Thanks to funding from our Managing the Landscape Grant Scheme, the Corridor Club is preparing to enter an exciting second phase, bringing together more landowners to help create a bigger, better-connected landscape for wildlife across the Ulverscroft Valley and the wider Charnwood Forest Geopark.
What began as a small group of neighbouring landowners has grown into a thriving network of people who share a passion for caring for the land and supporting nature. With support from Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, alongside other partners including the National Trust and the National Forest, the project demonstrates the benefits of working together across boundaries to achieve landscape-scale nature recovery.
Building on the success of the first phase, the next stage of the project will welcome around ten new landowners to the Corridor Club. Participants will receive ecological surveys, habitat mapping and tailored management advice to help them better understand the wildlife on their land and identify practical opportunities to enhance it. Potential actions include restoring hedgerows and dry stone walls, creating species-rich grasslands, removing invasive species, improving ponds and strengthening wildlife corridors to connect habitats across the landscape.
The project will also create opportunities for landowners to share ideas, learn from one another and build lasting relationships. Local natural history groups and species specialists will support wildlife surveys, helping to improve understanding of the area’s remarkable biodiversity and inform future conservation work.
By working together at a landscape scale, the Corridor Club will help reconnect habitats, support priority species and strengthen the natural heritage that makes Charnwood Forest so special. As the network continues to grow, the project will deliver lasting benefits for wildlife, landowners, local communities, and everyone who enjoys this unique and treasured landscape.
Charnwood Forest Geoparks’s small grant schemes are made possible thanks to the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, through the Charnwood Forest Landscape Partnership Scheme.