This project is part of the city-wide Community Climate Action project. It is kindly supported by the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund
There is a climate and ecological emergency. Really Wild Lockleaze is the Lockleaze Community Climate project that successfully got funding after we published our climate action plan earlier this year. This project is part of the wider community climate action project across Bristol, led by Bristol Green Capital Partnership.
The project looks at practical ways our community can tackle the climate and ecological crisis, both to make meaningful change in Lockleaze but also to inspire change in Bristol and beyond.
The focus of the project is creating space for nature to support pollinators essential for 3/4 of our food production. A United Nations (UN) report has said that up to one million species are at risk of extinction. In the UK alone, 41% of species are declining and one in 10 is threatened with extinction.
Rewilding is supporting restoration of ecosystems, taking inspiration from past habitats, restoring and supporting the resilience of nature, and engaging people in rewilding to support connection to nature, wellbeing and climate and ecological positive action. Our project will support managing 30% of our public green space for nature, helping individuals to take action at home, and in their communities.
Read more about the principles of rewilding here. Get in touch if you would like to get involved or learn more.
what is the really wild project?
How can we have the biggest positive impact to help save our wildlife? The answer is to create as much connected space for nature as possible! Bristol City Council has declared an ecological emergency, and as a response is aiming for 30% of land in Bristol to be managed for nature by 2030. Beyond the numbers, what this really means is creating space for the wonderful diversity of life from bees to hedgehogs as well as the life sustaining services they provide such as pollination and pest control. See more on this in our species focus.
To achieve this we need your help! In an urban environment, nature reserves need to be approached in a different way where we make use of all space available, including people’s gardens, roadside verges and housing greens to create wildlife habitat.
Through a series of workshops we will teach and assist residents to make their gardens more wildlife friendly. We will also be asking what people would like to see and where they would like to see it –wildflower meadows on your local roadside verge? Or fruit trees and a ponds in an unused housing green? Any suggestions are welcome. Then Eric, your friendly neighbourhood Community Ecologist, will be running volunteer days with you to make these ideas a reality - so get involved!
Keep you’re eyes peeled for any events below. If you’re planning on coming to an event, or have any ideas, wildlife sightings or anything you would like to see in your green spaces please contact Eric at ecologist@lockleazent.co.uk or call 01179141129.
Here's a short film to explain the Really Wild Lockleaze Project - hear our amazing residents telling us about what they want to do for nature! The film was made by UWE for their Climate Education Project to help their students learn about climate change - our film will be used to show a positive example of a community project that will make a difference.
Join the Lockleaze WILD MILE!
…..Create a wildflower patch, let your grass grow long, make a compost heap… make a log pile, feed the birds, plant a tree… Any area big or small can become a haven for wildlife and be part of the wild mile!
Residents across the ward of Lockleaze are signing up to do something for nature in their gardens, creating an amazing corridor for wildlife to move between Stoke Park and the railway, as well as exploding out of the other side of the railway towards Filton, and connecting to the wild verges of the M32.
Everyone who signs up, gets what they are doing for nature recorded on an anonymised online map, a free packet of wildflower seeds to sow in their gardens, and a certificate to show that they are doing something for nature to put in their window!
If you want to join the Lockleaze Wild Mile, sign up here, or scan the QR code below to sign your garden up to the Wild Mile!
One of the things the Wild Mile does is keeps track of all wildflower meadow that is being created in Lockleaze. This is really important as we have lost 97% of all wildflower meadows since World War II. These native species are the bedrock of many ecosystems as many species rely on them, so restoring them is vital.
The Wild Mile shows that everyone’s efforts, however big and small, all come together to form one big, connected area of habitat.
upcoming Events
For upcoming events check out our Facebook event page here:
Species Focus
Click and hover for information about why each species is important!
Keep up to date
Keep up to date on all things Really Wild, plus other local climate action on the Community Climate Action Facebook page and the Really Wild Lockleaze Facebook page.