News from the Shropshire Hills AONB Partnership, June 2016

Progress towards a new AONB structure

In late April, agreement in principle was reached between the AONB Partnership and Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council to develop a new independent structure for the Shropshire Hills AONB.  In the ongoing climate of local government restructuring and service cuts, it is felt that this option gives the best prospects of stability and sustainability for a staff team in the Shropshire Hills dedicated to AONB purposes.  A ‘Shadow Board’ is now being set up to involve volunteers and representatives in a more hands on role to help develop the new organisation.  The preferred model is a ‘Conservation Board’, a structure specific to AONBs set out in the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000.  Informal discussions have begun with Defra on this, but there remains much detailed work to do over a transition period of up to two years, with some formal decision stages along the way.  We look forward to bringing you more news on this as things develop.  For further information please contact Phil Holden on 01743 254741 or at phil.holden@shropshire.gov.uk.

Exploring woodlands and waterways in the AONB

Friends of the Shropshire Hills AONB are invited to Brineddin Wood and Bryn Farm on Sunday 17 July.  The annual event is a chance for members to meet up and find out more about the AONB and what their subscriptions support.  This year we start at Bryn Farm. Clun Catchment Officer, Alison Jones, will talk about the River Clun Recovery Project and how it is improving habitats and water quality in the catchment.  The second visit is to Brineddin Wood, a beautiful semi-natural oak wood in the Redlake Valley.  The Redlake Valley Community Benefit Society owns a quillet (a strip of the wood) and will be our guides for the afternoon.  Joining Friends of the Shropshire Hills AONB is easy and only costs £20 for an individual annual membership. Benefits include a discount when shopping at Cotswold Outdoor and free entry into the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre exhibition in Craven Arms.  The subscriptions go into our Shropshire Hills AONB Conservation Fund to support local conservation projects.  For further information please contact Catherine Landles on 01743 254742, email cath.landles@shropshire.gov.uk, or see http://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/looking-after/friends/

Scenic travel in the Shropshire Hills

Reviews of the new book ‘Slow Travel in Shropshire’ by Marie Kreft, praise it for ‘taking time to point the way’, and ‘stuffed with insider knowledge’.  The same is often heard of our weekend Shuttle Bus drivers!  They take time to help passengers if they don’t know the area, suggest walks and are a fount of local information and stories.  This was recently confirmed by visitors on holiday near Church Stretton, who emailed to say “We loved the area but the highlight of the week was our journeys on the shuttle bus. Our driver (Mervyn) was an excellent driver, very helpful & and such fun.”  Over 1,000 passenger journeys were made on the Long Mynd & Stiperstones Shuttle Buses in May, a great start to the season and we look forward to welcoming many more on board in the coming months.  http://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/enjoying-the-shropshire-hills/shuttles/

Curlew Country Sculpture & Song

Last month 150 people took part in a weekend of Curlew Country Arts activities.  Through music, words, sculpture and photography the Stiperstones & Corndon Hill Country Landscape Partnership Scheme are raising awareness of the plight of local curlews.  Surveys by the Upper Clun Community Wildlife Group over the last 11 years have shown our curlew population has diminished by 30%.  More activities are planned for 2nd & 3rd July and include a creative writing workshop, and making life-size curlew lanterns.  The Curlew Country Choir meet once more before their public performance at the Curlew Country celebration event on 9th July at Norbury Village Hall.  Alongside awareness raising activities, 20 curlew nests are being monitored and nest protection methods trialled. Information about all of this and more can be found on http://www.stiperstonesandcorndon.co.uk/ground-nesting-birds-recovery-project/curlew-recovery-project/

Going for Gold

Congratulations to Anthony Jones at Shropshire Hardwoods who were recently awarded our first Sustainability Gold Certificate.  Anthony is committed to working green in more ways than one.  He’s been a Buy-Local member since the scheme started in 2008, committed to:

• saving energy, sourcing locally, recycling and reducing waste

• working with clients to manage woodlands, enhancing wildlife and landscape 

• providing jobs and working with local suppliers

• encouraging clients to visit and see their timber from source to finished product

We’d like to offer our best wishes to Shropshire Hardwoods for continued success.

Turning waste into wattage

The Shropshire Hills Sustainable Business Network and Friends of the Shropshire Hills AONB will be visiting the new Energy Recovery Facility at Battlefield.  The two visits on the 13th and 20th July will be hosted by Veolia.  Our waste that can’t be recycled or composted is used to make heat and power instead of being sent to landfill.  Approximately 90,000 tonnes of waste from Shropshire is treated per year.  This produces enough to power all of the homes in all of the market towns in the Shropshire Hills (with some to spare). The facility will reduce the amount of household waste dumped in landfill in Shropshire from 65% to just 5%.  The visits are limited to 10 people per tour and available to Business Network members and Friends first who need to have booked by 20th June.  There may be some places free so if you’d like to come and see how your waste is being re-used, please get in touch (contact Alison.Scimia@shropshire.gov.uk) by June 27th. Please note that transport is not being provided, you will have to make your own way there.  We will do our best to arrange car sharing.

Hay Meadow Festival, Saturday 9th July, The Bog, Pennerley

Join us for a fun filled family day to celebrate wildflower meadows and their wealth of wildlife.  Guided WALKS and talks, SCYTHING demonstrations and competitions, arts and CRAFTS, vintage tractors and machinery, MUSIC and merriment are all part of the packed programme.  The Hay Meadow Festival is being organised by the Stiperstones & Corndon Hill Country Landscape Partnership Scheme.  Flower-rich grasslands are some of the most important habitats surviving in the Scheme area.  Stalls and displays will showcase what’s happening to conserve these valuable sites and how you can get involved locally.  Members of the Marches Meadow Group will be demonstrating their mini hay baler and sharing their experiences of wildflower meadows and hay-making.  The Festival is being held in the field opposite the Bog Visitor Centre.  It’s a FREE event and everyone is welcome!  Refreshments will be available at the Bog Visitor Centre as well as at the Festival. www.stiperstonesandcorndon.co.uk

Caring for the Clun Catchment

Despite challenging river levels and difficult ground conditions for much of the winter, the River Clun Recovery Project has completed or exceeded its year one targets.  Through contractors and landowner involvement, ten riverside holdings have undertaken practical work to reduce sediment reaching the river.  This work has included coppicing and pollarding mature or diseased trees to encourage new growth, fencing and tree planting to create buffer strips, and the installation of field gates, culverts, revetments and troughs to minimise erosion of the riverbank.  In addition to the environmental benefits, the goods and services procured by the Project have so far brought over £32,000 into the local economy.  The project is running for another three years and is funded by WREN (a Landfill Tax fund) and others.  For more information see http://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/aonb-partnership/rivers/

We have also finished a highway drainage survey of the Lower Clun and the Kemp Valley.  The data collated has given us a better picture of what is happening to runoff in the catchment.  From this we are able to identify opportunities to divert water to settle out sediment, rather than this heading direct into the watercourse.  We will be working with landowners to make these improvements.  Next winter, subject to funding, we plan to map the drainage network in the Redlake Valley.

AONB Conservation Fund distributes over £20,000 locally

Making space for dormice on a family farm near Wenlock Edge is one of ten local projects supported by the Shropshire Hills AONB Conservation Fund.  The fund has recently distributed £21,000 to projects that help to conserve and raise awareness of the AONB.  The Small Woods Association received a grant to train 12 people in Social Forestry in the Shropshire Hills.  Another woodland project is also being supported to raise awareness of native woodland in the AONB. Through poetry, creative writing and performance participants will experience and better understand woods and their management.  Other projects awarded grants include invasive plant control in the Upper Onny, the restoration of several local Wildlife Sites, and activity days for young people (aged 10 – 16) to involve them in conservation tasks and outdoor adventure.  The money for the Shropshire Hills AONB Conservation Fund is from donations, and currently comes from Friends of Shropshire Hills AONB membership subscriptions, the Millichope Foundation and the Jean Jackson Charitable Trust.  For more information on the projects funded this year, and previous see http://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/aonb-partnership/conservation-fund/#cons-fund-projects

National AONB Conference comes to Shropshire

The theme of Landscapes for Life Conference 2016 from 28-30 June is Sharing, Learning, Inspiring. It will bring delegates from around the country together to discuss the case for natural beauty in relationship to the health and wellbeing of society.  The Conference will show how collaborative working in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty offers a wealth of opportunities for the UK’s health and wellbeing.  Philip Hygate, Chairman of the National Association for AONBs said, “We look forward to lively debate and discussion which will result in useful practical action throughout the UK’s Protected Landscapes. I am sure that delegates will leave the conference with the knowledge that the AONB Family and partners are working hard to protect our most valuable resource, ensuring that AONBs remain Landscapes for Life in more ways than one”.  The Shropshire Hills AONB Partnership will be hosting field visits for delegates to the Long Mynd and to the Clun Valley.  For more information see http://www.landscapesforlife.org.uk/events/l4l-conference.html.

In the Shropshire Hills this summer... 23rd - 26th June Church Stretton Walking Festival.   Places still available on some of the walks. Sunday 26 June Arts Alive Charity Cycle Challenge.   Three route through the Shropshire hills to choose from. Saturday 9th July Hay Meadow Festival at the Bog.   A fun filled family day out, 10am - 4pm. Saturday 9th July Curlew Country Sculpture & Song  Celebrating local curlews at Norbury, from 8.30pm. 30 July - 14 August Church Stretton Arts Festival.  Music and visual art in the heart of the hills. You can also keep up to date by following us on Facebook and Twitter @ShropHillsAONB