Wildlife Trust Ecology Group (WTEG)
News
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Nature lovers celebrate local wildlife
February 2010
More than 100 naturalists gathered in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire to celebrate the rich and varied wildlife of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.
The local Wildlife Trust held their annual Ecology Groups conference on Saturday 27 February, with talks from staff and volunteers on a range of topics including techniques for monitoring butterflies; conservation grazing on our reserves by sheep and cattle and monitoring bats at wetland nature reserves.
Brian Eversham, Chief Executive of the Trust, said, “As an organisation we strongly believe that good conservation depends on good science and those who attended this event put in hundreds of man hours to ensure that we live up to this promise. Whether it is totting up water beetles or scouring the area for signs of polecats the work that our Ecology Group volunteers carry out has a direct bearing on the decisions we make about managing our nature reserves to ensure that they provide high-quality habitats for all wildlife to thrive.”
One very special volunteer was presented with an award for her commitment to local wildlife conservation.
Anne Costello has volunteered for the Wildlife Trust in almost every conceivable capacity: she is the voluntary warden of our nature reserve at Stibbington near Peterborough, a Watch leader, an education volunteer in Peterborough, a key Ecology Group volunteer, and a committee member of the newly formed Peterborough Local Group of the Trust.
She received the Richenda Huxley award for services to the Wildlife Trust from the charity’s president Baroness Barbara Young.
If you would like to find out more about the Wildlife Trust’s Ecology Groups or join one of the surveying and monitoring projects please visit http://www.wildlifebcnp.org/ecologygroups.htm
The Wildlife Trust would like to thank the Cambridge Belfry Hotel for providing the venue and conference rooms free of charge and sponsoring the refreshment breaks.