After our AGM on the 14^th January 2025, we hosted our first edition of the BVCT awards, celebrating the successes of volunteers, local groups and particular species across the length of our valley.

We were kindly joined by the deputy mayor of Sandhurst, Cllr Paul Widdowson and the chair of the Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership, Cllr Adrian Collett, who presented our awards.

We presented awards in four categories, with the winners giving presentations on the night.

Conservation Project of the Year

Nominees:

• Bog Rescue at Rowhill Nature Reserve
• River Restoration at Shawfields
• Grassland enhancement at Runfold Ridge

And our winner was Floating Pennywort eradication at sites along the River Blackwater. The award was presented to Martin from the Loddon Fisheries & Conservation Consultative

Access to Nature Project of the Year

Nominees:

• Blandford Sang, a joint project between the BVCP and the Land Trust
• Cove Greenway Fun Day
• Tice’s Meadow social media

And our winner was Queen Elizabeth Park community events. The award was present to Lynne from the friends of Queen Elizabeth park.

Local Group of the Year

Nominees:

• BVCP Thursday volunteers
• Moor Green Lakes group
• Southwood Woodland improvement group

And our winner was the Friends of Brickfields group. Sadly, they were unable to attend the event but their award will be passed on.

Species of the Year

Nominees:

• Coot, the proud representative of the Valley
• Greater Yellow rattle, a rare species that was found in the valley for the first time this year
• Self-Heal, a common grassland species that was abundant this year
• Southern Marsh Orchid, which put on a fine show at Southwood country park thanks to the damp summer

And our winner were Noctules, with one of the biggest colonies in England residing in Wellesley Woods. We were unable to get a single representative from the bat population, so the award was presented to Steve Bailey on their behalf!

There was also a Lifetime achievement award for the Trusts very own Bernard Baverstock. For very many years he has been involved with conservation work across the Valley drawing on his knowledge and his considerable practical skills to protect and promote the Valley’s wildlife. He has an unparalleled breadth of knowledge across many species, both faunal and floral, and sites. He is always willing to share this, and to help others to understand the wonders of nature which so fascinate him.

For a long time he was the chair of Camberley Natural History Society organising meetings, talks and field trips. Until recently he was mammal recorder at Moor Green Lakes.

He has been a trustee of the BVCT since 2008, heading the Trust’s work on conservation projects and surveys, among other things leading bird- and bee-box making days and bat walks, enthusing children with pond-dipping and owl pellet dissection, leading our swift project, and helping to establish community gardens in a variety of locations. He has organised, led and taken part, for the Trust and other organisations, in very many practical tasks including planting trees, meadow plants and hedges, heathland and pond clearances, and carried out surveys of trees, reptiles, birds and bats. He also manages his garden in the suburbs of Camberley as a haven for wildlife.

Congratulations, Bernard. Very well deserved.

It’s been 5 years since work started on the community garden at Holy Trinity, Aldershot, with the aim of creating a wildlife friendly area in the Victorian church’s grounds. Information was gathered from various nature oriented trusts and with much help from local volunteers the garden started to take shape. Now visitors are greeted by flowering rowans or cherry trees at the church’s entrances.

The wildlife hedge from Woodland Trust is beginning to mature and the nectar bars are attracting pollinators. The old yew garden has become a haven of flowers and trees and the vegetable beds have flourished.

Last year the church was successful in its bid to acquire one of the Queen’s jubilee trees. The Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire wielded a spade  and joined with volunteers to celebrate the apt arrival of a native  alder tree.

This year the church was thrilled to be awarded its silver Eco church award!

It is twenty years since, on 15 September 2003, the Blackwater Valley Countryside Trust was incorporated as a limited company. We registered as a charity in 2006.

Dave Pilkington was our founding chairman and treasurer and our initial aim was to tap into funds which public bodies such as the Partnership could not access, and use them to improve the 23-mile Blackwater Valley Path and the Valley environment more generally. Dave’s enthusiasm guided us until his death in 2014, but there have been many others who have donated their time and skills.

Raising funds and supporting projects remain among our key activities. Over the years, fuelled by the various enthusiasms of our trustees and other helpers, we have also taken a more handson approach in some areas. We have contributed over £250,000 (and over £20,000 in small grants to organisations whose aims match our own) and much time and expertise to:
• build and install roosting and nesting boxes for various birds and mammals. This includes 261 bat boxes and 3 hibernacula, 150 dormouse boxes, hedgehog boxes, around 100 swift boxes, and innumerable boxes for other birds;
• enrich the native flora along the Valley, particularly in degraded woodlands;
• improve reed beds;
• erect 50 stumperies where stag beetles can mature;
• resurface paths and install seats and signage along the Valley;
• promote wildlife-rich community gardens and churchyards.

We have organised walks and talks so people can enjoy the environment and learn more about it. Major walks have attracted over 250 participants, many of whom used the walk to raise money for charities. We have provided links between wildlife, access and local interest communities along the Valley, organising the Forum in 2017 and the Blackwater River Festival
in 2019.

Within the last few years, we launched a Rail to Trail campaign to encourage people not only to get out into the countryside more, but to do so using one or more of the railway stations along the Valley. (Of course it would be as beneficial to the environment to use local buses or your own pedal power, rather than drive the car.) We adopted North Camp station in 2021.

With your help we can achieve as much, maybe more, during the next twenty years.

The Trust is pleased to announce it has been awarded £26,000 by Farnborough Airport Community Environmental Fund to support tree planting in Rushmoor. This is a joint project with Rushmoor Council aimed at increasing tree cover in urban areas. We have agreed that the Council can use this amount as match funding for their bid to the Urban Tree Challenge Fund which if successful would significantly increase the funds available.