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The September 2016 newsletter is available here
From September there are as usual cattle on the down, helping us to keep the vegetation down and ensuring a good view for everybody.
If you’ve been up to Brading Down in the last week you will have met our new residents. They are friendly and inquisitive, but like all livestock in the countryside need to be treated with respect.
So please, just like anywhere in the countryside, keep dogs under control on Brading Down, don’t leave any litter and help us ensure it’s a safe place for people and animals.
The Troll Trail was created in 2007 along a section of National Cycle Network route 23. It has since been absorbed into the Red Squirrel Trail but lots of the improvements we made along the trail are still there for you – and the local wildlife – to benefit from.
We’re delighted to see the Troll Trail featured in today’s Telegraph, but if you came to our website hoping to find Troll Trail maps, you might be a bit confused – so don’t worry, the trail is still very much alive, and yes, there might still be trolls if you look VERY carefully…
The Troll Trail is now renamed and expanded to be the Red Squirrel Trail, but still has troll-related fun on the way! See maps and much more at the dedicated Red Squirrel Trail website.
When Brading Town Council asked us to look at getting some new bins at Brading Down, we knew we couldn’t afford to just buy some. This special downland landscape is a well-loved place for so many people, and it needed some bins that would blend in sympathetically. So we asked Island Roads for help, and were delighted when they offered to build some for us. Read more
Work has started on the restoration of Swanmore Meadows. Today 22 members of Isle of Wight Green Gym started creating all-weather paths. Over the next few months you will see us clear encroaching scrub, manage some trees and improve the entrances at Quarry Road and Weeks Road. Interpretation panels will also be installed. The Meadows remain open, but please be careful as you may encounter machinery and or men (and ladies!) at work.
Funding boosts from Postcode Local Trust and Down To The Coast Heritage Lottery Fund have made this happen. Ryde Town Council has also been instrumental in getting this project off the ground, providing money for some initial work in March, and helping Gift To Nature secure a small amount of development money from IW Council.
We still have more money to raise as we would like to improve the entrance for all you people who yomp in from Slade Road. We know this isn’t great at the moment but we promise it will get better at some point.
We would like to hear from anybody who who’d like to help us with maintenance, care or recording of wildlife in Swanmore Meadows. For more details on becoming involved please call us on 296244 or email info@https://www.gifttonature.org.uk .
Our August 2016 Newsletter is available here
Our July Newsletter is available here
Our June newsletter can be read here
Our May newsletter is here