Last year we reported the launch of this project, spearheaded by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and supported by Keele University, SMDC, Outside Arts and ourselves among others.  Work has now started on the selected sites for the project and we are currently doing the baseline surveys that are needed to record progress over the coming years.  Most of this is done by volunteers from MCA, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and members of local community groups who are supporting their ‘patch’. 

The surveys involve identifying different plant and animal species, recording their locations and taking soil and water samples where appropriate. Project staff have been running training workshops but it’s not too late to get involved - via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  You can also locate the selected sites by going to the project’s interactive map.

Baseline surveys done so far include sites in Cheadle, Tean, as well as Haregate and Woodcroft in Leek. Swifts of Leek are supporting a second site in Haregate, known for its vibrant swift population, but they will be doing the full vegetation and soil survey as well next week, with guidance from the Project’s PhD researcher, Alana Wheat. They're fun to do and usually there's plenty of opportunity to engage with passing members of the public who are intrigued to know what we're up to. What better way to engage with nature in a constructive way!

Groups looking to do something about the state of their local river often come at the issue from different angles. Manifold CAN is nature-focused but has support from anglers; the Friends of Cecilly Brook have a particular interest in improving the health of one of the last water vole habitats in the district. The Friends of the River Tean, Churnet and Blithe are especially focused on flooding and sewage spills from an ailing Seven Trent storm overflow. Other groups such as Dane Valley Climate Action have dipped their toes in the water via the entry-level Great UK Water Blitz (the next one at the end of April).

This variety of aims and ambitions makes it important that — once they go beyond fun or educational activities — groups should ask themselves a number of questions. What data do they wish to collect and why? Do they want to check whether river quality is changing — for better, or for worse? Do they suspect something is amiss and want to find the cause?

And if they wish to use these data to promote remedial action, how can they make sure the information they collect is robust enough?

Read more: Local Citizen Science Action for Water

Flood management used to be all about heavy-duty engineering – forcing water though rigid channels or building artificial barriers. But increasingly, the emphasis is switching to working with Nature, rather than against it.

Already in Staffordshire Natural Flood Management (NFM) schemes are being slowly put in place.

NFM is a holistic approach to flood management working at a whole catchment scale. In the headwaters of a catchment, leaky dams created by felling trees across a watercourse slow the flow of water whilst also providing habitat. Ponds and reedbeds not only store water but help to clean it too, whilst good management of upland habitats means that our land can act as a ‘sponge’ by absorbing and storing water.

There are projects in the Mere country beyond Newcastle, at Burton and above Endon, but the flagship project in the county is the Stafford Brooks scheme which targets 25 locations along Stafford’s rivers and streams, improving habitats which will enable wildlife to thrive. This project will reduce flood risk to nearby houses and businesses, alleviating seasonal pressures felt across the town caused by regular flooding.

This project also has a particular focus on extending, restoring and creating new habitats. These restored areas will become home to a variety of wildlife including otters, wading birds and a range of amphibians.

The new developments will also use natural solutions such as wetlands and reed beds to help filter polluted run-off from roads.

Photo credit: Staffordshire Wildlife Trust (with our addition).

We were excited to discover this highly professional toolkit for farmers who are keen to reduce their carbon emissions and also sequestrate carbon on their land - effectively farming carbon. It has been written by farmers, for farmers. In their words "it is not a definitive guide – more a distillation of useful information and sign-posting, designed to give you a good grasp of the issues and actions around tackling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on your farm. 

Whether you consider yourself conventional, organic or on a journey towards regenerative farming or agroecology, you are welcome. We hope our toolkit gives you the tools to make sense of the subject and take positive action in response."

Enjoy....

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We launched the Nature in Your Neighbourhood project at our HuG Festival this June and immediately attracted interest from across the Moorlands. We were always keen to give people as many visual keys as possible – to bring the project to life. We’re glad to say that Foxlowe visitors flocked to the project map, which was on a stall ably staffed by Angie Turner of Keele University and Briony Davison of Staffordshire Wildlife Trust (plus Briony’s dog Finn!)  Since then, we have taken the map around the Moorlands, including recently to the Leek and District Agricultural Show.

Nature in Your Neighbourhood, spearheaded by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, has MCA, Keele University, OUTSIDE Arts, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and Staffordshire Council Voluntary Youth Services as partners. Its key aims are to enhance biodiversity in the Moorlands as well as calculate  and demonstrate its impact on climate change. 

For this five-year project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund,  we start by asking residents to nominate potential sites this year. The partnership will then help communities or a group to manage the sites better. Support will include Bioblitzes, training in ecological monitoring and management and, where necessary, any negotiations with landowners. 

Read more: Nature in Your Neighbourhood - At HUG

As members of the Nature Group know well, there are many ideas and initiatives on nature trails, some coming from the council and more from local communities. Two of our members, Jane Tattersall and Penny Oakley, had a meeting with Katie Hampton, SMDC’s biodiversity officer, in April in an effort to bring these closer to fruition. One of these is the proposed Leek Nature Trail, which could also address public health. Angela Dale, the SMDC officer with responsibility for promoting health and wellbeing, was also at the meeting. Angela has the lead on a new initiative called Move More. The aim is to encourage residents of Staffs Moorlands to walk more in their community, using graded routes. There will be an emphasis on the positive aspects of being out in green spaces, on both physical health and mental wellbeing. Better still, there is funding available to promote this initiative.

Angela and Katie envisage signage in Leek town centre, information boards at key points on the trail, the map being promoted on a specific part of the SMDC website and posters being available for public places such as health centres, libraries and tourist information outlets. SMDC would take responsibility for the graphics and the promotional materials; MCA's role would be to identify the significant areas of biodiversity in Leek and the routes or mapping. Katie will be contacting the Foxlowe’s Chris Thompson to talk to him about the Tree Trail and Kate Hamey (Swifts of Leek) to identify the key areas for swifts in Leek. Katie and Angela will get back to us once they have confirmed that this project is going ahead. Assuming this is confirmed, we hope that MCA members will all be able to produce information about the sections of Leek they feel should be included in the nature trails.

Read more: Nature Trails and Pesticides