Bristol Downs: How locals are helping to keep it alive!

National World - LocalTV

In twenty twenty-three alone, the project reached more than two thousand five hundred young people through school visits, guided walks, and community events – almost doubling its outreach through local play schemes. The aim? To inspire the next generation to connect with and care for the nature right on their doorstep.

Transcript

00:00I am Anna Stephens. I am the biodiversity engagement manager for Avon Gorge and Downs

00:06Wildlife and that is a project which has a large number of steering group members who help to look

00:14after the incredible biodiversity of this site. Since 1999 the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife

00:22Project has been quietly working to protect the habitat one that's home to peregrine falcons and

00:29the silky wave moth a species found nowhere else in England. It's a place that is for the people of

00:36Bristol. The Downs is set aside in an act of parliament from 1861 for the recreation of the

00:43people of Bristol and sometimes that seems to be overtaken by other things and forgotten so we

00:51wanted to, Friends of the Avon Gorge and Downs which is a different organisation who instigated this

00:57particular day. They wanted to have an experience where families could come out, enjoy the absolute

01:05peace and quiet of the ladies' mall being closed instead of cars rushing up and down and we can

01:09hear how quickly the cars go up and down now and just to experience that place that was for them.

01:16In 2023 alone the project reached more than 2500 young people through school visits, guided walks and

01:26community events almost doubling its outreach through local play schemes. The aim to inspire the next

01:33generation to connect with the care for nature right on their doorstep on the Durden and Clifton Downs.

01:40The majority of people are absolutely fantastic. They take their litter home. If the bins are full

01:47they realise that leaving it at the side of the bins is not helpful. Wildlife attack that litter and

01:53spread it all around the Downs which is damaging environmentally as well as very unpleasant for

01:59other people to experience and potentially dangerous. So the majority of people do a great job but I think

02:05there is a minority that have forgotten the countryside code as it used to be called when I was young

02:11and you might probably have heard of that Emma but when I was young there was a countryside code which

02:17suggested that people looked after the countryside, looked after their green spaces and I think we need

02:25to bring a little bit more of that back into Bristol. It's not really someone else's responsibility

02:31to take away the litter that you have used and left behind. It's actually your responsibility.

02:37The same goes for lighting fires and barbecues. Fires and barbecues are not permitted on the grass

02:44at all on the Downs. They're highly damaging to the ecosystem. They damage the soil. They change the

02:51chemical composition of the soil. They compact the earth. No water or air can get through. The mini beasts

02:57that make the soil can't live in there.

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