Pooh Corner Wildlife and Sustainability Project

Aim

To protect the local environment through sustainable land management and encouraging biodiversity, pollinators and protecting wildlife.

Pooh Corner, Home for Rescued Horses and Ponies CIC was established 2015 to give a safe and loving home to rescued horses and ponies. Local people have always been encouraged to get involved by volunteering and sharing horses and ponies. The aim is to educate the local community and provide opportunities to learnabout horse care and welfare. Our aim is to manage the land as sustainably as possible by encouraging local wildlife, such as birds and pollinators.

Our land is surrounded by woodland that is populated by tawny owls, barn owls, buzzards and badgers. The fields are frequented by deer and hares who enjoy the wild meadows we have sown. Each year we allow the wild flower hay meadow to flower, leaving it as late as possible before mowing to allow the pollinating insects to thrive. For the last two years we have been planting a hawthorn and other mixed native hedge plants (approximately 360 plants), which was supplied by the Woodland Trust and Derbyshire County Council, this is to support the wildlife in the area and provide social opportunities for local people. These will give flowers for pollinators in the spring and berries for a food source in the autumn, as well as to give shade and shelter to the horses, small mammals and birds. 

Local school children and adults have been involved with planting the hedges and preparing the fields by sowing wildflower seed and meadow mix. We have had others come to us via local social subscribers and occupational therapists to support social anxiety and isolation.

There are nest boxes for smaller birds, bat boxes and owl boxes. Our small bird boxes have been used this year by blue tits, as well as swallows and robins nesting in the stables. 

On our other site, there is a pond fed by a natural spring, which we are enlarging and planting up with marginal (marsh) plants below the pond area, which is marsh and provides a unique eco system. This is encourage amphibians, and aquatic insects. 

We have a tyre garden that acts as a retaining wall, which is planted up with willow, herbs and wildflowers.

The horse manure, once well rotted is used to fertilise our fields, or is sold to raise funds.

The funds we raise will be used to...

provide our volunteers with a composting toilet, which we hope will encourage more volunteers to support our cause as it provides convenience and comfort.

buy more seed and plants for next Spring, to enable more planting projects, which will encourage more local people to volunteer and help wildlife thrive. 

to provide a renewable power source to power lights in the winter months. This will create a safer working environment for volunteers working with the horses.

to buy more seeds to continue to support the wildflower meadows.

This project successfully funded on 26th September 2023