Hello! This is Jo from the Wild Bunch. 2024 was a busy year for us with many events and new faces joining our gatherings. We hope many more gardens have become havens for wildlife, and we look forward to what’s in store in 2025.
The Wild Bunch was formed during the Great Big Green Week in 2021, when members of the Neighbourhood Network joined forces to share their passion for wildlife-friendly gardening. Around 87% of households in the UK have a garden, and according to the wildlife trusts, these cover a larger area than all our nature reserves combined. We champion the idea that our outdoor spaces, however small, can play a big role in nature recovery when managed correctly. We encourage everyone to work with nature for the shared benefit of wildlife and the local community.
We host 11 themed events a year, on the third Thursday of the month, with a break in August. We cover all sorts of wildlife-friendly topics at these sociable events, from ideas on what to plant to support pollinators, or how to build and maintain ponds, to how to support hedgehogs. We often invite guest speakers to our meetings. In 2024 we had friends from Prickles Hedgehog Rescue, Bradford on Avon Swift and Housemartin Group, and Jonathan Powell from Natural Bee Keeping Trust visiting us and sharing their knowledge. In 2025 we will be introducing some engaging evening events so we can meet more of you. Watch this space!
In addition to the regular Wild Bunch gatherings, for the past two years we’ve had Somerset Bat Group helping us run two Big Bat Counts a year. Over 60 volunteers counted bats in various locations in Frome and documented a record number of observations for Somerset in both years.
We also pen this regular column, exploring seasonal topics to encourage you to support wildlife in your outdoor spaces. In October we partnered with Sustainable Frome and Future Shed and organised a sold-out screening of Six Inches of Soil, a film exploring sustainable farming methods.
The Wild Bunch would like to thank all wildlife-friendly gardeners for their efforts in supporting biodiversity in town in 2024, and wish them a happy, healthy and successful New Year. Keep doing what you are doing. It might not feel like it, but you are making a big difference!
We will be back on Thursday 16th January 2025 for our first gathering. Aimee, a local ecology student with a passion for birds will share her insights on how we can support our feathered friends in our gardens. From the right seasonal food to ideal bird boxes, this session will cover all the information you need to help birds succeed in the 2025 breeding season. This session will also be an ideal opportunity to prepare for the Big Garden Bird Watch on 24th-26th January 2025.
We are a small team of seven and we are constantly looking for new members. If you have some time to spare, whether regular or intermittent, there are many ways to get involved, from helping at our events to sharing the writing of this column. For more information on how to get involved contact fromewildbunch@gmail.com.
