UP! - North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

■ White horses and hill figures
were highlighted in a very
successful exhibition and
study days staged by the
Wiltshire Heritage Museum
in Devizes (see pages 6-8).
www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk
■ Thousands of Iron Age finds
uncovered at Wittenham
Clumps, when Channel 4’s Time
Team undertook a ‘dig’ assisted by
the Northmoor Trust, Oxford Archaeology
and local volunteers, have now been
detailed in an SDF-funded book.
■ The Friends of the Ridgeway have been
able to develop their plans for a new path,
The Great Stones Way, linking the ancient
monuments of Avebury and Stonehenge.
www.ridgewayfriends.org.uk
■ Traditional stonecraft is being used to
help survey, maintain and restore Victorian
memorials in local churchyards.
www.stoneartcrafts.co.uk (article page 39)
ENJOYING THE PRESENT….
■ Hungerford Food Festival is now an
annual event thanks to SDF funding and
the support of local community groups
such as the Hungerford Environmental
Action Team.
■ An interactive wildlife trail, set around
the Organic Research Centre’s Elm Farm at
Hamstead Marshall, now has better signage
and publicity to attract visitors. Contact
Roger Hitchings on 01488 658298 (ext 512).
■ Walking around Hamstead Marshall is
more fun thanks to a range of local walking
guides containing clear route maps, and
information on land use, history, flora,
fauna, viewpoints and the Country Code.
■ Dark skies are now being studied by
young eyes thanks to SDF-funded building
and equipping of a mobile observatory by
The Richmond Fellowship (article page 43).
www.richmondfellowship.org.uk
■ Ashampstead residents have produced a
book for newcomers to the community to
encourage them to discover, understand,
value and contribute to the parish. An SDF
grant also assisted production of the
community-led Ashampstead Parish Plan, a
five-year initiative to protect and improve
beauty and tranquillity.
. . . PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
■ Redds in the bed? Action for the River
Kennet (ARK) staged a training course to
enable volunteers to recognise, survey and
record wild brown trout (pictured) spawning
nests (redds) in the river bed of the upper
Kennet. ARK has mapped the project results
to monitor the relationship between wild
brown trout and non-native stocked fish.
www.riverkennet.org
■ The Bumblebee Conservation Trust
produced a leaflet to inform farmers and
land managers about managing habitats
for the endangered shrill carder bee
(article page 11).
www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk
■ Burbage Sports Club installed owl and
bat boxes on land near its village
sportsground. Members got specialist
wildlife advice and built the boxes
themselves using materials from local
builders.
■ The Goring and Streatley hydroelectricity
project has been able to
undertake work on feasibility, design and
flood risk modelling for renewable energy
generation at a weir on the River Thames
(see pages 44-46).
■ Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife
Trust (H&IoWWT) has developed a wildlife
mapping toolkit to help local people
include biodiversity in their community-led
planning process. The toolkit highlights
key habitats and local species. North
Wessex Downs AONB is seeking
communities to pilot this toolkit.
Contact Oliver Cripps on 01488 680457
or Elizabeth Allinson (H&IoWWT) on 01256
381186. ■
UP! On The North Wessex Downs | 5