If you’re someone who owns or manages grassland in the Bath area then Bathscape and Avon Wildlife Trust are looking for you.
They are hoping to persuade you to transform some of it into a flower-rich fields to increase the biodiversity of land and restore wildflower meadows.
The scheme aims to build up a network of wildlife-rich land across the Bathscape area to help tackle the climate and ecological emergency and support nature recovery.
The two organisations will be running a free advisory service and training sessions for landowners and managers of suitable sites and volunteers from the Bathscape project will be available to help improve sites: including wildflower seeding from local provenance seed and scrub clearance. Small funding grants will be available.
The training sessions will run in the spring and summer and the dates will be added to the Bathscape website when announced. https://www.bathscape.co.uk/events/
Councillor Sarah Warren, deputy leader and cabinet member for Climate and Sustainable Travel, said: “Wild flower-rich grasslands, along with their considerable benefits for wildlife, have declined enormously over the last 80 years or so. This scheme can help us reverse this decline in the Bath area. Success is best achieved by working with everyone who owns land, rather than just isolated patches of publicly owned land. But the funding is time limited, so we’d urge people to get in touch now if they’re interested.”
Rob Stephens, Nature Recovery officer for Avon Wildlife Trust, said “We would encourage grassland owners to contact us to find out how we can help with visits, advice, training and practical support. Nature recovery at a landscape scale is needed to help nature flourish.”
Land in the Bathscape area is eligible for the service. Landowners can check if their land is within the boundary on the Bathscape website.
Further information is available on the Bathscape website: https://www.bathscape.co.uk/restore/
If you have any questions or would like an informal chat, please email rob.stephens@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk or call 07421 226054.
Bathscape also has an advisory service that covers farmland. You can email info@bathscape.co.uk for more information.
Bathscape’s work is largely funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund with match funding from partners.
