SUCCESS (April 2023): Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Appeal

 

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Urgent Appeal - A SUCCESS!

April 2023:  Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and its supporters (including the John Swire 1989 Charitable Trust ) have secured a huge piece of land for rewilding! Old Whittington is about to become Wild Whittington!  Well done everyone! 

Find out more here

 

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is enlisting various methods to #DefendNature and one of the ways they want to do this is to buy Wild Whittington, 60 acres of worn out farmland, and rewild it.  Turning over land NOW into rewilding projects is one of the best ways to protect nature, it says.  It is looking to purchase and rewild land across the county and more details of future purchases will be coming soon.

To make this happen, The Trust has launched an urgent appeal to support this land purchase and rewilding fund and it needs all our help.  Every bit  people donate will help. Please donate now
 

 
Meantime, these beaver kits are at the Willington Wetlands 
in Derbyshire.  See more videos from the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust here

Please help #defendnature at Wild Whittington

The Wild Whittington site sits to the north of the town, at Old Whittington.  It stretches between the St Bartholomew woods to the south and the Grasscroft ancient woodlands to the north.  And the 60 acres have been intensively farmed.  Using rewilding, The Trust plans to create a varied woodland habitat at Wild Whittington.  There will be areas of woodland and wetlands and also a small open areas of grassland.   This means that there will be more space for nature and importantly, habitat connectivity will be improved as a vital habitat corridor in the region is strengthened.  The site will help support birds and bats, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs and other mammals.  

Please support the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with a donation to help them do this.    Every single bit helps!

 

Successful appeal

The pressure was on!  Derbyshire Wildlife Trust had the opportunity to extend an existing nature reserve called the Rose End Meadow.  And there's great news (19 November 2021)

Supporters help raise £126,000 in 8 weeks to secure land for wildlife!

The purchase will allow the reserve to connect straight into the wider landscape – and if the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust own it, then the purchase could provide a stepping stone to link a number of sites together.  The reserve consists of 16 small fields.  None have ever been treated with herbicide or artificial fertiliser, and each meadow is different, thanks to their varying soil quality and depth.   They make a vivid picture of yellow, white and blue in spring and early summer, adorned with buttercups, cowslips, cow parsley, wood anemone and bugle.  Bluebells make for a pretty picture in the north east, in woodland and larger meadows.  Midsummer sees orchids, and you’ll also find knapweed, betony and the great burnet.  These flowers attract many insects. Birds include greenfinch, goldfinch, nuthatch and chaffinch – and in winter, the hawfinch.   Sandwort and alpine penny cress are wildflowers of national importance.   The dewponds – originally used by cattle – are now fenced.  Great crested newts take refuge in them.

 

Help the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust achieve their conservation goals

The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has a goal:  to make sure that 33%+ of Derbyshire is good for wildlife by 2030.  They aim to do this by reconnecting and restoring land.

This will help wildlife and it will give people better access through walks and footpaths.

The land is protected already as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.   Its diverse limestone grassland species mean it has great value for wildlife.   There are restrictions on the activities and developments that can take place.

In this case, wildflowers (the devil’s bit scabious and autumn gentian) and butterflies (the wall brown and dingy skipper) and birds (the skylark and linnet for instance) will really benefit.

Please be a part of their journey to achieve this purchase and their 33% goal, and donate here.