Updates

AONB Consultation

Responding to Surrey Hills National Landscape Review

The last review of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty was in 1958 so members knew the consultation was a once in a lifetime opportunity to contribute to its shape. Our efforts bore fruit with Waggoners Wells, Ludshott Common and more sections along Bunch Lane now included for community assessment. Read more in our article; aimed at raising awareness among local residents.

Dark Skies

Circadian Rhythms and Artificial Light

Read more about the contribution artificial light makes to mental health decline and the effects on the abilities of local wildlife to reproduce, feed and to navigate their territories.

Strengthening B-lines

Creating a Paradise for Pollinators

Primary pollinator commuting routes over the UK and Europe are mapped and our area has B-lines going right across it. In collaboration with national conservation charity Buglife, the National Trust and Haslemere Town Council, we launched a wildflower project in Beacon Hill to enrich one of the routes that will allow pollinators to reach more habitats. Read more on this fascinating initiative.

Discovering the HEN

Acclaim for Local Biodiversity Initiatives

When local resident Matt Mallinder discovered the quiet work Haslemere Biodiversity had been doing on his doorstep, he was inspired to write about it for esteemed countryside campaigners CPRE Surrey. Access the full article here.

Planning for Biodiversity in Haslemere

Creating a nature conservation wildflower verge in Beacon Hill

Haslemere Town Council have proved key partners in securing funding for initiatives and planning for biodiversity conservation in public spaces. Their support was crucial in getting our first wildflower restoration project underway, in collaboration with partners, Buglife UK and the National Trust. Read more on their role here.

Creating a Wildlife Corridor

Seeing the Heath from the Trees

There are two internationally significant Special Protection Areas here; the heathlands of Ludshott Common and the Punchbowl, which have been split apart by civilisation. Find out more about our work with several organisations to build support for a heathland corridor to connect the two areas better for the wildlife that make their homes there.

Monitoring Endangered Species

Look What the Cat Dragged In

Dormice are one of many critically endangered species that have found refuge in the area. They are also nocturnal, perilously shy, well camouflaged, tree dwellers, which makes them difficult to monitor… unless you’re a cat. Read more on the value to conservation of checking any feline offerings and reporting any that do, sadly, turn out to be dormice.

Reviving Pollinator Habitats

Haslemere’s Insect Superhighway

Being at a cross roads of an insect superhighway might not sound like great news (!) but consider that as well as being pollinators, insects are a core food source for many species including bats and birds. If their numbers drop, so too do all wildlife numbers. Their wildflower meadow habitats have all but disappeared, so national charity Buglife have identified the most important routes across the UK and Europe to focus wildflower restoration on to support insect life and allow it to travel. Every wildlife garden on the route helps!

Picture of a native watervole
Riparian Mammals

In Search of Otters at the sources of the River Wey

When otters were spotted at Frensham Pond in 2020, resident experts suspected they might travel upstream in the Spring and a monitoring project was launched to confirm whether they got as far as Haslemere.