In April 2021 we embarked on ‘Wilder St Albans’ aiming to empower local communities in the District to take practical action to help wildlife on their patch.

Fast forward to 2023 and we’re proud to report that an incredible 200 plus individual actions have been reported back to us including:

• the creation of 34 ponds
• the installation of 42 swift boxes
• 5 streets becoming the first in Hertfordshire to be ‘Glyphosate Free’
• nearly two hectares of new meadow habitat created
• 150 water voles introduced back to The River Ver, and so much more!

These actions and many others are proof that there is a huge groundswell of interest to create a Wilder St Albans - and that is something we should all be proud of!

Although the project has officially wrapped up, this really is just the beginning of a movement for change.  As an organisation, we have learnt so much about listening to people, supporting them in a way that is right for them, and all that we have learnt has been fed directly into the development of our wider Wilder Communities work and the development of our new webpages, coming soon!

What better way to celebrate then to share some stories from the community. Here are four ‘buds of brilliance’ from across the District of St Albans.

Skyswood Primary School

The student-led School Council at Skyswood Primary School in St Albans have driven forward plans to create a whopper of a pond. The School Council also made a scrapbook on how they did it, to share with their school community and beyond.

Smallford Station Project

Jeff Lewis from the Smallford Station Project had a vision to make the entrance of this historic St Albans station more welcoming for people and wildlife. With the help of local volunteers, a scrub bank was cleared and seeded with hedgerow wildflowers. After 18 months, the perennial wildflowers are starting to flower and the bank is coming alive with pollinators. www.smallford.org/

Wilderhood Watch

A group of residents living on the same St Albans road organised and led a ‘pond walk’ for their neighbours. This short walk took in garden ponds along their road with the aim of encouraging those without one to get digging! https://wilderhoodwatch.org/toad-road/ Four new ponds were dug as a result of one pond walk!

Leeanna’s Wish

Leeanna’s Wish is a local group that provides support for protected groups living in and around St Albans. https://www.leeannaswish.org/. Early this year they set up an intergenerational allotment project bringing together their Saturday youth club and Tuesday morning coffee club to grow food as well as herbs and flowers to support pollinating insects.

As this project has shown, there are lots of people and projects, big and small, that are making a real difference.  Amazing things can happen when we come together and as we’ve seen time and again, you don’t have to be an expert to do something good for nature.

For all of the project staff involved with Wilder St Albans, it has been both humbling and a privilege to work with so many passionate people that are giving their time and energy to drive forward positive changes for local wildlife. We also want to thank our project partner, St Albans City and District Council, and for the additional funding provided by Seeds of Change and Herts Protection Board.

Wilder St Albans was where it began for us, with Wilder Watford and Wilder Dacorum following on.  Now it’s time for more towns and boroughs to join in the fun!