WILTSHIRE Wildlife Trust has pitched up at Melksham’s Tuesday market, ready to talk to local people about membership to the trust and the vital work that they do.
Armed with a wealth of information and local knowledge, Roger O’Neil from Wiltshire Wildlife Trust can be found at the market on a semi-regular basis. Roger said, “I am here in the Market Place, roughly on a fortnightly basis, to raise awareness about the issues our wildlife is facing and to recruit more members to support the charity. Wiltshire Wildlife Trust gets around 34% from memberships, and without it, the trust wouldn’t survive.
“Our vision is to create, protect and maintain habitat for our wildlife to thrive in. The trust manages around 40 nature reserves in Wiltshire, including Conigre Mead in Melksham, which are free and open to the public.
“Conigre Mead might be one of our smallest reserves, but there are a wealth of different species that have made it their home. The little egret, a small white heron, can be spotted sitting and waiting in the trees.
“It’s vital that we help protect our wildlife and its habitat. The hedgehog, statistically, has around six to seven years left before it goes extinct. And this is a species that walked the earth with dinosaurs and survived an ice age! As the human population expands, we are pushing nature out.
“There is still hope for the hedgehog with more people leaving holes under their fences and leaving parts of their garden to go wild, but more needs to be done.
“I’m doing this for my grandchildren; the thought of them growing up without wildlife like hedgehogs and otters around them, it just doesn’t bear thinking about.
“Come along and have a chat with me about the work the trust is doing and what you can do to help.”
