About us Our work What we do What We Did Autumn 2025 Education Our Education team had contact with 373 young people during the last quarter of 2025. Once again, we have been helpfully supported by our enthusiastic education volunteers giving 64 hours of their time. Together as a team, we can plan and deliver the range of work we do raising awareness. Students from Central Bedfordshire College returned to visit Rushmere in November learning about heathland habitats and threatened species, and then carrying out several valuable practical conservation tasks. They will return regularly in smaller groups over the next few months to continue the conservation tasks. This model of delivery with initial specialised input / engagement, followed by self-led practical tasks, was also used in October with a local middle school at Rushmere (pupils were keen to support the site) and Shuttleworth College students (age 16+) working at Maulden Heath. This year’s Youth Ranger scheme is well underway, and the 11 young people have been busy getting to know each other at Clophill Lakes, learning about the site and joining in practical conservation tasks every month, such as monitoring small mammals, coppicing and path clearance. Events this quarter have included a community spider themed event at Knolls Wood in Leighton Buzzard during October Half term, for The Friends of Knoll Wood, support of the Feed the Birds event at Rushmere, making bird crafts and badges; we delivered a Bat themed trail at Clophill Lakes for families, an ‘owl detectives’ pellet dissection workshop at The Working Woodlands Centre and a very popular festive family wreath making activity at Rushmere. We welcomed the return of pupils from Maulden Lower to visit Maulden Heath in November, Year 2 pupils from Beaudesert Lower visited Rushmere, and Year 2 Linslade Lower School pupils visited Tiddenfoot Waterside Park for an Autumn walk. We also visited Ashbourne Nursery School delivering an outreach session to the children about Rushmere’s furry friends. Our now regular WISE wood programme has been incredibly successful with 11, year 8 & 9 pupils from Henlow Academy joining us to benefit from the 5-week programme. WISE wood aims to build pupil confidence and offers an experience of woodland and its significant benefits which can be demonstrated by the feedback received: “It was rewarding to hear the children recall different aspects of their learning and share their personal highlights from the programme” – teacher Henlow Academy “I enjoyed being out in nature and not having to worry about anything” – student Henlow Academy Partnerships & Development Projects All Party Parliamentary Group Event - Westminster Trust Director of Development Jon Balaam attended a ‘Local Nature Recovery All Parliamentary Group’ event in Westminster in early December, representing the Bedfordshire Local Nature Partnership alongside LNP Chair Dr Paul Leinster. Chaired by Pippa Heylings MP, Mid Beds MP Blake Stephenson (a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group) also joined the event, which sought to bring together Local Nature Partnerships and champion Local Nature Recovery Strategies. Despite a 5am start, the event was very worthwhile and demonstrated the value of the work of Local Nature Partnerships across the country. Fundraising Throughout Autumn we have continued to fundraise, particularly towards the Clophill Lakes Boardwalk Appeal. Several local businesses have supported our cause, such as The George in Maulden holding a quiz night, for which we are incredibly grateful. In November, we held the launch of The Birds of Bedfordshire by Tony Ploszajski, proceeds of which will be split between ourselves to support Clophill Lakes Nature Reserve and The Wildlife Trust Beds, Cambs & Northants for their Strawberry Hill Nature Reserve. The Clophill Boardwalk has almost reached its target and at mid January 2026 stood at £95,816 with Gift Aid and The Trust will shortly release details of the planned replacement. Rushmere Country Park has launched a fundraising campaign to replenish items on its much-loved Fairy Trail which now are at end of life – these include the Giant’s Chair, the Fairy King and fairy doors. The start of the appeal was boosted by two generous donations towards the £25K needed – Collins Aerospace, based in Leighton Buzzard, kindly donated £10K and The Leighton Buzzard Townlands Trust gave £3K for which we’re extremely grateful. Greensand Country Planning is now in full swing for the Greensand Country Landscape Partnership’s focus for 2026: the 40th anniversary of the Greensand Ridge Walk, celebrated throughout the year. We are working with walking groups, local artists, and local businesses to plan a year of celebrations to get people out and enjoying Bedfordshire’s premier walking route. We will be releasing the full programme of events early in the Spring. Biodiversity & Heritage Biodiversity We held our annual hedge laying course in November, run by our Ranger Jamie and hedge laying expert Paul Blissett. Throughout the weekend, 92m of hedge was laid at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve, all with locally sourced hazel stakes from Wassledine. The course teaches all aspects of how to lay a hedge, including the regional styles. Bedfordshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy We have continued to work with Central Bedfordshire Council, supporting authorities, Defra agencies and other partners in the final stages of the development of the Bedfordshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), which was published just before Christmas. The LNRS will guide where and how best to deliver action that supports nature’s recovery over the coming years and will hopefully help the Trust do more of what we enjoy doing – creating opportunities for nature and for people to enjoy it! The LNRS and associated interactive Local Habitat Map is available via: https://bedslocalnaturerecoverystrategy.commonplace.is/ Broughton Brook Restoration Project The Trust has secured just over £11k from the Environment Agency’s ‘Water Environment Improvement Fund’ for a project on the Broughton Brook, near Husborne Crawley. The Broughton Brook is a rare Greensand spring-fed stream, which eventually joins the River Ouzel in Milton Keynes. It has suffered from over-abstraction in the past, and ‘woody features’ will be installed through a stretch in a plantation woodland owned by Bedford Estates and will help improve habitats as well as supporting flows during dry periods. Heritage Work continues to interpret Cainhoe Castle at Clophill Lakes Nature Reserve. In October we held a history walk that took in Cainhoe Castle, Wrest Park, and Cainhoe Manor, giving the public an appreciation of how Cainhoe Castle is linked to the wider landscape. We have also been planning a series of history walks with Bryan Bland of Ampthill Ghost Walks for 2026, exploring the detailed histories around Cainhoe Castle. Clophill Lakes Nature Reserve As the seasons change, Clophill Lakes has revealed more secrets. Daily sightings of the otter on Castle Lake throughout December was a real boost, and we are getting regular sightings still on wildlife cameras around the site. Sadly a young male otter was killed on the A507 near the site during the month. This has been sent to the Environment Agency’s Otter Project which uses otter road casualties to monitor the levels of environmental contaminants. The usual annual checks of the badger setts on site was carried out finding that all three main setts are active. Cainhoe Castle is also included in these checks, despite showing no signs of badger activity to date, as a badger sett would be damaging to the archaeology of the Scheduled Monument. Volunteers and members of the public got into the Christmas spirit decorating our Christmas tree (all natural decorations of course) for the St Mary’s Christmas Tree Festival in Clophill village. We had some great creations, using natural materials found around the site. Unfortunately, we didn’t grasp victory, but all our handcrafted decorations were beautiful. Community Local Green Spaces The Trust will be working with Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity on a Central Bedfordshire-wide project to designate and protect locally valued green spaces across the entire area. Parish and Town councils and local communities were invited to put sites forward for consideration, and for the next few months we’ll be out and about assessing these. Those that are considered to meet the relevant criteria will be put forward for designation as ‘Local Green Spaces’ within the next Central Bedfordshire Local Plan, providing a strong level of protection from development. Toddington Green Infrastructure Plan The Toddington Green Infrastructure (GI) Plan is being developed as part of the Toddington Neighbourhood Plan and will help identify how the environment and access to it can be protected and improved as the village grows in the future. A workshop was held at the Village Hall in November, where over 30 people braved a very cold, grey day to contribute their thoughts and ideas on access, green spaces, wildlife, landscape and heritage. The Trust has been commissioned to produce the GI Plan by Toddington Parish Council, which is progressing its Neighbourhood Plan after something of a hiatus – we initially started work on the GI Plan in 2013! Consultancy work October Land at Church House, Hulcote, Biodiversity Enhancement Scheme Lychgate at Vandyke Road Cemetery, Leighton Buzzard Preliminary Roost Assessment Southern Meadows Upper Grassland, Leighton Buzzard Monitoring Visit November Land at Waddesdon Manor, Waddesdon Preliminary Ecological Appraisal Drakewell Manor, Bow Brickhill Preliminary Ecological Appraisal Communications GST Facebook saw its audience increase by 64 to 3,288. On GST Instagram we gained 48 new followers to 1,525. Our content during this quarter on GST Facebook was viewed by 131K – 67% of these are non followers. We had engagement with10K+. Top post was regarding Ampthill Park on 28 November which spiked at 29K views, with 60 reactions. Clophill Lakes Facebook saw its audience grow by 477 to 4,365. Content was viewed by 517K – 70% of which are following us. We had 3,588 interactions including 372 comments (compared to GST 125 comments). Top post was about a new Brie and Cranberry panini which was viewed by 24K with 89 reactions! Rushmere Facebook hit a major milestone with 20,185 followers (up 582 – but we had 103 unfollow). Content was viewed by 674K with 3,500+ interactions, 440 comments and 393 shares of our content. Unsurprisingly top post related to our woodland management works on 10 December – seen by 48K with 166 interactions and 102 comments. We issued one press release – Government funding awarded to revamp toddler play area in mid December which was featured in Leighton Online as did a statement regarding the woodland management works. Kayte Judge did a radio interview with BBC Radio Northampton from Clophill on Boxing Day. Analysis of our Google Search performance showed that the Trust website had around 15K clicks over the quarter with 157K impressions. With Woburn day pass coming to an end at the end of October, the Clophill Lakes subsite has now permanently taken the number two spot after Rushmere. In November top growing pages were Christmas tree sales, woodland management works and Bedford Estates taking back management of Woburn Woods. Email newsletters were sent to our 2500+ email subscribers to promote the Birds of Bedfordshire book launch, October Half Term at Rushmere, Feed the Birds and Merry Christmas from GST. Kayte sends out regular newsletters to all volunteers and Daniel is now producing a regular email communication to GST staff. Facilities and Associated Activities Rushmere Country Park Site and Facilities Visitor numbers continued to be slightly up in September / October. The parking contractors stopped providing the parking app from the 1st November. The only alternative they offer is not compatible with us because we have barriers. We have removed the app signage and will make investigations into other options for the future. Events Update Feed the Birds – 19th October Halloween Self-Led trail during October Half Term Xplorer – 30th October Orienteering Competition (external booking) – 23rd November Christmas Tree Sales – 29th November onwards Children’s Craft session Natural wreath making – 29th November Festive Gonk Making workshops – 5th December Tree Planting – 7th December Development Tree management work due to be carried out over the Winter period in our ongoing management of the site with 6 licensed compartments to be managed. Works started in December. The work will see: Two compartments opposite the Lower Meadow with Spruce to be felled, this is to remove unhealthy trees, reduce the safety issue in high winds and to encourage natural spread of bluebells. This will be replanted with mixed Broad Leaved saplings. Small compartment next to lower end of Visitor Centre to be thinned Large section from upper end of Visitor Centre (approx. 100 yards up) continuing parallel to the carriageway until the entrance to the jump area. This area will be predominately thinning the pine and larch to create a healthier woodland. This resulted in the closure and removal of the Cycling downhill jump area for access and tree storage, and temporarily closed the pump track and the cross country cycle trail loop in that area. The cycling was redirected around. Two medium sized compartments in the area between the Giants Chair and Wild Things over to the Greensand Ridge. This will be thinning the woodland to make a healthier woodland. During this work there will be a short period of closing the cycling and horse riding trails whilst the work is carried out towards the Greensand Ridge path. The horse trail from meadow to Wild Things will be closed for the duration. Removal of trees for safety along the carriageway to reduce risk factor in high winds. Closure of Bike Jump Area Once the tree management work has been carried out in the Downhill zone area (Compartment 5 of the tree management work) we reviewed the reinstation of this area and decided that, with the high risks of the jumps, the increasing number of riders without permits and worrying growth of anti-social behaviours from illegal riders balanced against the small revenues and resources that we have, we would be better placed to reinstate the area with cycling that is with less of a risk factor and concentrate on cycling provision that is suitable within a Country Park setting. We will invite proposals from professionals on reinstation. Fairy Trail appeal and development We have been successful in an Arts funding application for £10,000 and a further £3,000 donation from Leighton Buzzard Townslands Trust to allow us to revitalise the fairy trail sculptures. This money will allow us to replace the Giant’s Chair, Fairy King, a new leaf circle and nine new fairy doors. We will be fundraising to raise more funds to allow for additional sculptures. The artist Ian Freemantle will be creating the sculptures and we are expected to have new sculptures available midway through 2026. Toddler Playground Upgrade We have been successful in a UKSPF bid with match funding from CBC with a total sum of £32,508 to allow us to replace five pieces of ageing equipment and make accessibility improvements to the slide. This was installed starting in the first week in January. Tree Planting We have planted 1100 new broadleaved trees in a section near the entrance to Rushmere. This was in an area that was felled last year and is in line with recommendations on our felling license. We carried out a public Tree Planting Day on Sunday 7th December and, despite atrocious wet weather, we were glad to welcome many families wishing to help us. On the day we planted 660 trees with the remainder being planted by a local college group and our volunteers on a different day. Volunteering We remain at capacity for volunteers in Q3, with an active waiting list. However, Winter provided two opportunities for public adhoc volunteering, which was offered to the waiting list first, namely tree planting at Rushmere and Christmas Tree Sales. Both tasks were a success – all trees were planted with gusto and all Christmas trees were sold. The Christmas tree set up was much improved this year, and we were able to use this opportunity to provide more interesting tasks for Duke of Edinburgh Bronze students and their parents, something we would be keen to repeat. Visitor services volunteers at Rushmere provided a warm welcome as ever and many volunteers got involved in painting both the Halloween and ‘Natural Christmas’ trail – a popular fundraiser. Our ‘treat fund’ for volunteers (designed to enable task leaders to provide their groups with a little ‘extra’ from time to time at the discretion of the task leader) was utilised by the Eastern Practical and Conservation task leader Jamie, who worked with colleagues to arrange a surprise hot pudding offering on Maulden Heath during the task lunch time. Further to this Education and Riverfly teams were also treated to a festive treat and hot drink with their respective teams over a catch up and overview of the year – an annual practice for Education and the first for the newly formed RiverFly team. All practical and conservation groups had their annual Xmas potato lunches with a real team effort from volunteers and staff in providing delicious hot meal on site. Clophill Wardens were invited to have refreshments alongside a craft making activity making all natural decorations for the Clophill Community Christmas Tree Festival. Focus groups for the Rushmere Volunteer Leadership Programme were undertaken. This year-long programme is designed to deepen engagement with volunteers – especially those who would like to get more involved, and to extend our capacity to lead simple tasks with volunteer leaders (ie tasks run by volunteers), rather than staff, where needed. We will also be working in partnership with Architectural firm ‘Woods Hardwick’ to be our corporate pilot group for this programme. The Award ceremony for the two CPRE awards won by Clophill Lakes, both of which mentioned the high level of volunteer engagement, took place and was attended by representatives of both the wardens, visitor services and practical and conservation tasks. Manage Cookie Preferences