn Garden City and it has wildlife such as the water vole, harebell and skylark.  Water voles are the UK’s fastest declining mammals.

The funds are needed to pay back a philanthropic loan which was used to take the site off the market.  At the time, the Trust had to act very fast to save the site and stop it falling into “unsympathetic” hands.

It is vital to protect more land for wildlife and Archers Green flanks a river which is one of only 240 chalk streams in the world – the River Mimram.  The Trust says rivers like this are the UK’s equivalent to tropical rainforest.  It also has grasslands, critical habitat for wildlife. So action had to be taken really fast.

If the funds aren’t raised, it maybe that the site has to go back on the open market.

Find out more about the Appeal; please donate if you can!

You can donate to this appeal with the 
Big Give Christmas Challenge 
which runs from 29 November to midday 6 December 2022
when donations are doubled
One donation, twice the impact!
Donate here

The other key thing about Archers Green is that it sits between the Tewinbury Nature Reserve and Panshager Park.   Wildlife need connected landscapes because these areas enable them to move around and to breed.  So if the funds can be raised, it means that the Trust can ensure the safety of the land for wildlife.

The Trust points out that the areas has already lost crucial wildlife homes and corridors.  76 species went with that loss, leaving 1,446 under the threat of extinction.

What will the funds be used for?

• To pay back the philanthropic loans – this will mean that the site can be taken off the market.
• To cover initial establishment costs such as fencing installation, tree safety, ash die back mitigation, monitoring activities and livestock grazing.  And to cover the management of the site on a daily basis for up to 20 years.

If the funds can’t be raised, it may be that the remaining costs can be met from the financial reserves but this would mean taking key funds away from other nature reserves which also need managing and improving.

We need to save land for wildlife.
Wildlife need us to help them.

As I write, the Trust says they are 26% of the way there and they only have 85 days left to raise the funds (that's on 7 November 2022 at 11:10am).  Please support it if you can.  Every single bit helps.

Visit the Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust's website

View the Trust's You Tube videos