The Mid-Week Team of dedicated nature conservationists is the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust’s Volunteer Group of the Year.
Liz Fricker, assistant reserves officer for Berkshire, paid tribute to the Mid-Week Team of 26 volunteers. “The only way we’re able to manage our nature reserves is with the help of this fantastic group of people. Their dedication, enthusiasm and reliability help to safeguard wildlife right across the county. They’re out every Thursday whatever the weather; some of them treat it as a physical workout, while others use the opportunity to improve their wildlife surveying skills.”
They have transformed notable sites such as Kintbury Newt Ponds in west Berkshire, where they cleared scrub, cut back a thick hedge and removed vegetation that was growing over the ponds.
At Wildmoor Heath and Broadmoor Bottom near Crowthorne, they have cut back heather and birches, which means that the silver-studded blue butterfly, a Biodiversity Action Plan species, is now breeding in growing numbers. The team also works in partnership with Bracknell Forest Council and the Forestry Commission to lay boardwalks at Wildmoor Heath so that more people can enjoy getting close to wildlife in these sensitive heathland habitats.
At Woolley Firs, the Wildlife Trust’s Berkshire office and environmental education centre near Maidenhead, the team created a story-telling area among the trees, where visiting schoolchildren now learn about nature through play activities.
Many of the team are wildlife experts too, and pass on their knowledge and expertise to the Trust’s staff and trainees, mentoring them on practical tasks.
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