FINALIST 2023
Green Lung Project
TNR was awarded close to £100k by The Heritage Lottery Fund in 2021 for its Green Lung project, which focuses on connecting people with nature for mutual recovery in an urban floodplain setting. The project also aims to increase eco stewardship, green skills, diversity of volunteering and local community wellbeing by providing a number of learning and outreach opportunities at the Reserve. These opportunities include our citizen science volunteer group, national-curriculum aligned outdoor learning school visit programme, nature-based art workshops, wildlife walks and a series of workshops as part of our Green Skills for Green Recovery training programme. Similarly, the funding has allowed TNR to run its Nature Guardians’ Forest School group for children after-school and in the school holidays for the past 12 months or so. The Green Lung Project commenced in October 2021 and is funded until March 2023. TNR is hoping to secure further funding to be able to continue with this valuable work for the local community, with an emphasis on Social Prescribing.
To find out more and to see our work in action please visit our website to watch our short Green Lung Project film or contact our Learning & Outreach Officer at [email protected].
Tewkesbury Nature Reserve (TNR) resides on a 44-hectare floodplain containing a combination of wetland, river and grassland habitats which provide a safe haven for both wildlife and the local community to thrive. Famous wild residents at the Reserve include our heron, otters, kingfisher, reed warblers, and a variety of other bird, fish, dragonfly, butterfly and invertebrate species!
TNR is located close to the historic centre of Tewkesbury and occupies land to the southeast of Tewkesbury and is bordered by the A38 Tewkesbury bypass and Wheatpieces residential estates to the south and east; the A438 from M5 Junction 9 to Tewkesbury town centre to the north; and the Stonehills and Priors Park residential estates to the west. Directions to our car park can be found on Google Maps by entering ‘Tewkesbury Nature Reserve Car Park’.
TNR was officially founded as a Nature Reserve in 2011 having first been suggested as an idea at a Severn and Avon Flood Group Meeting in September 2008. Historically, the site was mostly used for agriculture and then more recently for recreation. A significant use of the land was during the Battle of Tewkesbury (1471), with the south-west fields lying within the registered area!
