The LANCE Trust: People for Nature winner (Community), Bee Bold Awards

The LANCE Trust was formed in 2021 and brings together people with a range of expertise and skills to support projects which stop and reverse the decline of wildlife habitats and species in the parish of Long Ashton in North Somerset. Its mission is to promote and enable positive action, for the climate and wildlife, within the wider community.

The Bee Bold selection panel commended what The LANCE Trust has achieved in such a short space of time and with a small team. It is providing inclusive pollinator-focussed projects across the diverse communities in Long Ashton and beyond.

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I am Amanda Barrett,

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co-founder and trustee of the LANCE Trust.

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LANCE Trust is Long Ashton

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Nature, Community and Environment Trust.

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Set up a couple of years ago by a small group of us

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to maintain and increase biodiversity

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in the parish of Long Ashton.

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We've worked with schools, brownies, parish council.

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As a result,

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we now have a terms of reference

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for the Environment Committee

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that makes the 30 by 30 principle

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of putting aside 30% of land for biodiversity

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with a background in kind of conservation biology,

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I know how important it is to do baseline surveys.

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The work that LANCE have done

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is seeing species return

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to some of the areas that we've worked on.

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So our wildflower meadow used to be an arable farmland

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and since we've improved the biodiversity

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there, we've seen the return of skylarks,

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which is really exciting.

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I've been involved with the signage

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because I think

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community engagement is really important.

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Getting people to

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to feel that they can improve their local environments

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through their own means.

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And I think, you know,

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that's something that we've concentrated on.

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Helping bees is one important part of our work.

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If we can help bees,

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we can help a whole range of other things.

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I know the kids at Northleaze School,

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they get so excited when they see

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just one single butterfly.

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Why shouldn't they see a horde of butterflies?

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And that's what we're working towards.

What they did

The LANCE Trust was created to preserve, protect and improve biodiversity and habitats for wildlife in the parish of Long Ashton, Bristol.

It has secured stewardship of a hectare of farmland in the village and converted it into a native wildflower meadow using volunteers. Continued work with the farm manager of a local farm has resulted in the reduction of chemical spraying.

The Trust has also taken over management of a church garden to maintain it for pollinators and wildlife, as well as creating and maintaining a wildflower bank in Peel Park.

The main mission of The LANCE Trust lies in promoting and enabling other community projects, local businesses and schools to take action for pollinators. In just two years, the Trust has supported several local projects including establishing an apple orchard at Holly Hedge Animal Sanctuary, creating open areas within Keeds Wood and managing a church garden in Long Ashton for pollinators - to name but a few!

The impact for the LANCE Trust and beyond

The work undertaken by The LANCE Trust has enabled the people of Long Ashton parish to have greater access to high-quality green spaces, full of plants and pollinators.

Working with other landowners and managers, The LANCE Trust are helping to change behaviours and help support a balance between people and nature.

The projects they have undertaken and supported, has also allowed volunteers to learn new skills in horticulture, managing spaces for nature and learning to identify the different pollinator species.

Through their website, promotional materials, displays and talks, The LANCE Trust are also reaching a wider audience, educating the public on the importance of pollinators, biodiversity and nature.

The impact for pollinators

Improving the habitats within and around Long Ashton has created excellent foraging and refuge habitats for pollinators. Butterfly surveys on the wildflower meadow found common blue, gatekeeper and brown argus butterflies as well as oak eggar moth caterpillars.

The wildflower bank created in Peel Park provides foraging for bumblebees and solitary bees, whilst tree planting on Toboggan Hill by volunteers and UWE students will provide refuge and foraging habitats for our pollinators in the future.

Work with local farmers has also created edge habitats in areas of bramble scrub which provides a great resource for moths, butterflies and bats.

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