Coast Care volunteers making a differenceKatherine Williams Fundraising Logo StickyCoast Care volunteers making a differenceCoast Care volunteers making a difference
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Project Development
    • Fundraising
    • Strategic Planning
    • Evaluation
  • News
  • Contact
✕
Hidden Gem in Bamburgh
September 7, 2020
Making the best of lockdown
October 3, 2020

Coast Care volunteers making a difference

September 13, 2020

This blog post from the Coast Care team is really important for project evaluation – it celebrates the impact/outcomes of the project as well as the outputs. I have written about this – see my blog post here from 2015. For Coast Care, we must look not just at the number of volunteers that have been engaged, or even the work they have completed, but the impact that they have had.

Since 2018, volunteers have been working together to clear ivy from the castle ramparts at Bamburgh. Although ivy is a native and important habitat in its own right, it is extremely invasive and, on this site, it was suppressing the whin grassland habitat which is extremely rare. The before and after photos show a dramatic difference – it is obvious to see that the ivy monoculture has been removed – but this alone is not enough to demonstrate the impact of the project. The real question is whether removing the ivy has allowed the whin grassland to recover.

I am really pleased that volunteers have been able to go back to Bamburgh to record a total of 45 plant species on this site along with observations of more diverse insect pollinator populations, soil invertebrates and birdlife. This provides strong evidence that all those days pulling ivy really have made a difference. As Rob Turner, staff member at Bamburgh Castle, says, “they should feel proud to have made such a vast difference in such a short period”.

Share

Related posts

Curious Red Squirrel at Formby by Rebecca Press on Unsplash

August 22, 2023

Development funding for new Red Squirrel Recovery Network


Read more
April 20, 2023

A cuppa and a chat with Culture Northumberland


Read more
December 21, 2022

Evaluating Revitalising Redesdale


Read more
© 2021 Katherine Williams | Privacy Policy | Web Design by James Gardner

Policy statements for environmental impact, health & safety and personal data can be provided on request.