Voice for Nature

Shropshire Council sent this bulletin at 19-05-2021 04:55 PM BST

'Youth Voice for Nature' launched as part of our Young Ranger programme

The winter/spring lockdown caused a delay in our new National Lottery Heritage Fund project, Young Rangers. We were able to deliver a programme (albeit scaled-back) of permitted, Covid-safe activities in the lead up to Spring. Included in this were activities for vulnerable young people and young people from ethnic minorities in the Craven Arms catchment. This was led by our project partner, South Shropshire Youth Forum.

Hot on their heels, a new fledgling group was set up in the Pontesbury/Stiperstones area. Beginning with ‘taster’ woodland craft sessions at Poles Coppice in Pontesbury. The group have since taken an interest in monitoring a local population of pied flycatchers in an area of woodland overlooking Snailbeach. The location is a well-kept secret!

Young Rangers is aimed at 12-16 year olds who live in, or near to the Shropshire Hills AONB, but there is another strand to the project, the newly launched ‘Youth Voice for Nature’ which seeks to engage those aged between 17-21. As the title suggests, the aim is to set up a youth forum on environmental issues and in so doing, promote greater collaboration, representation and involvement of young people in the AONB’s governance. It will be interesting to hear what young people have to say and how this is manifested into local action, be it an environmental campaign or a local project to address our climate and ecological emergency.

For more information please visit our Young Rangers and Youth Voice for Nature webpages or contact the Young Rangers Project Officer, Joe Penfold at joe.penfold@shropshire.gov.uk

‘Farming in Protected Landscapes’ grant programme

Farming in the Shropshire Hills, by Phil King

photograph by Phil King

We will shortly be launching this 3-year funding programme offering grants to farmers and landowners to undertake work to benefit nature, climate, people and places within the AONB. This is a Defra programme which will operate in all the AONBs and National Parks in England. Further details will be publicised, but if you would like to join a list to be sent these directly when available, please email shropshirehillsaonb@shropshire.gov.uk.

As well as inviting interest in the grants, we are seeking expressions of interest from people with relevant knowledge and skills to join the grant approvals panel for the programme. We especially welcome people from the farming community. At present we expect the panel to meet roughly every 6-8 weeks from June to December. Some expenses will be payable and there will be an application process for panel membership. Click here for more information. If you are interested in joining the panel, please email joy.howells@shropshire.gov.uk.

Nature Recovery Plan for the Shropshire Hills AONB

Comments are welcomed on the draft Nature Recovery Plan for the Shropshire Hills AONB.

This Plan is aimed at anyone with an interest in nature and land in the Shropshire Hills. It is part of an ongoing dialogue about how we restore biodiversity and ecological functions to long term health, alongside addressing the challenges of climate change. Other organisations are also working on this in Shropshire, and we will continue to work with them on developing and refining the approach.

Please email your comments to us by the end of June 2021. Email shropshirehillsaonb@shropshire.gov.uk

Water quality enhanced in the Clun catchment

Our two-year Unmuddying the Waters project finished at the end of March. This partnership project delivered practical solutions which not only contribute towards improving water quality and the conservation status of the River Clun SAC, but have also resulted in the creation and restoration of wetland and woodland habitats.

Click on the image below to see some of the highlights. The final project report is available on our website at https://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/our-work/projects/unmuddying-the-waters

Making a hash of things – or not, we hope

Do you use social media? If so, you’ll probably know what this is ‘#’, especially if you use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It’s a hashtag. If you are familiar with them, jump to the next paragraph, if not, please read on. They work to collate information that is all about the same thing. A kind of digital label. Hashtags can be very useful because you can quickly use them to find out the most up to date information. Really popular ones ‘trend’ so that others can see what people are getting excited about and join in.

Since early this year, we’ve been working with the National Trust, Visit Shropshire and other partners to promote #Parkshropshirehills. You might have seen it popping up on our feeds. We are trialling this hashtag as a way of giving up to date information to visitors, especially at busy times. Imagine you are planning to visit a beauty spot, and you find out whilst on the way, that the main car park is full. You now have the option of navigating to another nearby car park or even detouring, rather than sitting in traffic, or trolling local roads looking for a parking spot.

Can you help us make this happen?

We now have a network of people feeding information from the car parks at Church Stretton, Stiperstones and the Bog Centre to us on busy days. We’ve been posting that information on our social feeds and promoting the hashtag, so visitors know where to look. Visit Shropshire and other local ‘influencers’ have also helped us by retweeting the information, boosting it to more people.

But we need more people to get behind this, so we are looking for volunteers.

If you are active on Twitter or Facebook and you see a #Parkshropshirehills message, please retweet. This will help us reach more people.

If you are interested in reporting on busy days about car parking pressure at one of our main countryside attractions like; Earls Hill, Stapeley Common, Clee Hill, Mortimer Forest or the Wrekin, please get in touch. We are hoping to build a network of local support, willing to give us updates on busy days. If you can spare a few minutes on a sunny weekend or busy bank holiday Monday, you could be helping us reduce crowding and emissions, whilst helping our visitors have a more relaxing time in our welcoming hills.

For more information please contact Nigel.McDonald@shropshire.gov.uk.

Shuttle buses take to the hills this summer

3rd July – 26th September, every weekend & August Bank Holiday Monday

The Long Mynd & Stiperstones Shuttle Bus will be back on the road this summer, helping passengers to explore and enjoy this beautiful part of the Shropshire Hills AONB. We have made changes to the route which we hope will make the service more financially sustainable for future years.

Using the shuttles and encouraging your friends and family to do so as well is the best way to support the service. We offer a buy in advance season ticket which allows free travel on the shuttles all summer. Or you can buy your tickets on the bus. Please note that there is no means for contactless payments, the tickets are cash only unless you have a travel pass or season ticket.

For more information including timetable and route map, ticket prices, season tickets, suggested walks and Shuttle Bus Supporter Scheme see www.shropshirehillsshuttles.co.uk.

AONB Conservation Fund awards over £11,000 to projects

Last month, the Shropshire Hills AONB Trust awarded over £11,000 in a series of small grants to support some great local projects.

These include researching and planting a pollinator garden at a care farm near Brown Clee, supporting school holiday Forest School sessions for primary children, tree planting and verge restoration around Hopton Castle and enabling a community woodland group to make and sell their own charcoal using a retort kiln.

Project updates and photographs are shared on our Facebook page, or read project summaries. To see how grants act as 'seed' funding, take a look at One Small Idea that grew into a Shropshire Wildflower Revolution.

The fund is made up with donations from Friends of Shropshire Hills AONB subscriptions, the Millichope Foundation, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Martin Wills Wildlife Maintenance Trust and individual contributions.

The launch of South Shropshire's Climate Action Plan

There's still time to sign up to join the South Shropshire Climate Action Conference this Saturday, 22 May. Our Natural Environment Officer, Mike Kelly, will be hosting the Land & Biodiversity breakout session focusing on nature, water, nature recovery networks and peatlands. Click on the poster to find out more.

Outdoor events making a come back...

It's good to see local outdoor events happening once again as Covid restrictions ease. Plans are underway to hold the Shropshire Hills Hay Meadow Festival this summer, on Saturday 24th July at the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre. Keep an eye on our Events page for details of this and other events happening in the hills.

If you're organising an event in the Shropshire Hills, let us know and we can add your event details to the the Events page, email stephanie.hayes@shropshire.gov.uk.

If gin is your tipple of choice, Moonshine & Fuggles of Ironbridge, an independent spirits & ales retail specialist, have just released a limited edition gin. Called ‘Wrekin Alpine’, the gin uses Wrekin pine needles, pine nuts and woodland herbs. For every bottle sold, £3 will be donated to the Shropshire Hills AONB Trust.

Press release

Your online shopping can also help to support the Shropshire Hills AONB Trust activities through Easy Fundraising.

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