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In this bumper edition of our newsletter:
- Team task day managing heathland
- Visiting Englemere Pond
- Boost for local woodlands
- Great British Spring Clean, 2024
- Curious about local conservation?
- Green and Active volunteering
- Walks for Wellbeing
- New sustainably built fences
- Paws on paths, please
- Nature community engagement events
- Warfield footpath improvements
- New hedge and wildflowers at The Look Out
 Team task day managing heathland
We held our annual heathland conservation event a week before Christmas.
The parks and countryside team task day took place at Englemere Pond. This is a local nature reserve in Winkfield.
The event was organised by our rangers who look after the site. It provided colleagues, including office-based staff, the opportunity to get involved.
Workers removed small pine trees and other invasive trees and shrubs. This type of management helps to look after the heathland for wildlife.
 Englemere Pond Local Nature Reserve is a great place for wildlife-spotting.
The shallow acidic lake, heathland and woodland habitats offer homes to an abundance of wildlife, including birds, insects, plants and reptiles.
Visitors can access wildlife trails, a pond viewing platform and information panels.
Boardwalks are available in sections, but areas can be very seasonally muddy.
Boost for local woodlands
 We are working to improve local woodlands for wildlife.
We are removing Rhododendron ponticum and cherry laurel. These are invasive, non-native species. They grow in big bushes and block out sunlight for other plants.
To help the woodlands to regenerate, we are planting:
- Crab apple
- Guelder rose (pictured)
- Hawthorne
- Hazel
- Holly
- Wayfaring tree
These native trees and shrubs will provide better homes for wildlife, including insects, bats, birds and hedgehogs.
 Our thanks also to Take Pride volunteers, who helped us remove litter, uncovered by the tree work.
Find out about the woodlands undergoing improvements:
The Great British Spring Clean starts this Friday.
The national campaign, organised by Keep Britain Tidy, encourages litter-free environments that everyone can enjoy.
It is the ninth year the environmental charity has run the campaign, where individuals, groups and schools can pledge to pick up a bag of litter, or more.
Find out more about this year's campaign, which runs until 31 March.
 Do you know where the oldest oak tree in Binfield is? Are you interested in finding out about the natural history of Bracknell Forest?
Join us on the International Day of the Forest for answers to these questions and more!
When: 21 March, 2024
Where: Activities start or end at Pope's Meadow, in Binfield.
Activities:
- 10.30am - Walk for Wellbeing with Binfield Environment Group. Meet at The Foxes’ Den Café from 10am (walk starts at 10.30am). Walk ends at Pope's Meadow.
- 11am to 1pm - forest conservation session with the Green and Active volunteer programme.
- 11am to 1pm - seated forest crafts with the social prescribers, including making herbal tea with foraged materials.
No booking required. Join in on any of these free activities.
 Find out about upcoming Green and Active volunteering activities this spring:
- Forest conservation
- Dead hedging
- Gorse cutting
- Litter picking - Great British Spring Clean, 2024
- River restoration
- Tree trail management
Walks for Wellbeing:
 Join our free walks, which:
- are in local greenspaces, such as Buckler's Forest (pictured)
- take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays
- are accompanied by a walk leader
- aim to promote physical and mental wellbeing through exercise
- are around two miles long and will take about an hour to complete
Walks are scheduled until 21 March, with further walks being planned.
 Our rangers are building new fences, using more sustainable means.
The latest fences they have installed are at Wildmoor Heath (pictured) and Tarman's Copse.
They use locally sourced wood, which avoids having to transport timber.
The wood is a by-product of management required to boost woodland wildlife. Using it in this way ensures it doesn't go to waste.
 They use hand tools to craft the wood into fences. Wood would usually need to be converted to timber using industrial machinery.
When the fences need replacing, our rangers will recycle the wood. This wasn't possible with older styles of fencing, which contain chemicals and need to go to landfill.
 The Thames Basin Heaths Partnership is asking for everyone’s help this season.
If you’re visiting the heaths, please keep to main paths and keep dogs out of low-growing vegetation, like heather, gorse and grass.
This will help protect the rare birds that nest on the ground.
 A Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) is being shaped in Berkshire.
Over the next two years, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) will lead work to develop the strategy, to aid nature recovery. They will do this with the support of the county’s five other (unitary) authorities, including Bracknell Forest Council.
Local communities are strongly encouraged to get involved and can find out more at upcoming community engagement workshops.
Booking links are provided, for those taking place in Bracknell Forest, or online.
Find out about all upcoming Berkshire Nature Recovery workshops, for communities and for farmers and landowners.
Warfield footpath improvements
 A new wooden footbridge will improve access for residents to a Warfield footpath.
The footbridge crosses a ditch. It is on a public footpath, between Malt Hill near Windmill Meadows car park, and Bracknell Road (B3022), at Brockhill Farms.
The new footbridge was required after the old one had started to degrade.
An old squeeze stile was also removed as part of the access improvements.
The bridge was paid for out of the council's rights of way maintenance budget.
 Visitors to The Look Out Discovery Centre may have spotted some recent improvements to the grounds.
A new beech hedge has been planted on the boundary of the overflow car park. As the hedge grows it will provide a place for wildlife and natural screening to the road.
A flowerbed has been cleared and sown with a native wildflower mix. This will look great in the summer and the flowers will provide nectar for insects.
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