Creating a wild flower meadow

We’ve turned grassland into wild flower meadows

How we've made a difference

As part of our Natural Surrey Heath project, we approached Watchmoor Business Park about turning some of their grassland into wild flower meadows.

They sprang into action and 1000 sq metres of their lawns was seeded with a mix of bee and insect friendly plants.

The result

A beautiful summer display of flowers, that we're really pleased with.

You can see it from the A331 near Sainsbury's (but please keep your eyes on the road!)

We’re very grateful

Our thanks go to estate manager Rachel Hope for her support in this.

A beautiful summer display

We’re supporting Surrey Heath Tree Wardens to improve this ancient woodland.

Removing unwanted vegetation

Restoring Warren Woods

Invasive laurel and overgrown holly have been removed in order to open up the ground, let more light in and allow a more natural understory to be planted or grow naturally.

This is already showing big benefits. The woodland is changing with interesting new growth emerging. In one or two corners, we have native bluebells and daffodils, although there are still a lot of garden plants to remove including large clumps of Spanish Bluebell.

Homes for birds

At the end of January, we donated 12 bird boxes to Surrey Heath Tree Wardens. Colin Wilson, Vice-Chair of the Trust handed the boxes to Jerry Brownlee, Vice-Chair of the Tree Wardens, assisted by John Mackey who made these superb boxes for us.

They were installed in February, just in time for the nesting season. This will create more habitat for the small birds that haven't been able to find a suitable home due to the removal of the invasive laurel and overgrown holly.

Looking ahead

Warren Wood is beginning to look cared for once more, although it will be some time before it is back to truly demonstrating what an ancient woodland looks like.

We donated 90 copies of 'The Lost Words' to local schools

Donating The Lost Words

Disappearing words

All over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. Kingfisher, dandelion, otter, bramble, acorn and many other words have been removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, distancing our children from nature.

The Lost Words book

This beautiful book highlights the loss of these simple words and is a joyful celebration of nature words and the natural world they invoke.

• Read more about Lost Words
• Buy the book

Our Lost Words project

Thanks to a generous grant from SC Johnson, we sourced enough books for almost all infant and primary schools in Surrey Heath and two adjoining District Council areas, Rushmoor and Hart.

Our volunteers spent a busy weekend packing them up.

We also included a full lesson plan to guide teachers on how to use this book as part of the curriculum.

Finally, we distributed them free of charge.

We’re very proud of the fact that we were one of the first organisations to run a project of this kind – it’s since been copied by many others.

Natural Surrey Heath project launches by giving away 50 bird box kits.

Free nest boxes

Our first step in helping nature was to give away 50 free nest box kits to Surrey Heath residents to celebrate National Nestbox week. The boxes will be strong enough to last for many years.

Owning a nest box

Getting a nest box allows you to see nest building, egg laying, incubating, feeding young and fledging in your own garden – a wonderful way to get close to nature.

Installing a nest box

If you didn’t manage to get a free nest box from us, they are widely available. As long as you get one in place by mid-March, you could soon have birds nesting in your garden.