Archers Green Appeal
WOW, YOU DID IT!
Thank you to all of you, our incredible supporters, for enabling us to reach our appeal target for Archers Green.
Watch this space for our new nature reserve web page, coming soon.
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You have helped us buy and protect this globally rare habitat.
We needed to raise £500K to buy and secure Archers Green,
In September 2022 we launched our fundraising campaign to help us buy and protect Archers Green - a 20-acre site near to Welwyn Garden City - home to globally rare and fast declining wildlife habitats.
By the end of January, you had already helped us reach the halfway point; since that time, we have seen some great support from our members, the general public, and the local Tewin community, as well as a generous grant from the Ecological Restoration Fund.
Thanks to continued donations and a recent, very generous Legacy allocation we can confirm that we have met our £500,000 target, enabling us to buy and protect Archers Green for the future.
Archers Green is a gem of a site in Hertfordshire and it needs protecting.
The site includes a wonderful section of chalk stream, as rare and vital as the world’s rainforests, alongside wildlife-rich grassland, a habitat that is disappearing at a tragic rate.
It’s a beautiful home not only to Water Voles, the UK’s fastest declining mammals, but also important pollinators on which our entire ecosystem depends.
Without the funds to purchase and protect Archers Green, this globally rare chalk stream and vulnerable grassland, along with their wonderful wildlife, would be lost. We could not fail - and with your help we haven't.
An important wildlife corridor
Wildlife needs our help to build its resilience against increasing threats such as climate change. Kingfishers, bees and endangered Water Voles all depend on connected landscapes, so they can move around and breed. If we can protect Archers Green, situated between our Tewinbury Nature Reserve and Panshanger Park, we can ensure the safety and help build the resilience of wildlife along the Mimram Valley.
Already, our area has seen crucial wildlife homes and corridors disappear, taking with them 76 species and leaving 1,446 under threat of extinction. It’s in our power to stop the wildlife that depends on Archers Green from going the same way – but only if we have the ownership and rights to manage it.
How you have helped
When we saw Archers Green come up for sale, we had to act fast to stop the site from falling into unsympathetic hands. We secured two generous philanthropic loans which enabled the site to be taken off the market. If we had not managed to raise the money needed, the site may have had to go back on the open market, which would risk the loss of its wildlife, right in the middle of a nature crisis.
Thankfully, we have reached our £500,000 target and have already repaid our generous philanthropic loans,
Your support is already helping us to save and protect this wonderful site its iconic habitats.
Through our dedication, expertise and the amazing input of our volunteers, together we can care for the wildlife at Archers Green.
FAQ's
What will my donation be spent on?
We need to raise a total of £500,000 to secure the purchase and care of Archers Green for wildlife. These funds will be used first to pay back the philanthropic loans which enabled the site to be taken off the market. The rest will be spent on initial establishment costs, which could including fencing installation, livestock grazing, tree safety and ash die back mitigation, provision of site information and set up of monitoring activities, as well as the ongoing delivery of the day to day management of the site for up to 20 years.
Can I add Gift Aid to my donation?
Yes. You will prompted on the donation form to confirm whether you are eligible for Gift Aid.
What is a philanthropic loan and why did you need to use them?
As part of the Federation of Wildlife Trusts we have been able to benefit from a new national scheme whereby philanthropists are matched with individual Trusts and make a loan for an agreed period. When the Archers Green site came up for sale we had to act fast to secure it, as we could not ask the landowners to wait until we had raised all the funds with a campaign. We took the opportunity to benefit from this scheme so that we didn’t miss the rare opportunity to buy this special site for local wildlife.
We are extremely grateful to our two philanthropic lenders who have loaned the funds on the understanding that we would pay them back within a fixed period of time. Now, we have the important task of raising the funds to repay the loan.
This initial land purchase wouldn’t have been possible without these philanthropic loans. Find out more about supporting similar projects in this way.
When do you need to raise the money by?
We have a fixed period of time to repay the philanthropic loans.
To help reach our £500K campaign target we are delivering a phased campaign plan which includes a combination of public appeals, approaches to our existing supporters and grant funding applications. However, grant applications can take more than a year to secure positive responses and there is no guarantee that all applications will be successful. We have been approaching our known major donors for additional support and hope to be able to allocate some of our legacy funding to the project should we need to.
- Phase I – September 2022-January 2023 : public appeal launched; participation in the Christmas Big Give campaign; submission of funding applications to grant-making bodies, including charitable trusts and foundations. Over £250,000 raised!
- Phase 2 – from March 2023 : local and community-based appeal and promotions; further applications to grant-making bodies; consideration of legacy fund allocations.
You can see the current total raised at the top of this appeal page.
What will happen if you don’t raise all the funding you need?
If unsuccessful in reaching our income target, we will need to explore other routes of support before our repayment period ends. Our Trustees will have to decide whether the remaining costs can be met from financial reserves, which would put pressure on our conservation work and take vital funds away from the regular management and improvement of our other nature reserves.
If we are unable to raise the funds needed to secure Archers Green, it will go back onto the open market, putting this vital wildlife habitat at risk of falling into unsympathetic hands.
What will happen to the land if the Trust is unable to purchase it?
The land at Archers Green is part of a Local Wildlife Site and yet its chalk stream and grassland habitat has no legal protection.
Should the site fall into unsympathetic hands, then Archers Green could see its wildlife interest lost: this could be through grazing by horses or adding fertilisers; disturbance to the sensitive wildlife and loss of the fragile waterside habitats; damage to the river banks and riverside vegetation therefore removing vital habitat for Water Voles, and other important river (riparian) wildlife.
What will happen to my donation if the Trust is unable to reach its target?
In addition to our public appeal, we are also approaching a number of grant making bodies for support. We are therefore hopeful that we will be able to reach our campaign target.
However, in the event that the campaign is unsuccessful and the site has to be sold off, donors will be contacted by the Trust and given the option for their donation to be refunded, or they will be able to reallocate their support to the Trust’s existing nature reserves.
What if you raise more that the target funding?
Any excess funds raised will be used to care for other Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust nature reserves.
Will there be public access to Archers Green?
Due to the sensitivity of the habitats, which will include ground nesting birds, and the need for grazing livestock, access to the meadows will be limited.
While there will be no general public access to the meadows, a fenced public footpath passes through the middle of the site and the old stone bridge is a great place to stop and look at the River Mimram and across the meadows. In addition, the Trust will organise educational visits and guided walks to show people the special wildlife interest whilst minimising any disturbance.
What kind of habitats and what wildlife is found at Archers Green?
Archers Green includes priority habitats, identified in the Herts State of Nature Report. There are lowland meadows, wet woodland, marsh and chalk stream, supporting a wide range of rare plants and animals. This importance is recognised through its designation at a Local Wildlife Site.
Chalk streams are internationally important habitats and this is one of the best stretches of the River Mimram.
The meadows include rare plants such as Whorl-Grass, Marsh Valerian, harebell and Marsh Ragwort.
Five species of bat have been recorded so far (common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Noctule, Leisler’s, Daubenton’s), along with Grass Snake, Water Vole and Otter and three red-listed water beetles. The land is home to a wide variety of birds from Yellowhammer, Redwing, Grey Partridge and Skylark to Cuckoo, Marsh Tit, Water Rail and Snipe.