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Welcome to the website for Castle Point Wildlife GroupWe currently have woodchips for sale from the work we are doing in West Wood, ideal for mulching your garden. Only £1 a sack (please supply your own sack) please phone Neal 07860 305562 for details.Please note we have run out of cut and split logs for sale, however we have a very limited supply of this seasons wood for sale in lengths of about 1 metre that has been seasoning over the spring / summerthat you can cut / split ready for winter. Phone Neal 07860 305562 for details and availability.Work will be starting to improve the main entrance off Rayleigh Road on 2nd August. This involves cleaning the area up, installing new gates, and noticeboards. Some funding has been granted by the Council Neighbourhood Forum for this work.We are urgently looking for volunteers to join us to help with work in West Wood over the coming autumn and winter. Please visit the membership page for details, or just come along to one of the events detailed on the events page.The group is made up of volunteers who are interested in looking after and protecting the wildlife environment within Castle Point.
We currently manage 2 areas of woodland within the Castle Point area of Essex.
Our first site is North Benfleet Hall Wood near Woodside Park which consists of around 11 acres of woodland with some natural ponds, the second and the largest is West Wood in Thundersley. West Wood is around 80 acres of ancient woodland previously owned by the Church, and now owned by Castle Point Borough Council. We currently hold a licence granted by CPBC to manage this wood, and hope to continue with the management now the wood is owned by the local authority. West Wood was historically a coppicing wood. It is a site we are restoring slowly after being unmanaged for many years. Coppicing is where trees are cut back over a number of years to allow regrowth as well as to encourage plants to grow up and by thinning out the tree canopy it opens up the area for birdlife.We realise coppicing can appear quite drastic at times, but the benefits are shown a couple of years down the line.
We participate in other environmental projects around the borough and put on displays at local shows. We also support the area in assisting to educate the youngsters of the borough about the wildlife in their community.
As a group we are always looking for more volunteers to join us to help with the work in the woods. Membership is only £5 per year for a family. For further information please use the contact us page of this site, or to apply for membership go to the Membership Application page of this site and download an application form.
We hold regular work parties in both woods, and as a result of our coppicing works have logs and lengths of timber for sale from West Wood suitable for your home log burners.
Work parties are regularly held in West Wood during the week and at weekends (please see events page for details).
We also hold work parties in North Benfleet Hall Wood and again dates are shown on the events page. There are tasks for every one ranging from scrub clearance, coppicing to litter picking. If you do not wish to join the group but still want to help out that is no problem just come along in old clothes you will be very welcome.
We hold monthly meetings to discuss our activities, and information is displayed on the noticeboard at the entrance to West Wood off Rayleigh Road (opp Windsor Gardens) or by contacting us via the contact us page on this website. We also produce newsletters and the latest can be veiwed via this website (link on left).
If you are a visitor to the woods, we would welcome your feedback on any wildlife (birds, insects plants etc) you see so we can update the sightings list on this website for information of others. Please let us know via the contact page where we also welcome any general feedback and comments
We hope you enjoy the website and ask that you e mail us if you require any further information on our activities.
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