Biffa Award is a multi-million pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to community and environmental projects across the UK, as part of the Landfill Communities Fund.
The On the Wing project will support species at Whelford Pools, Roundhouse Lake, and Bryworth Lane nature reserves. These areas are important because they are home to a wide range of species, including many which are in need of protection.
Tim Bevan, a Senior Reserve Manager at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust says: “The Cotswold Water Park is a wonderful area, with a mosaic of different habitats next to each other. There is open water, reed beds, woodland, and grassland. There is easy access, making it a great place for visitors to see a huge range of wildlife. The funding from Biffa Award will allow Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers to manage these nature reserves for the correct balance of tree cover, scrub, reed beds and open grass spaces. This benefits the many winged species that find a home and food here.”
Birds in the area include reed buntings and great crested grebes, while wildfowl such as gadwalls and pochards spend the winter here. There are also red-eyed damselflies and downy emerald dragonflies. Noctule bats, Daubenton’s bats and soprano pipistrelle bats are also found around the nature reserves.
