Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (GWT) have recently launched a brand-new online initiative, called 'WilderGlos'. At the heart of this movement is the community, as explained by GWT’s Community Action Officer, Steve Dawson. “It’s a movement about getting people to take action for nature, whether that's as individuals or as a community,” he said. “It's about increasing the accessibility for that information and making it more fun."

Steve's role at GWT, he explained, entails the "new approach of 'bottom-up' consulting with community groups around the county, to see how we as a trust, the wildlife experts, can help, enable and empower them to take action for nature." And this idea helps forms the basis of the new WilderGlos platform.

This project, which has been in the works before COVID-19, is more about empowerment as opposed to 'pure engagement', as Steve said; "we found ourselves doing a lot of events, [giving] advice, activities etc, and found that the drop-off rate was quite high, so [people] were engaged initially but then this would fade. So, we thought, how could we sustain this on a long-term basis? And therefore, be more effective. The idea in the growing movement is that it’s not just us (GWT), it’s lots of different organisations, [having] this notion of building a movement and getting communities involved. And that’s where the ‘bottom-up’ idea comes from."                     

He explained how this new approach could encourage communities into helping their local wildlife. This involves more independence for those involved to create and maintain green spaces themselves, focusing more on gentle guidance and encouragement from GWT, and building confidence.

On GWT's website for the platform, there are resources and easy-to-follow instructional guides on various actions for nature (such as how to build a hedgehog home). There is also the 'WilderGlos family map', showing all the WilderGlos groups local to you, where you can also register your own group. "I’m hoping this will be a good representation of all the community groups in the county taking action for nature, but also as a networking place as well," Steve added. He is also working on Facebook to create a group; "it will be a place for anyone in the county to come together and ask for advice on how to take action in their garden, in their community, or online - all different ways to help wildlife and nature. Hopefully, it can generate good conversations where people are gaining and giving advice."

According to the 2019 State of Nature report, 39% of British species have decreased in number over the past ten years. So just how important are these community projects for helping British wildlife? "Hugely important," Steve says, "it’s [about] the respect of the land and [what's] really important is people taking pride in where they live. The more people are involved in their community, the more likely they are to protect the wildlife around them."

"[GWT] helps with a bit of a scientific [standpoint], such as ‘this is how to best promote biodiversity in your area’, but on the other side is having that emotion and pride of place, so if people are engaged in their community group, they are more likely to spread the word of how to help nature." Steve also mentioned the two-way positivity of engaging in these activities. "It also helps physical and mental health as well, getting out and being social with other people, nature-connectedness... all of these things are shown to have a positive effect on mental wellbeing. So, it’s not only good for the local community but for the individual as well. It’s really important, but also really beneficial."

I was also able to speak to Adele Beaumont, a member of the steering group of Wild Highnam, a nature organisation in this rural village. They work alongside GWT and are planning how to use the new WilderGlos scheme. I asked Adele how she thinks the scheme could help with the community effort in Highnam. "I think WilderGlos provides a clear, informative and fun framework that can help everybody get involved with helping the wildlife in [the village], as well as taking action on climate change.

Adele added: "I think what's promising is its geographically competitive aspect - small communities can work together encouraged by a bit of healthy competition with their neighbouring parishes, which means that every little action helps." On her plans for encouraging people to join the initiative, Adele said, "I think to make it work it needs continual plugging and a critical mass to get things started. It needs someone who is confident and happy to communicate via social media, who has the time for continual encouragement."

This new scheme could have many positive implications on Gloucestershire's wildlife, and those who take the time to help them. It will be exciting to see how this project develops, and I hope whoever is reading feels encouraged to take action to help wildlife too.

The WilderGlos website can be found here -http://wilderglos.greenrewards.co.uk

More of Chloe Harvey's work can be found here - 
https://thewilderside.wixsite.com/1234