Our wildlife haven on the Isle of Wight has been transformed thanks to your support and an army of volunteers!
Each winter at Briddlesford Woods, one of our reserves, there is a lot of work to do to keep it flourishing. Due to the size of the wonderful woodland site, a lot of this work is carried out by contractors, but we also make sure that we utilise the enthusiasm of our brilliant volunteers.
For the past seven years we have held a weekend work party in January. It has evolved from a small gathering of land management students seeking to improve their practical skills, to this year’s record of over 40 people!
Improving and providing habitats for wildlife by making a ‘dead hedge’ from coppiced wood
We coppiced hazel, cleared rides, cut sycamore and built a magnificent wooden cage to protect young trees from grazing cattle.
All of these actions are vital for precious wildlife that live in the woods, such as hazel dormice and red squirrels.
Briddlesford has also recently been added to the local Green Gym’s calendar. They made their first visit last week and cut a large area of sycamore in one of our copses. They did a great job and will be returning soon to clean out dormouse boxes ready for when the dormice emerge from hibernation in the spring.
Thank you to everyone who made this work possible on the day or by donating to our winter appeal.