News on Surrey's Greener Future

This month, Surrey County Council held a cabinet meeting where it was decided that the Wildlife Aid Foundation | British wildlife rescue centre would become the latest recipient of a Your Fund Surrey grant to promote biodiversity across the county and protect British wildlife.

Conserving nature across Surrey

The Wildlife Aid Foundation are a charity dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of British wildlife. This great work has taken place over four decades and supported some of Britian’s most vulnerable and endangered animals such as birds, deer, hedgehogs and foxes.

Your Fund Surrey link - Your Fund Surrey for community projects - Surrey County Council (surreycc.gov.uk)

The Your Fund Surrey grant will be used to build the Wildlife Aid Centre, a new accessible visitor centre and community hub which will provide year-round activities for visitors. The funds will also be used to install accessible boardwalks, viewing platforms and hides which will offer visitors free access across the site.

The centre will feature meeting and learning spaces, a community hub, which will be great for schools and families. The Wildlife Aid hospital will be moved, and improvements will be made to its facilities so more injured animals can be treated. This will provide more volunteering opportunities for people interested in wildlife conservation and animal welfare.

The new 20-acre site, half a mile away from the Wildlife Aid Foundation’s current home in Leatherhead will be used to help more people learn about the importance of protecting, supporting and living alongside wildlife.

Why protecting nature is important

Spending time in nature can reduce stress and allow you to feel more relaxed. Getting out and about and increasing your activity level can improve physical health and wellbeing.

Preserving biodiversity in green spaces is vital, and there are many benefits just to name a few; trees absorb carbon dioxide and give us oxygen to breathe, and healthy ecosystems provide us with food to eat.

It’s also vital to protect animal and insect species as without pollinators like bees we’d have less food crops available. Having a diverse variety of habitats is important as they provide different benefits; for example, large plants, and wetland habitats naturally slow down rainfall and help the soil gradually absorb an optimum amount of water.