Imagine a wilder world on your doorstep, with more nature everywhere in urban and rural areas. BBOWT returned to Shabbington, Buckinghamshire, to help members of their Nature Network survey an area of amenity grassland as part of Team Wilder.

Shabbington Nature Network launched in June 2021. A year later, members of BBOWT's Community Team met them to see how they were getting on, and to help them understand one of their focus areas, Millenium Field, a bit more by showing the group how to carry out a basic site survey. 

This introduction to basic site surveying is a practical exercise aiming to give individuals the confidence to begin surveying a site and recording the findings.

By delivering this training BBOWT aims to show people that you don’t need to be an ecologist and have a full site species list compiled before you can think about working on your space.

It’s a process designed to show you how to understand your space in a greater depth. Looking at the space and thinking not just about what you want it to be, such as a wildflower meadow, but also taking a moment to stop and look, and realise what’s already there. 

At Millennium Field they found a bird’s-foot-trefoil – a common meadow wild flower that you may not expect to find in an amenity lawn. This highlighted the fact that sometimes we might overlook what's already present at a site when making plans.

What may at first glance look like a barren amenity lawn quite quickly transforms into something else entirely, when you get down to the ground and look at the plants more closely. 

Through conversations on the day discussing the site as it changes through the seasons, the team learned that a large portion of the field floods in the winter; which you would not think about on the scorching summer day that we visited! 

This highlights the importance of thinking about a space through the seasons before you make plans, as things can change quite significantly over a year. It also reminds us that community knowledge is so valuable – they all knew the land flooded as they use it regularly through the year. 

The team walked the area in groups and spotted as many species as they could. While some people may have started with the feeling that they ‘didn’t know much about plants’, they ended up compiling a list of 50 species. 

The nature network has since turned this list into a reference document for themselves to use and track the changes in the years to come. It was a brilliant, inspiring day and the community team look forward to seeing how this site and group develops in the future.

Key learnings for community groups:

• It's a really good idea to find out what plants are already growing on a site before you make plans. You never know what you might already have there.
• Remember to think about the site over the course of a whole year to allow for seasonal changes such as winter flooding 
• Make the most of local knowledge as you make plans for your site

If you're involved in a community group, why not join BBOWT's Facebook group for community groups to network and share their tips and plans to create more nature everywhere in their local area. We also hold regular Zoom calls for groups to get together and support each other.

Join the Community Network

Come to the BBOWT Community Network Online Meetup November