5 local groups making a difference to nature near you

More than ever, we all appreciate the benefits of getting out into nature and enjoying and embracing the world around us.

But how often do you get out and do your bit to help those great green spaces we love?

With nature and the wildlife that relies on it disappearing all the time, it’s more important than ever that everyone helps it to thrive.

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has created a new Local Nature Recovery Strategy and detailed map that could help to improve and expand the incredible green spaces that mean the most to you while giving nature a helping hand.

And throughout the city region people like you are creating groups and projects to maintain and support the amazing places that many may take for granted.

So don’t forget to take part in the public consultation about the new strategy and have your say by visiting www.lcrnaturerecoverystrategy.co.uk, so we can all continue to enjoy fantastic places – and maybe even help them flourish like the groups and people below…

Friends of Childwall Woods and Fields (FCWF)

Childwall Woods and Fields is owned by Liverpool City Council and managed by active voluntary group, the Friends of Childwall Woods and Fields.  The group, currently in the process of becoming a registered charity, runs regular public and member-only events and walks to help people experience nature, and offers weekly and monthly opportunities to get involved in vital conservation work as a volunteer.

Its current tasks include clearing and maintaining paths to enable public access; clearing invasive species which reduce biodiversity; pond maintenance – vital for biodiversity; controlling saplings and clearing fallen trees for safety; maintaining meadows as a home for orchids and wildflowers; planting trees, bulbs and wildflowers; litter picking; site surveying and monitoring, and putting up nest boxes and cleaning them! Childwall Woods and Fields Local Nature Reserve provides a home for so many trees, wildflowers, fungi, insects, birds and animals, as well as being a special place for people.

If you can – and wish to – help go their website.

Friends of Roman Road Sandhills

This volunteer group was formed to manage 7.5 acres of old sand dune habitat in Meols, Wirral for the benefit of wildlife, native plants and trees and the local community. 

The group has cleared scrub and garden plants from the area to allow native flowers and grasses to flourish and provide the perfect home for eighteen different species of butterfly. 

Kathryn Fegan, Chairperson of the Friends of Roman Road Sandhills “felt a sense of urgency to form the friends group, in order to save the site as a wild place where local nature could thrive”. 

The group meets once a week every week for two hours and Kathryn wants the site to become “a hub and focus for the local community as a treasured wild area”.  

Find more information about the project here.

Scouse Flowerhouse

Affectionately known as the ‘Scouse Flowerhouse’, it’s part of the Liverpool Wildflower Gateways Project, a partnership between Liverpool City Council and the National Wildflower Centre at the Eden Project aimed at bringing a riot of colour to sites across the city. Intrepid flower advocates and sowers led by Richard Scott, Senior Project Manager at Landlife/National Wildflower Centre, take to grass verges, public green spaces and central reservations to plant millions of tiny wildflower seeds.

As well as looking pretty, the idea is to protect varieties such as cornflowers which are practically extinct in the wild and make a huge contribution to biodiversity by supporting pollinators and other wildlife.

You can help – go to their website.

The Buckthorn Bashers

Each autumn and winter the Buckthorn Bashers, led by naturalist Phil Smith, head to the Sefton coast to remove early growth Sea Buckthorn with the support of Green Sefton. They meet weekly at Sands Lake car park to protect the fragile environment.

Clearing areas of scrub makes the habitat more suitable for dune specialists including Natterjack Toads and Sand Lizards, when they emerge from hibernation in spring.

Find out more here.

Bentinck Street Community Garden

Work has begun to transform a neglected piece of land in Birkenhead into beautiful community garden. Grow Wellbeing CIC received £31,400 from more than 100 community backers – including Liverpool City Region Combined Authority – to turn the third of an acre in Bentinck Street into a thriving green space that can be used by everyone.

It’ll take around eight months to create the ‘vibrant, sustainable, biodiversity-rich community garden’ through the Here We Grow project, so it can offer an area for young and old to come together to grow vegetables and fruit and take part in activities to improve mental and physical health and wellbeing.  As well as providing opportunities for residents to volunteer and get involved in the gardening, recycling and food growing initiatives, it will provide learning and training to increase skills and knowledge to improve people’s employability. The site will have a pergola for seating and socialising; outdoor cookery provisions; a pond, wildlife and trees, wildlife cameras, and more.

To find out more or volunteer, email chloe@grow-wellbeing.com

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has created a Local Nature Recovery Strategy and a map of places where nature can be created, enhanced and restored – and who benefits from that? You do. Check it out, let them know what you think and make sure your favourite place is on it.

You’ve got until Sunday, April 6, to have your say – so don’t leave it too late.

Find all the latest Liverpool news here.