The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) has launched an appeal to save Yoesden, a chalk grassland wildlife site in the Chilterns, which is renowned for its variety of wild flowers, butterflies and moths.
The Wildlife Trust has until 7th November 2014 to raise £150,000 to purchase the site.
Giles Strother is Reserves Manager for BBOWT: "This thriving and diverse fragment of land is a really significant habitat for wildlife. I was delighted to learn that it was up for sale again and really hope that – with our members’ help – we can save this precious site."
Estelle Bailey, chief executive of BBOWT, is leading the appeal: “If our appeal is successful we plan to continue the careful management of Yoesden, which the current owners have done for the last 20 years, and to encourage more local people to get involved with conservation.”
There will be guided walks workshops and events, work parties to help control the scrub, and detailed surveying of the grassland so that it is kept in the best condition for flowers and herbs that provide essential food and shelter for butterflies and other insects.
She added: “Yoesden is a wonderful jewel in the Chilterns, full of colourful flowers and butterflies. When I visited in the summer the sounds of crickets and grasshoppers and the scent of wild herbs were amazing, and the views from the top of the bank looking across Radnage Valley are stunning. BBOWT has the opportunity now to protect this precious site for everyone to enjoy, and to look after it so that more wildlife can thrive here.”
Ched George is a conservation work party leader at Yoesden and volunteers for Butterfly Conservation’s Upper Thames Branch. He says he supports BBOWT's Yoesden Bank Appeal: “As a naturalist I’ve had a deep interest in Yoesden Bank since I moved to Radnage in 1991. I volunteered to help with the scrub-bashing and brought in a few like-minded friends from west London to join in. Yoesden Bank is floristically very rich and unspoilt. It is the northernmost site for the Adonis blue butterfly, silver-washed fritillaries have made regular appearances in recent years, and a few dark green fritillaries visit occasionally from sites nearby.”
Go to www.bbowt.org.uk/yoesden to see photos of this beautiful site, watch videos of BBOWT ecologist Debbie Lewis talk about the special wildlife here and what the Wildlife Trust will do to maintain the chalk grassland and woodland. Click on the Adonis blue butterfly to donate at www.justgiving.com/yoesden