Situated in South Bristol and comprise of the neighbourhoods, Hengrove, Stockwood and Whitchurch.
BS14 is fortunate enough to have a number of large green spaces, including parks, nature reserves, allotments, meadows and wildlife corridors along rivers and cycle/ walking paths. Pretty much all of BS14 is situated on Buglife’s B-Lines, which is a biodiversity network (think of it as an insect or wildlife transport network that spans across the country). This highlights the potential of BS14 being an important wildlife corridor, not only within the city, but also across the country.
So far the BS14 Wildlife group has had an emphasis on engaging the community to share and record their wildlife sightings. Sightings and wildlife events are shared on our BS14 Wildlife facebook group. You can also get involved by recording Wildlife on our iNaturalist group.
We’ve just finished the BS14 Green Spaces Audit, which gives some information about some of the different green spaces in our area and what each space is doing for wildlife.
Maria Siepe gave so much great information about the Sturminster Wildlife Corridor for the green spaces audit that I wasn’t able to fit it all in. So we’ve turned it into a guide, which we hope will inspire people to go out, explore the area and also to litter pick along the way. You can download the guide below:
Thank you to Peter Goodwin and Ken Hadlow for sharing some stunning wildlife photos of Stockwood Open Space with us.
Wildlife Opportunities
- Bat walks – I plan to lead some bat walks in South Bristol this year, but would really love to train some people to be able to lead some bat walks in their local green spaces or for their local groups. If you’d like to help out, drop me an email at kellyjsheldrick@gmail.com
If you’re interested in finding out more about bats, gardening for bats and bat boxes then the following Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) resources are great:
- The Whitchurch Wombles group sums up the BS14 community spirit and energy. The group are a very active litter-picking group that arranges community litter picks across the area and I’m sure have saved much wildlife from entanglement as well as ingesting plastics and all sorts of nasties. Their slogan is “Looking after our beautiful area by litter picking and being proud of where we live.” The group share their litter pick events and stats on Facebook.
- Friends of group for Hengrove Mounds and Hawkfield Meadows – We have some exciting things happen on these green spaces, including involving Street Goat to manage the brambles (so although not likely this year, there will be some goat related volunteer roles in the future)! We’ll also be looking for someone to help set up a butterfly transect (we have a small blue colony next to the green space) and with organising some community slowworm surveys. Email: Moundsandmeadows@gmail.com
Bristol Wildlife 