Keeping the Vale Wild & Green

Aim

We are fundraising to help protect & enhance the natural beauty and heritage of the Vale of Evesham for the benefit of people and wildlife

Introduction

We are Vale Landscape Heritage Trust, a wildlife and local heritage conservation charity based in the Vale of Evesham, and Pershore (Worcestershire).

Our aims are:

• to conserve areas of traditional farmland
• to protect and enhance the natural beauty and heritage of the Vale for the benefit of people and wildlife.
• to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of nature within the local agricultural landscape.

From humble beginnings back in 1999, we now own over 350 acres of land which we manage in a sympathetic and sensitive way for the benefit of people and wildlife. Traditional fruit orchards and floodplain meadows are our main focus, but we also care for areas of woodland, wetland, and wildflower meadow, keeping a small part of the Vale's heritage alive for future generations and providing a haven for wildlife today.

In addition to our hands on practical management, we also hold and attend events around the Vale where we engage with local people and communities promoting our incredible green spaces and the importance of wildlife conservation.

To continue what we are doing to care for and promote the wildlife, wild spaces, and heritage of the Vale of Evesham, we need your help! All money raised will be used to directly support our work, from purchasing new equipment and site infrastructure, to going towards staff time.

Save our Wild Isles Community Fund will give give £2 for every £1 donated!  

More information about us can be found on our website (https://valetrust.weebly.com/)  and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/valetrust

Our Work

From planting and pruning traditional fruit trees, and creating and caring for valuable habitats, to engaging with local communities, our work is hugely varied and has a positive impact on the landscape. So, what do we do?

Boosting local biodiversity by restoring and connecting habitats and creating space for nature, and reducing the impacts of climate change

One of our main aims as a charity is to restore and care for important agricultural land including old orchards and grasslands. When we take them on, these sites have often been heavily fertilised (referred to as ‘improved’ in an agricultural context) and/or neglected for many years, meaning they have low value for wildlife. However, through sympathetic management, we can slowly begin to increase the biodiversity and the species richness of the area.

We strive to create green spaces with maximum utility for wildlife by diversifying the habitat types on our sites.

Our orchards are superb examples of this, with food and shelter being provided to fit the needs of an enormous range of wildlife including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, invertebrates, plants, and fungi! The different elements of the site work to support many different species at every stage of their lives, from the fruit and dead wood of the mature trees to the pollen and nectar of the wildflower grassland beneath, the protection and connectivity provided by the established hedges that surround the site, and the water and shelter of ditches and ponds. These sites act as oases and strong holds for vulnerable wildlife species, providing steppingstones so they can move between green spaces across the landscape.

Figure 1 shows Hampton Orchard, a plum orchard, with an excellent example of a wildflower meadow beneath it

 Species Success Stories

The Greater Butterfly Orchid is classified as Near Threatened and is uncommon in the UK, however, due to the carful management of the grassland beneath our Orchards at Hipton Hill, we have this year recorder of 3000 of these beautiful plants!

Figure 2 shows a Greater Butterfly Orchid in Hipton Hill Orchards

The Grizzled Skipper is an increasingly rare species butterfly which is now only found in a few sites across the county. However, it has found a stronghold on our site at Hipton Hill thanks to our management promoting the presence of plant species important to the Skippier, including Wild Strawberry, and St John’s Wart, and is now starting to spread to other nearby sites.

Figure 3 shows a Grizzled Skipper in Hipton Hill Orchards

We support the motoring of bird species on our sites and across the Vale of Evesham, including spices that are Red Listed on UK Birds of Conservation Concern, as well as supporting and monitoring the continued rise and expansion of populations of species such as Barn Owls.

Figure 4 shows 3 Barn Owl chicks being ringed by a licensed professional as part of a monitoring project.

An increase in extreme and unpredictable weather resulting from climate change is causing wildlife to become out of sync with their habitats, which negatively impacts their ability to survive and reproduce. We are taking action to help protect against the impact of this by creating, restoring, and caring for orchards, wetlands, and grassland which act as effective carbon sinks. We help prevent and prepare for the issues caused by climate change by planting trees (fruit trees, hedgerows, and woodland trees) across our sites, providing comprehensive and essential aftercare to greatly increase their chances of surviving, particularly through the scorching hot, and dry summers we are now experiencing. When mature, these trees provide shelter and a vital food source for many species as well as also acting as carbon sinks. Towards the end of their lives, where we can, we leave the dead and decaying trees as standing dead wood and create dead hedges with cut scrub (brash), providing more valuable habitat for a whole host of animals, from saprophytic invertebrates to bats, rather than releasing the carbon via burning for example.   

Figure 5 shows newly planted fruit trees, mature fruit trees and dead wood in situ, with a Ant hills in the wildflower meadow beneath

Connecting local communities to their wild spaces, building skill & knowledge, and encouraging pro-environmental behavior 

The many positive benefits of being outside and in direct contact with nature and green spaces, for both our physical and mental health, are well known. Therefore, where it is appropriate to do so, we encourage local communities to come onto some of our sites to be able to be in, and enjoy, nature. Good examples of some of our sites that are open to local communities are: Hipton Hill Orchards, North Littleton Community Orchard, South Littleton Nature Reserve, and Lower Moor (https://valetrust.weebly.com/our-sites.html ). We believe that by allowing members of the public to access these sites, we not only benefit their own wellbeing, but by showcasing the benefits of nature sensitive management, we can help change attitudes towards wildlife and get people to take responsibility for caring for their local environment.

We provide information on the work we do, as well as giving information on local wildlife, in our quarterly newsletter (https://valetrust.weebly.com/newsletters.html ) and on our social media page ( https://www.facebook.com/valetrust ). As well as demonstrating effective, pro-environmental management techniques, we receive question from members of the public on how they can help wildlife because of these information platforms.

One of our aims as a charity is to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of nature within the local agricultural landscape, and as an extension of this, to inspire them to take some form of pro-environmental action. This can be by providing financial support to nature conservation organisations, by volunteering with us and having a positive, hands on role in benefiting the wild spaces we care for around the Vale of Evesham, or by making changes on their land and in their own communities to benefit wildlife. We achieve this through direct contact with members of the public at local and national scale events where we talk with people to promote the work we do to benefit the wildlife and wild spaces around the Vale of Evesham. Additionally, we encourage and answer questions about wildlife and what can be done to help at different scales, from creating a pollinator friendly window box, to managing woodlands and orchards in a more wildlife friendly manner.

Figure 6 shows our information stand at the Three Counties Show

Independently and in conjunction with other similar organisations we also run sessions and walks to help boost the skills, knowledge, and confidence of local people to help them better care for their own green spaces! This has included running fruit tree grafting workshops and pruning workshops.

Figure 7 shows a pruning workshop that we ran at our site, Stocken Orchard

We also run weekly, practical volunteer work parties we work with amazing individuals, who are all members of local communities around the Vale of Evesham, to manage our site by undertaking tasks that range from planting trees to caring for wildflower meadows and undertaking wildlife survey work. As well as providing skill, knowledge and confidence building opportunities, this brings together like minded people who would otherwise not have met. Our volunteers are also able to be hands on and directly connected to nature, helping restore and mange sites that are too sensitive to be open to the general public.

Figure 8 shows our amazing volunteer planting a hedge on a newly acquired site

 Looking to the future we would like to explore options for working with young people to help build their skills, knowledge and confidence in an outdoor setting allowing them to get hands on with local green spaces and encouraging them to take action for wildlife. We are also planning to create a citizen science wildlife monitoring scheme, with the aim being to train local people to identify wildlife species around our orchards for the purpose of obtaining records to monitor wildlife populations.

Local & community heritage and connecting to history

The landscape of the Vale of Evesham has been shaped by its market gardening past which also had an impact on the wildlife of the area. Links to this part of the Vales history can be seen in the form of ‘hovels’ which are small, distinctive building unique to the market gardening heritage of the Vale of Evesham. We were involved in a project to restore several of these fascinating little buildings and to promote their importance to the market gardens of the past, ensuring a tangible and informative link to the history of the Vale of Evesham.

Figure 9 Shows a restored hovel and the interpretation board created as part of the hovels project.

This project successfully funded on 10th August 2023