Merry Christmas from the Westbrook Waspies

Merry Christmas to all our supporters. Your efforts have paid off and now this land has been saved from development. General agreement has now been achieved that it will be managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust and supported by WASPS volunteers to create what could be called the Westbrook Undercliff Nature Park.

So we look forward to the New Year and working with TDC, KWT and local volunteers to create a special place for wildlife and the community. It is hoped to run a volunteer taster day in February so if you want to get down and dirty watch this space for further details.

Dark Forces



Unfortunately another burnt out car has appeared on the site. Can you all please keep you eyes open and report anything suspicious to the police. There are people out there that want to ruin anything good. lets do what we can to stop this trend of dumping cars on this site.

Well done to Councillor Simon Moores for getting the last one removed quickly. Lets hope this one can be removed as soon as it is safe to do so.

Duncan Down

Sunday Afternoon Walk

Last Sunday we went to Whitstable to have a look at another village green. This one is surrounded by housing and not that easy to find. It was land that was saved from development by a Village Green Application.

The following pictures show what can be achieved when the community work with their local Council (Canterbury) and the Kent Wildlife Trust. This site was awarded the Green Flag by Breathing Spaces.







Biodiversity

Access is from a number entrances from the housing estate. On entering you are immediately into countryside. There are hedgerows, thicket, a meadow for wild flowers, trees and a number of ponds. There is considerable evidence of wildlife as well as space for people to enjoy walks. I must congratulate The Friends of Duncan Down, Canterbury City Council and Kent Wildlife Trust for creating this haven within a built up area. Despite being within a mixed area of housing there would appear to be no evidence of vandalism and it is no doubt used and appreciated by local people.
Visit the website below for information on this site and others.

http://www.canterbury.gov.uk/main.cfm?objectid=1430

Who wants to help with our survival?

The big threat

Some of you may have seen the Panorama program a month or two ago. It showed the importance of bees and other insects and how they pollinate our plants to deliver us our fruit. It showed what would happen if this job was not done by these guys and how this would devastate our economy and the supply of food. We take these little fellows for granted and their numbers have decreased.

Don't get me wrong, I am no tree hugger but it makes sense that we should do all we can to encourage them.

Thanet and biodiversity

Unfortunately Thanet is not well off for open spaces and natural habitats. However moves are afoot to stem the decline and increase Biodiversity. Kent Wildlife Trust has been meeting with our council and looking for opportunities along our clifftops and parks etc. to be used to create biodiversity under the Living Landscapes project. Using volunteers it is hoped that sites will be managed by them to encourage more wild flowers and plants. This is a win win situation as the council gets to save the money they don't have to maintain these areas and they can be used to create natural beauty and biodiversity. The local community will be able to get involved in making Thanet a better place. No doubt this could be part of "The Big Society" which none of us really understand.

The land on Westbrook Promenade is one of these likely areas which are ideal. WASPS have been campaigning to save this piece of land from development and now there is the opportunity to create a valuable natural resource!

It is not certain when agreements will be in place but it would be good to know who is interested.

If you would like to help make this happen please let us know. You can be involved as little or as much as you like. Whether its hands on conservation, offering your knowledge of flora and fauna, administration or fund raising. You can contact us through the e-mail address link at top of this blog.