Restoration improving Biodiversity
Our Restoration continues to create Biodiversity Net Gain on the Wendover Canal. There used to be almost impenetrable tall hawthorn, and we’ve come a long way since.
Come and see for yourselves
You can enjoy the Wendover Canal near Wendover and Tring, throughout the year. Create a wonderful walk and enjoy the Biodiversity of the countryside around the Wendover Canal. You’ll find a great variety of wildlife and loads of fresh air. The footpath “towpath” beside the Wendover Canal is level all the way. It takes you from Wendover, past Halton, Buckland, Drayton Beauchamp and Little Tring, to Bulbourne where it joins up with the Grand Union Canal.
You can also walk round the nearby Tring and Wilstone reservoirs, which were created to store water for this canal. For details of all they have to offer, click on this link: Tring Reservoirs | Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (hertswildlifetrust.org.uk) .
Wendover Canal Restoration improving Biodiversity
We consciously look for ways to improve the environment and the Biodiversity of the area. We aim to protect and promote wildlife, and make this a special place for all who pass through. For example, our team have planted hundreds of trees with the assistance of the Woodland Trust. Also, we have improved the hedgerows, and we continually strive to improve the wildlife habitat. We involve environmental experts and are linked closely to the environmental team at the Canal & River Trust. Click here to view a growing gallery of the terrain, flora and fauna of the Wendover Canal.
Chalk Stream
When the Wendover Canal was being built in 1793, its (then-private) owners bought the rights to the water flowing from the Heron Stream in Wendover. The Heron Stream is one of only 210 chalk streams in the world, 160 of which are in the UK. Chalk streams are a quintessential part of the English landscape and have huge ecological value. So effectively the Wendover Canal is itself a chalk stream.
Big Butterfly Count
In the summer of 2020, our team took part in the UK wide Big Butterfly Count. Brimstones, Green-veined whites, Small Coppers, Gatekeepers, Small and Large Whites are just a few of the varieties that thrive in the area. During butterfly season butterflies are on the wing during the warmest, sunniest time of day, from mid-morning to late afternoon. So next time you’re out walking keep your eyes peeled.
Videos featuring Wendover Canal Biodiversity
If you’d like to see more, view Nigel Harper’s collection of 3 videos at the links below. They show the Wendover Canal from Bulbourne to Wendover, and the wildlife we can all enjoy along the way. More videos can be found here.
Now click here to read about our next Key Benefit, Well-Being…
In 2020, we discovered a badger’s sett in the infilled section near to the winding hole, which we planned to excavate. So we appointed a professional company Morph for advice. They identified a larger nearby sett with good foraging ground, so they advised us that the badgers could be relocated there, and Morph applied for a closure licence for the sett in the canal. They advised that the closure must be completed quickly, otherwise the badgers would be disturbed during their reproductive season. So Morph and WAT completed this successfully, and then our volunteer work party excavated this part of the infilled section including the badger’s sett.