Having been here now for over four months I (Keziah) think it’s about time I introduced myself! I started as a full time volunteer for Coombes on the 2nd June at the Open Day, making dragonflies out of pipe-cleaners. Since then I have spent my time with both the visitor engagement and warden teams, and now my focus is on landscape scale conservation. Essentially, landscape scale conservation is giving all nature a home on a large scale, making networks of spaces that ensure our wildlife will be able to thrive into the future. This is how our landscape used to be and we want to get it back that way by helping join up fragments of habitat.
The RSPB’s contribution to landscape scale conservation is the Futurescapes program. Coombes and Churnet Valleys Reserve lies within the Staffordshire Woods and Moors Futurescape, which covers over 51000Ha. The Staffordshire Woods and Moors is in it’s infancy, so I have been spending a lot of time looking at maps and using my own local knowledge (I have lived in the area all my life!), to think about what we might be able to do to improve the landscape for wildlife.
A view showing Coombes Valley in the wider landscape. Image from RSPB images.
There are things that everyone can do to help. The Churnet Valley Living Landscape Partnership has lots of volunteering opportunities for people to make a contribution through physical conservation work including invasive species control and habitat management. Another way would be to give nature a home in your own garden.
Please have a look at our events page to see ways of getting involved on the reserve itself. http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/c/coombeschurnet/
I hope to see you, and hear any thoughts on this topic you may have, soon!