The past ten years has seen a boom in setting up of nature reserves in Rushcliffe and the primary driver for this is community action by local people.
In addition to the groups supporting Bunny Wood, Wilwell Farm Cutting and Wilford Claypits, there have been Friends Groups set up to look after Bingham Linear Park, Sharphill Wood, The Hook at Ladybay, The Green Line in West Bridgford and Gotham Sandbanks.
What many people don`t realise is that nature conservation is often the reverse of gardening – most work is done in the winter and high fertility (which encourages the most vigorous plants at the expense of the less so) is regarded as a bad thing,
So autumn is coming and all these sites will be starting their winter works programme and YOU can help.
Two or three hours of your time per month can help maintain the biodiversity value of these sites, get you fresh air and exercise and perhaps make new friends and learn new skills.
Cutting down scrub, coppicing, clearing ponds, cutting grass and maintaining infrastructure the nature of the work varies from site to site.
It really can help make a difference, last year volunteers across Rushcliffe contributed some 6,600 hours of practical conservation work (equivalent to about four full time staff – a resource that simply could not be funded). If you want to know more please go to www.southnottswildlife.org.uk/reserves/work_parties.html for contact details. All these groups will welcome your support, so get out there and get your hands dirty.
But in addition volunteers warden reserves, run management committees and fund raise so if you prefer something less physical then there are still great opportunities to get involved.