Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is asking people to look out for hiding hedgehogs before they light fires on Bonfire Night (Monday 5 November).
At this time of year hedgehogs begin to look for places to hibernate and unlit bonfires make an ideal refuge. Hedgehogs numbers are in decline due to a loss of habitat, development pressures, possible loss of food sources due to intensive farming and the possible effects of slug pellets. Hedgehogs have recently joined the red squirrel and bottlenose dolphin on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan list of species in need of conservation and greater protection.
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust advises people to help protect hedgehogs by following these guidelines when building a...full article

Wildlife is like music: you don't need to know anything about it to enjoy it. But the more you know, the more you tend to enjoy. Both evoke fond childhood memories, so imagine if future generations didn’t get the opportunity to share the same experiences.
Many of us have happy memories of the countryside; birdsong, meandering rivers and ancient woodlands carpeted in bluebells. That’s why, during Will for Wildlife Week, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is highlighting the importance of making a will – not only to look after loved ones when you are gone but also to protect our natural treasures for future generations to enjoy.
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust needs your support to secure a better future for nature –...full article

The call for a Marine Act - giving greater protection to the UK’s marine wildlife - will come to London later today when a 300,000-strong petition - comprising supporters from four conservation organisations - will be delivered to Downing Street by four children representing our future generations.

The RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, Marine Conservation Society and WWF are campaigning for a full Marine Bill in next month’s Queen’s Speech. They have long been campaigning for new and improved marine nature conservation legislation. Currently, the groups regard existing marine legislation as ineffective, inadequate or even non-existent.

The petition has attracted widespread support, including a pledge from Kate ...full article

Alan Titchmarsh makes an epic journey across the length and breadth of the country to explore the huge diversity of wildlife in The Nature of Britain.
The eight part series, which can be seen this October on BBC One, is the first comprehensive portrait of the links between Britain’s plants, animals and the places where we live for over 20 years and a first for the channel. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust's nature reserve, Lower Woods appears in the woodlands episode due to be screened on Wednesday November 14th, and will feature in the regional bit at the end of the show.
Using the very latest in filming technology, such as ultra-high speed cameras and the heli-gimbal camera mount which gives rock-steady aerial s...full article

The Sustainable Development Commission today (1 October) lays down tough conditions which a Severn barrage would have to meet in order to be considered sustainable. These include public leadership and ownership of the project, and full compliance with environmental legislation protecting the estuary. The Commission also outlined how a commitment to creating compensatory habitats should be seen as an environmental opportunity, combining climate change adaptation with coastal realignment plans to deal with increased risk of flooding.
The Commission's report, Tidal Power in the UK, draws on extensive research and public and stakeholder engagement to reach the conclusion that, the UK's outstanding tidal resources coul...full article

The South West Wildlife Trusts fully support the reduction of UK carbon emissions through the sustainable development of renewable energy generation. However, we have severe concerns about the proposals for a Severn Barrage - concerns that we share not only with other environmental groups, but with the Government’s own environmental advisers.
The Severn Estuary is an internationally important ecosystem, which commands European protection for good reason. This interest would be irreparably damaged by a large infrastructure project such as the Barrage – impacts which could not be ‘mitigated against’ as the Minister suggests. It is therefore essential that the ecological consequences of any proposals are fully evaluat...full article

Imagine cows grazing surrounded by singing birds, lush pastures and an environment rich with colourful and vibrant wildlife. From 23 July, all Waitrose own brand milk will come from farms which allocate at least 10% of their dairy-farmed area to improving natural habitats for wildlife.
Working in partnership with The Wildlife Trusts, whose vision is an environment rich in wildlife for everyone, Waitrose Select Farm Milk will carry the WildCare logo. This indicates these farms give a vital boost to wildlife populations, especially threatened species like the water vole and song thrush, whilst also helping to conserve important habitats and eco-systems such as hedgerows, ditches and watercourses.
Specialist farm...full article

With the debate over how we deal with our rubbish hotting up, the time is ripe for householders to consider what they can do to deal directly with their own waste. Home composting is the most sustainable and satisfying solution as the waste never leaves the site where it was created. Once it has been turned into compost it can benefit garden wildlife and in so doing make your garden bloom! Burying organic waste in landfill is a terrible waste as it can’t rot down and produces methane, a chemical nasty.
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is delighted to welcome Richard Fishbourne, the Development Manager at Herefordshire company Wiggly Wigglers to the county where he will take part in an evening entitled “Worms are for...full article

The Wildlife Trusts are scaling up their Petition Fish campaign with the introduction of Bernard the Gurnard, an animated online petition.
The Petition Fish campaign, launched in June at the House of Commons, aims to demonstrate public support for a Marine Bill. Such has been the success of the original campaign The Wildlife Trusts are now launching an online version featuring Bernard the Gurnard, a fish frustrated by the wait for a Marine Bill. Please show your support by clicking on the link... http://www.joandjoe.com/cardsite/cards/petition_fish.php and signing our fish.
Bernard is a Red Gurnard, a bottom-feeding fish which lives in sandy areas around the UK coast. Gurnards have two unusual features: they c...full article

More than 30 food shops throughout Gloucestershire have signed up to help shrink the county’s ‘food footprint’, according to the county’s Wildlife Trust.
Local post offices, delicatessans, farm shops and even a trout farm will be joining in Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s Climate Friendly Fortnight (15-30 Sept) initiative by providing customers with information about how they can help wildlife by cutting their carbon emissions, including by eating locally sourced food.
Climate Friendly Fortnight is the idea of the South West Wildlife Trusts (SWWT), a regional umbrella group including Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust which will be spearheading activities locally. The initiative has come about due to ongoing worrie...full article

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has produced a wonderful portrait of the county in the year of its birth, and has researched how the county’s natural habitats looked, smelt and sounded in 1007.

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is the county’s leading wildlife conservation charity. Founded in 1961, it is one of 48
independent Wildlife Trusts within a UK partnership. The Trust aspires to a vision of a Gloucestershire rich in wildlife valued by everyone.
Support from more than 20,000 members enables the Trust to campaign for wildlife conservation and to protect over 2,500 acres of land on over 70 nature reserves in Gloucestershire. We share our expertise and educate people of all ages. Last year over 3,000 peo...full article

Urgent appeal launched to restore Severn Hams nature reserves
Gloucestershire’s ‘heartland’ nature reserves in the Severn Hams have been left devastated by the recent flooding according Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, which has launched an urgent appeal for funds to help repair the worst of the damage before winter.
Now the floodwater has retreated, the Trust has been able to assess the impact of the flooding in this normally wildlife-rich area, but fear that nothing has survived.
Just as individuals and communities in Gloucestershire are recovering and rebuilding following the worst floods to hit the county in 200 years, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust needs to rebuild and repair the wildlife habitats swep...full article

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is supporting the Stroud Walking Festival by encouraging members and local people to walk the Slad Valley Wildlife Way.
The walk is circular, starting from Bull Cross on the B4070, takes in three of the most stunning Trust nature reserves. "This is a lovely time of year to go on a walk especially as the leaves are starting to turn" says Pete Bradshaw, Stroud Nature Reserves Manager and leader of the walk who goes on to say "The valley is beautiful and immortalised by Laurie Lee in 'Cider with Rosie' and our guided walks are always really popular."
You can expect the walk to take between three to four hours with steep climbs in places and stops along the way to take in the wildlife...full article

Gloucestershire is set for a greener future with the appointment of nine composting officers to help householders in the county make or use compost over the next two years. National composting experts say this level of investment at a county level is a first in the UK.
Furthermore the employer of these officers is not a local authority but Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (1), a local environmental and sustainability charity. The Trust has been running a Don’t Waste Wildlife project (2) for the last four years and this next phase has been possible through £50,000 of funding from the Big Lottery Fund’s Community Recycling and Economic Development (CRED) Programme.
Seven new composting officers have started this m...full article

Ten years of support for a wildlife education programme is being celebrated this Thursday 3rd May at the Conservation Centre at Robinswood Hill, Gloucester. Lincoln Financial Group, through their Community Partnership Programme, has been supporting the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Education Programme since 1997. In that time they have donated £26,000 to the programme which has helped finance 250 school visits from around 25 disadvantaged schools in Gloucestershire, benefiting some 7,500 local children.
The schools helped are mostly from inner city areas, small rurally isolated schools or special schools who have very small classes. This means they are disadvantaged with high travel costs per pupil which the scho...full article

The completion of a Gravel to Grasslands project at Greystones Farm in Bourton-on-the-Water is today being heralded as a success by owners Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. The eighteen month project which was funded by Natural England through Defra's Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund and has improved public access, provided education and interpretation materials, involved more of the community and developed habitats for wildlife.
New gates and way marked routes have been installed using the funding and interpretation leaflets and panels launched in the summer of 2006. More visitors to the site are now able to learn about the wildlife there and use the waymarked meadows walk. It is already providing a valuable loc...full article

A national construction company has not only given a substantial grant to improve a very special reserve near Sapperton - it supplied volunteers to get their hands dirty and do the work!
Following receipt of a grant of £4,300 from Carillion Natural Habitats Fund, a group of employees spent four days erecting new fencing and clearing scrub to improve conditions for the rare Large Blue butterfly.
Daneway Banks nature reserve lies half a mile west of Sapperton and covers 17 hectares. In 2002, 300 Large blue caterpillars were released after many years of monitoring ant and thyme populations to ensure the site was suitable for re-introduction.
June 2006 saw the start of a new initiative to secure the future of th...full article

As the nation prepares to welcome British Summertime by turning the clocks forward (25 March), amphibians are in with a good chance this year of successfully multiplying due to a particularly mild and wet winter - - but it ‘s not all plain-sailing.
As the weather warms up, canals, ponds and even puddles will start to see activity as frogs, toads and newts spawn the next generation. People are fascinated by frogspawn and tadpoles which are produced in what seems like incredible quantities. But after birds, fish and even foxes have had their fill, only a handful of tadpoles will make it to adulthood.
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust offers top tips on how to help maximise their chances:

1. Make a wildlife po...full article

Two key stakeholders involved with the development of the Cotswold Canal at the Capel Mill section in Stroud strongly disagree with British Waterways’ interpretation of recent consultation results. The consultation was on the preferred route options of the canal which would run through a local nature Reserve, Frome Banks and alongside the Capel Mill heritage site.
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and Stroud Valleys Project both agree that recent public statements indicating a route over the River Frome as a ‘clear winner’ is misleading. The public were given three canal route options during the consultation – Option A - cutting through an adjacent disused tip, Option B - to run low over the river as an aquaduct or Op...full article

The much loved wild daffodils of Gloucestershire need a helping hand this March from local people willing to take part in a daffodil mapping survey. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is appealing for help to record small surviving populations of our native wild daffodils along lanes, roads and footpaths in the Newent area. This will build on an earlier survey which led to the designation of 69 Key Wildlife Sites (1).
Apart from creating a complete wild daffodil map of the area the survey will draw on local people’s knowledge about wild daffodils and raise awareness of the threats that planting non-native daffodils can pose to surviving native flowers.
Wild daffodils had declined massively across the country by th...full article

Adopt a dormouse, otter, barn owl, stag beetle, brown hare or water vole for Easter. An adoption makes an unusual, unique and memorable gift and adoption starts from just £10.
Be original and don’t give flowers or chocolates - you will make someone happy with the wildlife pack provided and at the same time support valuable conservation work in the county.
Upon adoption, your loved one will receive a photograph, fact sheet, certificate and a fun ‘pop-up’ of their chosen species. You can even add your own personalised message; Mrs. B of Stroud is sending her husband a brown hare with the message “A brown hare, like you used to have when we first met!”
The money raised from your adoption will help Gloucestersh...full article