THE Hedgehog Festival team is waiting hopefully to discover if they have been successful with their application for a grant from Herefordshire Council.

Two weeks ago they applied for a ‘Public Green Spaces’ grant and expressed an interest in overseeing a small area owned by Herefordshire Council that is currently managed by Balfour Beatty Living Spaces. The site lies next to the Ross-on-Wye skatepark and leads up to the small bridge in front of the cricket pitch. It comprises a small woodland area with pond, boggy area and stony cliff face.

The Hedgehog Festival Team wants to engage local expertise, and hope to fully restore the pond and plant a wildflower garden to create new, high quality habitats. This will attract a wide range of wildlife for the public to enjoy, including newts, dragonflies, toads and mammals including bats and hedgehogs. It will also provide an opportunity for Play-Way Volunteers, schools and community groups to hold educational events such as pond dipping and allow children to access the world of mini-beasts which live beneath the water.

Yolande Watson, Chair of the Hedgehog Festival team told the Ross Gazette that the site offers a unique opportunity to bring together the knowledge and skills of different partners which they can all learn from and replicate in other areas in Ross-on-Wye.

This year the Hedgehog Festival team is working in partnership with Wildplay, the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, to create work opportunities for local parents and young people who want to work with children in environmental science and conservation.

They will be training 12 volunteers in ‘Play-Way’ and together with other Herefordshire-based partners, will be creating an awards programme to teach under 25-year-olds about identifying, surveying and monitoring of plant, animal, mammal and tree species.