Bearsted Woodland Trust (BWT) has been selected as a finalist in this year’s BBC Radio Kent’s Make a Difference Awards.
The popular green space at Church Landway has been nominated by one of the radio station’s listeners for the Environment category in the annual awards. The winners in each of the eight awards categories will be announced at a presentation evening in September.
BWT Management Committee Chair John Wale said: ‘The is wonderful news. We are regular recipients of the Green Flag Community Award but this is the first time we’ve been shortlisted for a BBC Radio Kent award.
‘This award is made “for an individual or group of people who improve or conserve their local environment” and that is something BWT has been striving to achieve since its founding in 2004.
‘Today we maintain, enhance and promote the ecology of our 28-acre green space through a number of initiatives that benefit both the area’s natural habitat and the visitor experience, ‘ he said.
Among these initiatives is the creation of dry hedges throughout the site. Made of piles of branches and twigs arranged to form a barrier, these dry hedges provide a way to dispose of the material that arises from thinning or clearing operations in our woodland.
Using surplus branches in this way is good for wildlife - especially for small mammals and birds - because it gives them somewhere to shelter that is protected from predators and from the wind and rain. It's also good for insects: dead hedges in effect create a linear eco-pile.
BWT’s green space has also been enhanced by the creation of wild flower areas. Several areas been sown with a wild flower mixture containing 27 different varieties of wild flower. These mixes, containing annuals, biennials and perennials, provide ideal pollinators to attract butterflies, bees and other insects.
Grassland benefits from BWT’s regular maintenance regime, with volunteers mowing between March and October. Regular cutting improves the grassland for wild flowers and wildlife but also ensures visitors have easy access to sponsored trees. The mowing regime deliberately leaves areas of longer grass to provide natural wildlife ‘corridors’, while areas under young trees are cut more regularly to help the trees become properly established.
The eight categories in the BBC Make a Difference awards aim to recognise contributions made across various aspects of community life. The finalists are being invited to a ceremony at the Quarter House in Folkestone, where the winners will be revealed.