This action group is working on the following areas in 2025:
i) Save Our Swifts – our local swift population has declined dramatically over the past few years. We have put up more than 10 nest boxes in the village and are monitoring the local population
iii) Wildlife Friendly Gardening – we are encouraging locals to think about local wildlife when managing their garden. Whether it’s taking part in No Mow May, letting parts of your lawn grow long to provide food and habitat for moths and butterflies or creating a pond, there is lots you can do to help our local wildlife in your own garden. The charity Butterfly Conservation declared a Butterfly Emergency last year and have produced a guide on how you can help butterfly and moth populations. You can download it here.
We’ve created a guide with lots of useful links on how to make your garden wildlife friendly which you can read here.
iv) Wilding our verges and public spaces – working with WSCC and MSDC we are mapping out who is responsible for maintaining the verges around our villages and putting together a plan to allow more native flora to flourish. Several verges in the village were part of a pilot Community Road Verge (CRV) project last year and were left unmown for parts of the summer to encourage wildflowers to grow.
If you want to get involved with our Biodiversity and Nature action group, please get in touch with Lucy Bennett via our email address hurstrethink@gmail.com.