Biodiversity champions

Aim

To work with communities & schools to enhance biodiversity

• Hi,   In February 2021  we  emerged from lockdown with a clear mission to  work to support  environmental and social change  The Aviva Community Fund helped us from day one when we planted our 1st School orchard at Sea Mills Primary Bristol - and here are the children that helped plant it  
• As well as this we focused on supporting communities to create their own community orchards    Here are community members working to create a copse and mini orchard at one of our locations in Eckington Derbyshire.

Since then we have  been growing and developing  and we  will be using  money raised in this crowdfunder to  support our BIODIVERSITY CHAMPIONS INITIATIVE which has 2 key strands to it 

School Bioviersity Champions 

Through our Schools Network we work with schools to develop the biodiversity of their school grounds  over a number of years  -  We support the pupils and staff enabling them to actively 

• Create Orchards 
• Plant wildflowers 
• Plant pollinating perennials 
• Manage grass cutting 
• Create water features and much more

From September we will be awarding schools  Bronze, silver, and Gold   Biodiversity Champion status  

Here are some pics of   the brilliant pupils and the kind of thing that we are doing 

Pupils Planting   fruit trees - brilliant for pollinators

Pupils planting wildflower plugs 

In future, the wildflower area will stretch across to the orchard planted on the right and we will also manage the grass cutting to ensure the best possible habitat for wildlife.  Within this area, the pupils can create wood piles, bug hotels, and a lot more using our school's network resources 

We have schools  that we are adding in Leicestershire,  Derbyshire, and also South Glos and Bristol, please help us support more  young biodiversity champions  - Thank you 

Community Biodiversity Champions

We have been busy supporting communities to create orchards we are now taking that a step further by working with those community groups to manage and develop the biodiversity of the areas.   Creating Community Orchards and Wildlife Areas.  We support communities plan, plant and maintain these areas providing training and materials to improve the biodiversity whilst creating a community asset, which primarily creates diverse rich habitats.

Here are some pics of the communities that have already been involved 

This year the Community will be supplying thousands of wildflowers so that the community can plant and enhance the biodiversity of the area.   and managing the area (we support community members with training and produce a grass management plan and work.  We support communities and our volunteers by providing skill-based support.

The image below - Pucklechurch scouts after a great day planting  (this will be part of a new Community Orchard and Wildlife area we are supporting in Pucklechuarch South Gloucestershire)

Why support us?

We are a not-for-profit organisation that exists on donations and grants -  We set out to enable environmental change,  we then created initiatives and put them into practice.  We need your support to  help us  build on what we have achieved already  - In 29 months we have 

 - Helped schools and communities throughout initiatives to plant over 1000+  fruit trees

-  We now have 18 schools currently signed up working to improve the biodiversity of their school grounds with more in the pipeline for the 2023 - 24 academic year 

-  provided over 1500  wildflower plugs  (all native to the uk) 

-  We are currently supporting the development of   6 areas specific,  community groups.  Supporting them develop and manage their own   Community orchards and wildife areas covering 100's of acres of land. 

Your donation will help us build on this work  to enhance the biodiversity  across locations in the UK -   

Thank you 

This project successfully funded on 21st August 2023