Volunteers were busy making improvements to Collin Park Wood Nature Reserve in Redmarley this autumn for the benefit of wildlife and visitors.
This Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserve is an important place for a wide range of birds, animals, trees and plants, with around 600 species. It has a history stretching back at least 400 years and is said to have been owned in the past by Dick Whittington’s family.
Thanks to funding of £15,000 from Grundon, volunteers along with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust specialists have been carrying out work to protect trees in the woodland and to make sure that plants such as bramble and bracken are kept under control.
“The work we are doing here will be benefit a wide range of wildlife, including lesser spotted woodpeckers, which are the smallest and least common of the three woodpeckers that are resident in Britain. We are also focusing on protecting hazel dormice, which are rare and vulnerable to extinction in the UK,” says Adam Taylor, Head of Land Management at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.
Grundon’s Head of Marketing and Communications, Anthony Foxlee-Brown, added: “With the recent shocking news from the World Wide Fund for Nature that population sizes of wildlife have fallen an average of 60 per cent across the globe since 1970, the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s work at Remarley is just one localised response to a world-wide problem. The Trust’s work, which we are proud to support, shows that everyone can play their part in protecting local natural habitats. As an added benefit, it also brings local communities together through the excellent work that the volunteers do.”
Paths have been cleared and upgraded to make it easier for visitors to walk around the nature reserve and to enjoy being close to nature. Collin Park Wood Nature Reserve is open to visitors seven days a week, 365 days a year and entry is free. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is proud that Collin Park Wood Nature Reserve is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, meaning that it has an important conservation status.
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is a charity which manages 60 nature reserves around the county and inspires people to get closer to nature.