Kelling Heath and Woodhill Park both accredited with the 2022 David Bellamy Blooming Marvellous Pledges for Nature Awards.

Here at Kelling Heath, we are delighted to announce that we have been awarded not one, but two David Bellamy Blooming Marvellous Pledge for Nature Awards for “Super Signage” and “Home Sweet Home” for our work during 2022. Woodhill Park has been awarded the ‘Special Species’ pledge in 2022.

In June this year we welcomed Robbie Claridge, a representative and advisor for the David Bellamy awards team, to both Kelling Heath and Woodhill Park. It was fantastic to have the opportunity to talk through all the work our Estate and Countryside teams had been doing, both towards achieving the awards and for the natural environment in which our Parks reside. He also informed us that Kelling Heath was the only Park to have chosen two awards to complete in both 2022 and 2023!

Our Countryside team played great hosts, giving Mr Claridge a tour around the Parks, showing him all aspects of our land management through various habitats of woodland, heathland, and wildflower meadows to waterways, ponds and clifftops.  Being custodians of such a variety of thriving landscapes is a big job and a wonderfully rewarding responsibility.

As an overview, his comments were glowing, stating “The Parks management and staff have all got sustainability and conservation at the heart of everything they do, which is shown by their knowledge and dedication to do the best practice in promoting native habitats for the local wildlife”  

With Rufus Bellamy himself adding “It is wonderful to see all the amazing work you’ve done recently. Your advisor, Robbie, sings your praises and really enjoyed his visit. It is clear that you continue to maintain the exceptional standards that have made you such a leading voice for conservation and sustainability in the past.”

Mr Claridge gave a glowing report for Kelling Heath, stating he liked the wide variety of artificial homes put in place and was deeply impressed by our investment in exceptional signage. For Woodhill Park, a more challenging exposed environment, he proposed some helpful advice to attract even more wildlife for our guests to enjoy, with the team looking to implement them, starting on a small shallow pond area called a ‘scrape’ fed by rainwater from our roof. This will be a great addition to our David Bellamy Pledge for Nature this year at Woodhill which is called “Home Sweet Home” and aims to provide new habitats for all sorts of insects, amphibians and birds.  

We are also well on our way at Kelling Heath with work on our “Everyone Active” and Special Species” pledges for 2023. The species focus for this year is the Crucian Carp, a very beautiful golden coloured fish that the Environment Agency helped us reintroduce; 40 fish were originally added to the ponds on Park last year and, after a survey at the start of 2023 completed by Dr Carl Sayer from University College London, we are happy to say we now have a thriving population of 500 fish across both ponds. Our thriving pond habitats are something we have always been proud of, and we are starting a more detailed survey of our current pond life from September onwards. We look forward to updating you on what we find. 

If you have any questions regarding our varied environments, or have any nature nurturing stories of your own from your stay with us, maybe you are a habitat hero yourself? Then please do feel free to get in touch and let us know using the contact form.  We love hearing about other animals, insects and birds enjoying our Parks alongside all of us.