Wild Walsall Heathlands

Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust: Our Purpose

Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust is at the forefront of Nature’s Recovery, ensuring that local communities and wildlife can thrive together in harmony. For over 40 years, the Trust has been a pioneer of urban conservation in one of the UK’s most industrial and diverse regions. The Trust is committed to a wilder Birmingham and Black Country; protecting, restoring and creating more green and wild spaces for everyone to enjoy. Through innovative conservation efforts, community education programmes, grassroots knowledge-exchange and a dedicated focus on sustainability, Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust empowers and supports local efforts to restore wildlife and leads the charge in addressing wider ecological and climate crises.

Our Impact

• 1,905 hectares of land worked on/where we provided advice with 41 hectares of habitats created/improved (2020/1)
• 7,500 school children engaged annually
• Manage 7 nature reserves with 200,000 visitors annually
• 8161 hours of volunteer time

Our Mission for 2030

• We want to see 30% of Birmingham and the Black Country’s landscape managed to benefit wildlife. 
• We want to see at least 1 in 4 people across the region taking action for nature. 
• We are aiming for 500 hectares of land to be restored to provide nature-based solutions to the Climate Crisis. 

Wild Walsall Heathlands Project

Purpose: 

• To protect, restore and enhance the natural environment in Walsall, including globally rare heathland
• To develop the local communities’ knowledge of environmental issues and reconnect them with Walsall’s natural habitats.

Launching at the end of 2024, Wild Walsall Heathlands is our ambitious new nature recovery project across Walsall, focused on supporting ecologically vital habitats and species, and reconnecting local communities to nature across the borough’s peri-urban area with limited access to nature. The four-year project includes one year of development (including research and planning), and three years of delivery. Through four main project components- conversation management, community engagement, advocacy and project management, we aim to directly work in 1% of the Walsall borough. 

Overall, the project will enhance local biodiversity, connect communities with nature, and contribute to wider climate resilience and well-being goals. There are four main components to this project:

•  Habitat Restoration: improving 55 hectares of priority habitats, including two sites of rare Walsall heathland, one running from Shire Oak Local Nature Reserve in the north, through Barr Beacon, down to Streetly and Sutton Park in the south and the second stretches from Aldridge in the north to Great Barr in the south.  Works will include the creation of lowland heathland, ancient woodland improvement, calcareous grassland restoration and watercourse corridors.
• Community Engagement: hosting events like community walks, health & wellbeing workshops, and citizen science activities to promote environmental awareness and enable community members to take ownership over the protection of their local wildlife. We will also be working with local schools to deliver curriculum-relevant environmental education. Our project plans have been crafted with local community groups and all our community engagement activities improve awareness of the area’s geological heritage.
• Advocacy for Nature Recovery: collaborating with stakeholders, local authorities, and policymakers to support nature conservation and recovery efforts through data-driven insights.
• Project Management: ensuring effective planning, monitoring, and evaluation throughout the four-year project.

How does this project protect against the impacts of climate change?

The Wild Walsall Heathlands Project actively addresses climate change through habitat restoration, and community engagement. By enhancing the resilience of Walsall's ecosystems, the project reduces the vulnerability of these landscapes to climate-related stressors, such as extreme weather events, habitat degradation, and species decline. Key ways the project supports climate adaptation and mitigation include:

1.    Restoring and Expanding Climate-Resilient Habitats: By restoring 55 hectares of lowland heathlands, woodlands, grasslands, and river corridors, the project strengthens habitats, like heathland and watercourses, that are more resilient to climate extremes, such as droughts and floods respectively. Woodland expansion will also enhance the overall ecosystem stability, by increasing the region’s capacity to absorb and store carbon.

2.    Engaging and Educating the Community for Climate-Ready Conservation: The project’s strong community engagement component includes training and educational sessions including Climate Cafes which facilitate conversations around youth-led climate action, preparing local residents to understand and address the effects of climate change. By promoting citizen science and nature-based solutions, the project empowers residents to participate in conservation and resilience-building activities, fostering long-term stewardship and climate adaptation practices.

Why are we requesting funding?

The project has an estimated cost of £1.2 million over its four-year duration. With the majority secured from funders including the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Natural England and the Environment Agency, we are now seeking to raise an additional £26,000 to significantly enhance the project’s social impact and sustainability, ensuring long-term benefits for nature's recovery and Walsall's communities. This would include increased funding for:

• 15 public events (£6000): We will have regular community events, including walks through the improved habitat, informational talks inspired by Walsall's geological heritage, a public Summer Festival promoting the project, with walks, stalls, and play activities (pond dipping, species ID) and a end of project celebration event for public and partners. These will connect people to the habitat near to their homes, but also ensures there is plenty of space for local people’s priorities and concerns to be reflected in the work we do. 
• 10 school sessions (£4000): We will also work closely with local schools, our Education Officer, who currently oversees our school engagement sessions, will lead these efforts, ensuring curriculum-relevant and impactful environmental education, including orienteering, pond dipping and habitat identification workshops, to inspire and empower the next generation to take action for nature.
• 10 citizen science sessions(£4000): These sessions engage people in nature recording, though species mapping exercises, specialist software training (iNaturalist) and nature observation workshops. They equip local communities with the knowledge and tools necessary for long-lasting environmental stewardship.
• 15 wellbeing sessions (£6000): Access to biodiverse green spaces is linked to improved physical and mental health and wellbeing, (Lovell et al 2014). Our community wellbeing sessions will maximise these benefits through nature walks, guided meditation and nature workshops, leaving a  legacy of improved public health, wellbeing and quality of life for Walsall's communities.
• 5 climate cafés (£6000): We will deliver our ‘Climate Cafés’ to engage and empower our young community members around climate resilience, facilitating important conversations around climate risk mitigation and community-led action with young adults.

We estimate that least 2,500 people will directly attend some form of community provision. This community engagement strategy underscores our commitment to providing access to natural spaces that can significantly enhance the quality of life for Walsall's communities.

How many people will this project benefit?

With 116,000 people within walking distance (assumed as half an hour walk or less) of at least some area of our planned improved habitat and an estimated 61% of people in the UK spending time experiencing nature at least once a fortnight (The People and Nature Survey for England), with the figures at around 49% for the most deprived areas, it is reasonable to forecast that more than 50,000 people would directly benefit from the improved green spaces and enhanced health and wellbeing at least once in the year, with a significant percentage of those visiting on multiple occasions. 

In particular, our project aims to benefit Walsall’s diverse local communities, particularly those with limited access to nature. This lack of access disproportionately affects residents in areas such as Blakenell,  which is within the top 3% most deprived in the UK (Multiple Indices of Deprivation 2019). Areas like this are within walking distance of our project sites, making them priority beneficiaries.

Why is this project needed?

The Wild Walsall Heathlands project is urgently needed to address critical threats to biodiversity and to seize a unique opportunity for nature recovery in the Walsall area. The project is focused on restoring lowland heathlands, a globally rare and declining habitat, which is under severe threat from urban expansion, pollution and neglect. 

This project combines urgent conservation efforts with a robust community engagement program to reconnect diverse, often deprived, local communities with their natural environment. In a town with significant health inequalities and low life expectancy, the project’s community engagement component can offer vital health and social benefits.

In addition, by transforming fragmented and degraded landscapes into thriving, interconnected habitats, the project not only preserves unique species and biodiversity but also enhances local well-being, resilience to climate change, and health through accessible green spaces. It leverages a rare, time-sensitive opportunity to align with ongoing regional initiatives, such as the Purple Horizons project and the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), securing a comprehensive, landscape-scale intervention that both protects natural heritage and empowers local people to become stewards of their environment.

How will this project be evaluated?

Success will be measured through ecological assessments, community feedback, and strategic outcomes, including integration into local policy. The evaluation findings will be shared with key stakeholders and the Wildlife Trust network, promoting best practices for future conservation projects.

Why are we needed?

The landscape of Birmingham and the Black Country region has a rich social, economic and cultural heritage, which is enriched by incredibly ecological diversity, with urban green spaces, ancient woodlands, wetlands, heathlands and integral rivers each with its own unique ecosystem. The region is also home to UNESCO Geopark sites, the Inspiration for JRR Tolkien’s ‘Old Forest’ and National nature reserves. However, the region’s wildlife is under intense pressure from residential and commercial development as well as pollution, climate change and misinformation. Without our intervention, many of these areas would be lost forever, destroyed or forgotten. By supporting Birmingham and the Black Country Wildlife Trust you will be making a tangible difference in one of the most diverse, and yet deprived, regions in the Country. Together, we can drive the Trust’s unique mission of urbanised conservation, ensuring that future generations will inherit a region rich in biodiversity, where people and wildlife coexist in a healthy, vibrant environment.

Our Needs

The ongoing challenges posed by environmental degradation and climate change mean that we must continually adapt and expand our efforts. To continue our vital work, we rely on the generosity of a wide range of supporters. Donations enable us to carry out critical conservation projects, run educational programs, and advocate for policies that protect wildlife.