Brightlingsea Active Conservation and Craft Club 2022. A community arts and conservation project with a group of local volunteers.

Throughout 2022 Brightlingsea residents have been meeting in the local countryside every two weeks for an active morning of craft and conservation sessions run by Cobnuts. The aims of the project are to create nature connectivity, highlight the significance of the local natural heritage, establish bonds between a network of volunteers and alleviate eco-anxiety by taking positive practical steps to enhance the environment.

In this activity, volunteers are helping to enhance a neglected pond by clearing reeds and building a clay bund. Previously a picturesque focal point which had iconic status in local shared consciousness, the pond is sadly now often dried out and contains little wildlife. With advice from the RSPB and local scientists, we are managing it for the benefit of wildlife while restoring it for local people.

Other activities include litter picking, foraging, natural dying,  jam making, tree planting and weaving.

The Cob Commuters was built at Alresford Train Station Wildlife Garden and was built as a community project with the local Alresford Primary School. We joined forces with The Bee Friendly Trust and the Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership to revamp the old site of the portacabin into a thriving wildlife garden with a sculpture for nature, a talking bench and a mini meadow for bees. The new garden is part of a vibrant community garden looked after entirely by volunteers which includes a memory garden, benches, fruit trees and spot the wildlife games for children.

The Wildlife Express at Wrabness was built with school children from Six & Wrabness Primary School and can be found in a public garden maintained by volunteer station adopters at Wrabness. The children made pottery homes for wildlife which were housed in Cob inside a metal steam train constructed by Derek Taylor Engineering from Abbey Farm, Wix. Solitary bees have been using the children’s pottery creations as nest sites for their larvae.

The Nest was built at The Centre for Wildlife Gardening at 28 Marsden road, London, SE15 4EE. The idyllic wildlife garden and award winning visitor centre is free public entry off a quiet residential street in Peckham. The Nest is a feature of the children’s play area and was a community project built with The Royal Association for Deaf People. As well as housing pottery for wildlife children can hop into the nest and pretend they just hatched out of an egg.

The Wall for Wildlife at RSPB Wildlife Garden, Flatford road, East Bergholt, Colchester, CO7 6UL. There was a lot of talk of walls during the American election campaign of 2016. This is our response . A wall that divides nothing but instead was designed to bring people together in this inspirational wildlife garden to build a habitat for garden creatures. Built using the traditional and sustainable building materials seen in the local mediaeval architecture with the help of local schools and community groups