Right now, we’re actively working to ‘help out hibernators’ such as   dormice, hedgehogs and bats. Dormice have suffered huge declines in recent years with their population falling by 70% since the year 2000. Last week we saw how this happens. Piece by piece their habitat is slowly removed, degraded, fragmented and removed.  The species and habitats that we all love and try to protect are being destroyed in front of our eyes.

This is how it happens.  

Yew Tree Farm is a designated Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI). These sites should be among the places where wildlife is most protected. Where the quality of habitat is high, with enough food and shelter and legal protection to ensure creatures are safe. This hedgerow at Yew Tree Farm SNCI was designated, it was home to legally protected dormice, had been promised to be protected by local councillors. Last year, this hedge was even the site of the discovery of a potentially new species of grass fly unknown to science.

And yet it still wasn’t enough. 

If this hedgerow wasn’t safe, what hope is there for any hedgerow anywhere?

Across the country, over 50% has been lost in the last 75 years. Are we surprised that we are one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world with 1 in 6 of our species threated with extinction? This is not good enough and we are angry.

It has been reported those responsible are working with the council to help manage other land within the nearby Colliters Brook SNCI. We urge the council to investigate this incident to ensure any further damage to SNCI’s at the farm, or elsewhere, does not continue.

At Avon Wildlife Trust, we work with landowners, including councils and local authorities, all across the region to advise, share knowledge and help them manage their land in the best way for wildlife. For example, we worked Bristol City Council on the My Wild City project. Working with these landowners is vital if we are to meet our targets (that are shared by Natural England and Bristol City Council) of having 30% of land and sea managed for the benefit of wildlife. First and foremost, we stand up for wildlife and nature. Wildlife Trusts act as a critical friend and will continue to call out decisions that don’t align with the crises we’re all currently facing.

In September 2023, Avon Wildlife Trust first objected to Bristol City Council’s plans to expand South Bristol Cemetery and Crematorium into Yew Tree Farm SNCI, the last working farm in the Bristol boundary and Site of Nature Conservation Interest. We asked the council to live up to their ecological emergency declaration and their commitment to “put nature at the heart of decision-making” and protect this vital habitat in the city. When the council voted to go ahead with the crematorium expansion we said “If we cannot protect this SNCI then what is stopping development on others across the city? It’s a slippery slope and there isn’t much slope left”.

We continue to ask the council to take their ecological emergency seriously and to do more to protect nature and wildlife, especially on those sites that hold a clear designation like SNCI.

It is heartening to see the community and local people come together to support the farm and its wildlife. People do care and there are plenty of wildlife champions out there who will stand up to defend nature. We want to say thank you.