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Wildlife workshop thanks to Wildflower Society

Credit: Kieron Huston

Our Urban Wildlife Champions learned about grassland management with Essex Wildlife Trust experts.

Wildflower Society funds Urban Wildlife Champion learning

On 30June, with Wildflower Society funding, Colin Austin (EECOS ecologist) and Danielle Carbott (Urban Engagement Officer) led a workshop for some of our wonderful Urban Wildlife Champions in Fordham Heath with a focus on grassland habitat management.

They spent the morning exploring and discovering a variety of grass and wildflower species, becoming familiar with positive indicators on neutral and acid grassland. Common bird’s-foot trefoil, common sorrel, knapweed, meadow vetchling, tufted vetch, yellow rattle, tormentil, cat’s ear hawkbit, sweet vernal grass, yorkshire fog, and meadow foxtail were some of the species spotted, but the highlight of the day was the first flowering sneezewort!

 

Common birdsfoot trefoil

Common bird's foot trefoil - Philip Precey

knapweed

Knapweed - Chris Gomersall/2020VISION

meadow foxtail

Meadow foxtail - Richard Burkmar

Our Urban Wildlife Champions are integral to our Wilder Essex vision, with many developing projects focused on the protection, enhancement, or creation of grassland habitats in their local green spaces. Empowering communities to take action in their own locality by developing new skills and understanding will support our towns and villages and welcome nature right on their doorsteps. Without Wildflower Society’s funding, our first workshop would not have been possible, and we thank them for supporting us create a Wilder Essex.

Urban wildlife champions learning about wildflowers

Urban Wildlife Champions learning about wildflowers and grassland management.

Our Urban Wildlife Champions enjoyed the day and said the following:

Angela: "I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this morning. From initially just seeing 'grass', the morning allowed me to discover the diversity and intricacies of the growth that takes place once a space is allowed to develop and become more natural. It allowed us all to become much more observant, and be able to distinguish different species, with the knowledge that we don't have to 'know' it all, just have a greater awareness, it makes me excited to take part in future plans."

Pascale: "Thank you so very much for a really enjoyable and informative morning amongst the glorious grasses and wildflowers at Fordham Heath. Colin’s knowledge and enthusiasm were inspirational, and it was just lovely to be with people enjoying what’s truly valuable in life." 

To find out what our Urban Wildlife Champions are up to, check out our Story Map:

Meet our champions

I want to become an Urban Wildlife Champion! 

For more information about Wildflower Society, click here. 

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