We have 7 projects running collectively aimed at improving the natural environment under our control and maximising our energy efficiency.
All projects are progressing well, highlights include:
Hedging Project – Amazing growth during 2024 of our 500m of native hedging which our volunteers planted almost 10 years ago. A wide variety of nuts, fruits and berries and this year we saw many more nests. We also maintained uncut meadow borders along the hedging. We are intending to lay some of the hedging in 2025.
Bird Project – Following our end of season bird box clean up (where every single box had been inhabited!), our Men-in-Sheds team and DofE volunteers have used recycled material to double the number of boxes and increase the variations of design for differing species. With a local expert we are organising dates for a survey and many members are using the Merlin Bird App to identify species.
Meadow Project – Our volunteer teams heavily sowed 2 years ago and we have seen a significant shift in wildflower species with Yellow Rattle, Ox-Eye Daisy, Knapweed, Campion, Musk Mallow and Wild Carrot becoming a lot more common. We did expect to see more poppies but the showing was modest. We have done a lot of work in the meadow areas late in the summer to prepare for next year and kept on top of the ragwort throughout the summer.
Orchard Project – We now have 25 Gloucestershire friendly orchard trees, all have done well this year. They have been well mulched and will be given a feed in the spring.
Saving/recycling Project – We have made massive steps in our recycling activities, including transforming pallets into bird boxes, sheds and even wheeled carriages for our bosses. We acquired lots of unloved trophies from a range of sports and refurbished them. Following an appeal from Social Services we collected a massive amount of small home furnishings, clothes and kitchen equipment. Simple things like using target faces longer, being more efficient with our line marking are all making a difference!
Energy Project – We now use our own solar generated power more effectively during the winter, heating our club house during the day from our 66 solar panels and not using the heaters in the evenings. We have costed an additional solar power system to store energy for night use and applied for a grant. Using our Solar Edge monitoring platform we have worked out when to clean the panels to maximise efficiency. Despite some periods of poor weather we exported far more energy than we used in the past 12 months.
As a Club we do all of this simply because it makes good sense, the fact we keep on getting positive feedback and picking up awards, is both good and bad news! What we do should be the norm, clearly not the case at the moment!
We will provide an update on our Insect and mammal projects next time round.
