The green spaces around Aylsham are about to get an environmental facelift.
Thanks to a £5000 grant from Broadland District Council Future For Nature Fund, the Biodiversity and Nature group will use the money to enhance the biodiversity and environmental value of those spaces.
Included in the project are the Church Yard at St Michael’s, Aylsham Community Gardens (off Holman Road), the Pauper’s Graveyard, St Michael’s Open Space, The Aylsham Community Orchard and the Wild Verge trial area near to Henry Page Road.
At each of the sites there will be a mixture of native bulbs such as snowdrops and aconites and some new trees planted.
ACE member Kate Mackenzie working on a bird box at the Community Shed.
ACE is delighted to have several partners in the project including Aylsham Community Shed who will build bird and bat boxes, hedgehog houses and bug hotels for the sites, Aylsham in Bloom, Aylsham Parish Church and the Town Council.
In addition to work on the sites, the project will produce a downloadable leaflet with a self-guided accessible trail that links the sites and provides information on the natural history. The trail will be suitable for walkers, wheelers and all ages with mostly paths and tracks away from traffic.
Later in the year there will also be some guided walks and activity events on the sites. ACE and the Town Council are keen to involve the local community in both the trail and the works on sites.
To help complete the Bug Hotels we are in need of some untreated pallets and some of cuts of terracotta drain pipes. If you have any of the materials you can donate please contact us by email.
The ways that you can get involved include:
- Joining in a community bulb planting day in the autumn
- Join the community shed and help to build bird and bat boxes
- Coming along on a guided walk or activity day
- Joining the meadow raking event in the summer
- Being community eyes on one of the sites and sharing photographs or records of the nature you have seen there or how the site has changed through the year.
- Agree to monitor and look after a bird or bat box on one of the sites – no charge just help to monitor if there is any activity.
To find out more information or to register please email ACE using connect@ace-aylsham.org
