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Wildlife Where You Live (WWYL)

hedge survey 6 july 2011bP1010008

Lakeside shelter build week 2 & 3 047Bat carving 2DSC01951

This three-year project ran from July 2010 to July 2013 and was funded by The Big Lottery Fund, Environment Wales, Countryside Council for Wales and The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

WWYL helped people to identify and carry out environmental improvements within their communitydemonstration projects took place at Denmark Farm as well as in 12 participating rural Ceredigion Communities. These communities were Aberarth, Borth, Cellan, Cilcennin, Ciliau Aeron, Llanafan, Llanddewi Brefi, Llanilar, Llangeitho, Llangybi, Pontrhydfendigaid and Tregaron.

The WWYL community project involved 1233 participants, and included 42 local organisations. Participants took part in more than 130 nature awareness activities, from fungal forays and bird walks to bug hunts and pond-dipping.

Working together and learning new skills, participants have created over 60 environmental improvement projects around their communities. These have included bird boxes and bug hotels, pollinator-friendly plants, and the creation of a local nature reserve with a lake, hide and otter holt. Other projects have included hedge-laying, bench-carving, wildlife-mosaic making, stone bank renovation…   and the list goes on!

Participants have also taken part in projects at Denmark Farm,  including construction of a lakeside hide, a demonstration community garden (for people and wildlife!), wildlife mosaics, compost toilet construction, and creation of natural play areas for our younger visitors. Plus there have been plenty of opportunities to learn new skills such as coppicing, hedge-laying and forest-gardening.

The ‘Wildlife Where you Live’ project finished at the end of June, but environmental activities and projects are continuing in many of the 12 communities.

If you would like to see the final newsletter with details of all activities and achievements you can download this here:

WWYL end of project newsletter

If you would like to find out more about opportunities for your own community, here are a few useful links:

Co-operative Community Fund

Woodland Trust

Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (FCFCG)

Your local Association of Voluntary Organisations (e.g. CAVO in Ceredigion)

Wales Biodiversity partnership

Environment Wales

You can also find plenty of other things to do for the wildlife where you live on the BBC ‘Things to Do’ website, such as taking part in nature surveys or making an insect house.  Why not get your local school or group involved?



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