NEWS

As part of our "Swift Action" project, volunteers from Chiswick Repair Cafe were asked if they would consider making some Swift Boxes for us.

We were overwhelmed and delighted when we heard that 12 boxes will be winging their way to us soon!

We really cannot thank these volunteers enough for their work and giving their time to help with this project.

We have so many great charities and community groups across Chiswick!

Swifts are amazing birds that are now on the red list vulnerable to extinction.  We need to help them! 

There are swift nesting sites across Chiswick, however, as new builds and restoration work is carried out, these nesting sites are lost. 

Swifts nest in the same place every year.  If the nest is gone, they cannot breed.

With kind financial help from RSPB and Hounslow Council, we can now begin to install Swift Boxes across areas we know are visited by Swifts.

We need to start this now!  We would like to have new boxes installed before the Swift arrival in May 2023.

Throughout May until Mid August we need people to help us monitor Swifts that are flying low over areas of Chiswick, nesting sites and known box installations.

Click through to our Swift Page for more information about swifts and how you can help. 

Email us on hello@wildchiswick.com if you would like to help swifts!

Joanne Gilbert, Founder of WildChiswick, has written a book for children about hedgehogs.

Anyone who has met Jo, knows she has a passion for hedgehogs and what we can do in urban environments to help them survive.

That is exactly what this book is about!

Snout is a young hedgehog about to go out into the world with his two siblings and mother for the first time.

What will they see?  Who will they meet? What dangers will they face?

All will be revealed in this charming educational book.

Jo hopes the story will strengthen the knowledge about the plight of hedgehogs and encourage people to do more for them in their gardens - inlcuding putting in hedgehog highways.

The book is selling for £6.99 with £2.00 going to WildChiswick to support the work we do.

Visit www.friendsofsnout.com to learn more and order online.

If you would prefer to pay by bank transfer, please email jo@wildchiswick.com to make arrangements.

(Photo credited to PTES)

This is really important to allow our hedgehogs to move the mile they require each night safely and to help them find habitat that is suitable for nesting, mating and food supplies.

We need to provide a green highway by cutting a small 13cm hole into our fences and walls to give hedgehogs access.

Please Join us in creating this highway.  It is the most important thing you can do for hedgehogs.

WE WOULD LIKE TO REACH 100 HEDGEHOG HOLES BY THE END OF 2023!

Streets of real interest:

Park Road

Elmwood Road

Sutton Court Road

Hartington 

Earnest Gardens

Burnaby Gardens

Chesterfield Road

Bolton Road

If you would like to be part of the Chiswick Hedgehog Highway, please book now!

November 2022, we had the pleasure of hosting 12 pupils from Chiwick School who came along to help us develop the wildlife allotment.

Organised by Time Givers, the pupils helped start a dead-hedge, dig a trench for a living hedge, build a hibernaculum for amphibians, insects and reptiles and clear an area of ground ivy and planted some bulbs.  The Chair of Chiswick Horticultural and Allotment Society talked to the students during lunch which was kindly hosted by CHAS in their Trading Hut.  The pupils all enjoyed their time with us and we were pleased to have the help! 

www.wildchiswick.com/donate

We were delighted to be given permission by the Council and CHAS to renovate the wildlife plot at Staveley Road allotments.  This area was created by Karen Liebreich from Abundance London.  unfortunately it has been left over recent years and needs a bit of a face lift.

Why bother?  The more wildlife friendly green spaces we can make the better for biodiversity across Chiswick.  A strong. healthy biodiversity is also good news for humans.

Once the site is cleared and replanted we will be opening it up for the public to come and learn more about wildlife and how to garden to help it thrive and survive.

We do need some donations to help with this project.  We need tools, plants, wast removal and a shed would be lovely to keep us dry and in the future act as a base for any visitors. 

If you feel you can help us with this project and donate, please click on the button below.

WildChiswick worked with ZSL LondonHogwatch this year to place cameras across areas of Chiswick to monitor for hedgehog activity.  Today they released their findings from monitoring across London boroughs over several years.  This showed that green spaces with mixed habitat, allotments and having access to gardens is important for the survival of hedgehogs across London.  

This supports the work WildChiswick is doing in encouraging people to open up their gardens to these lovely creatures now at risk of extinction (British Mammal Red List).

Please could you contribute to our fundraiser to buy equipment to make a hedgehog highway across Chiswick?  

Click on photo above to read ZSL report.

WILDCHISWICK is helping Cavendish School revamp their wildlife area.  This will become a place for the children to learn about wildlife and have a mindful area in which to learn.  Help from the public would be most appreciated.  18th September has been set by Emma Lennard, School Governor, to being clearing the area.  Please email on hello@wildchiswick.com if you can come along with some tools to help out, even if just for an hour!

WILDCHISWICK has also taken on the task of revamping the wildlife area on the Staveley Road allotments.  This area has been left for several years and needs a clear out and a new pond liner.  We will then replant to attract wildlife.  We hope local children and adults alike will the be able to visit and see how  to make a garden wildlife friendly.

We will need help through funds, donations of plants and volunteers to help clear.  Please email on hello@wildchiswick.com if you can help us in any way!

We had a fantastic time over the past two mornings (April 21st and 22nd) at Grove Park School.

We presented at their assemblies and talked about hedgehogs.

We explained what a hedgehog is, what they do throughout the year, problems they face and then lots of ways that we can help them.  

The children were very good and listened beautifully.  We were also asked the most clever and thoughtful questions!

We hope to be invited to visit again in the future.

We were delighted to host an evening with Mike Toms, Head of Communications, The British Trust for Ornithology last month.

We have been asked by several if this talk was recorded.  We are afraid not!

However, Jo Gilbert did recently write a blog about it for Chiswick Calendar which outlines the main point spoken about by Mike Toms.

Please visit the blog  by clicking on the button below: