Please can you help protect and conserve this area?  

 

Large sections of the lovely Porter Valley woodlands and water courses are now designated as a Local Nature Reserve by Natural England . And the open green spaces between are traditional parks with a heritage of their own.  

 

Friends of the Porter Valley are trying to recover nature in the parklands adjoining the Porter Brook by planting traditional ground flora in areas which have been trampled into bare mud. However, it is a fragile environment that attracts large numbers of visitors and here are ways you could help lessen our human impact:

 

• Please keep to the main paths and bridleways and avoid cycling or running on the grass, riversides and woodlands.

 

• Do keep dogs  on short leads especially during the nesting season and when species are emerging from hibernation.  Nesting starts earlier these days: already in February in 2024. Loose dogs are one of the biggest causes of wildlife disturbance.

 

• Do help to reduce the negative impacts of dog poo by picking up after your dog and dispose of dog waste in bins or at home. Dog waste can carry diseases, scare away animals,  and fertilise soils affecting the natural balance of fragile habitats.  

 

• Please protect the wildlife in the Porter Brook:  Insecticides found in dog flea treatments can pollute waterways and dogs jumping into the water disturb fish, insects, amphibians and bank dwellers. The numbers of species in the Porter Valley has declined in recent years.  Some of the banks are now eroding badly because of heavy footfall and pawfall!

 

Thank you for visiting and loving the Porter Valley parklands and nature reserves.  

 

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