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Brown's Folly - Securing a future
Brown’s Folly
was the first nature reserve bought by Avon Wildlife Trust nearly
30 years ago and is one of our finest sites. The reserve stands
high above the river Avon, with commanding views towards Bath.
Brown’s Folly has flower-rich grasslands and ancient woodland
on the remains of old caves that were once Bath- stone quarries
and are now home to some very rare bats. It is a popular site,
which receives around 5,000 visitors a year.
Lost by 2020?
Sadly, the very popularity of Brown’s Folly has become part of
a threat to its rare grassland. Camping, the lighting of fires
and informal parties have made it difficult to
find someone who would graze their animals there. This means
that the wonderful grassland, which needs regular grazing to
support the rare plants, insects and bats, could be lost to encroaching
scrub and woodland within 5 –10 years.
We are making urgent applications
to fund a conservation programme that will tackle scrub encroachment,
extend the grassland through scrub clearance and prepare the
site for grazing so we can introduce sheep. This first stage
will cost £50,000, but the good news is that our members donated
last year to a Seed Appeal to help establish the necessary match
funding of £5,000. We are close to that target.
Securing a future
The second stage of the appeal will concentrate on actions to
prevent damage – such as car-park-access measures to reduce unsuitable
use and repairs to the cave security grilles to prevent disturbance
to the bat roosts, which include greater horseshoe, lesser
horseshoe and Bechstein’s bats. We desperately need to build
up our Seed Appeal for Brown’s Folly to make this happen.
Can
you help to secure a future for Brown’s Folly? Every donation
will unlock ten times its value and truly make a difference.
“wild thyme, harebell and nine species of orchid
are found here ... the old mines
offer a safe sanctuary for the threatened greater horseshoe bat
and pockets of
ancient woodland are home to unusual plants such as Bath asparagus
... “
How you can help
We need to raise a further £10,000 as matched
funding towards our Brown’s Folly Future bid.
Please help us to unlock
this funding by donating to our Seed Fund – where every acorn grows into an oak tree!
Thank you for taking time to read this article.
Rosamund Kidman Cox
Trust Chair
Donate online
You can make a secure payment
through the Paypal website. Please
fill out this brief form to continue.
Donate by post
Please
complete and print out this
form and send to us with your payment
For more information on
Brown's Folly go to the nature
reserve page |
