French
Connection
The
Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership is getting ready to welcome a team
of dedicated volunteers from France who are travelling to Kent to help
manage the countryside around Whitstable.
The French volunteers form part of the conservation group Les Blongios
(the bitterns) which normally undertakes work across the chalk downland
and coastal regions of
Northern France
. The group have been working with the Kentish Stour Countryside
Partnership for over 10 years as part of the Landscape and Nature for all
projects supported by the European Regional Development Fund Interreg IV
programme.
“The exchanges are an annual event,” explained KSCP Project Officer
Carol Donaldson. “Both groups not only benefit from having a big team of
enthusiastic volunteers to undertake habitat improvements but also from
the opportunity to learn from each other.
Kent
and
Northern France
were once connected by a land bridge and our countryside is amazingly
similar. The exchange programme allows us to share experience of how best
to manage our land for wildlife and makes us realise what close neighbours
we really are.”
The two volunteer groups will be working together over the weekend of the
5-6th March at two sites belonging to Canterbury City Council.
Firstly they will be removing scrub from chalk grassland at Wraik Hill and
then they will be off to Duncan Down to plant trees.
For
more information please contact Carol Donaldson on 01233 813307 or 07740
185223
