Your participation
VOLUNTEERS WANTED
We are looking for volenteers to work here in the woods.
Work to be done includes transplanting snowdrops, irises and reeds, coppicing elderberries and sycamores and litter picks.
We want to compile a volunteer list so that working times can be arranged to suit you.
If you are interested, please send your contact details to our website www.apleywoods.co.uk.
We look forward to working with you.
P.S. Tea, coffee and bisuits provided.
Photography Competition
Friends of Apley woods are launching a photography competition
New owl boxes for Apley Woods
3 new owl boxes, 2 for tawny owls and 1 for barn owls, have recently been installed in Apley Woods.
The barn owl box was donated by Edgecliff High School in Kinver, Staffordshire.Year 8 pupils have built 6 owl boxes in total with the other 5 being sited at Conkers Woodland which is part of the National forest in Staffordshire.
Chainsaw wood carving event
Renowned chainsaw sculptor, Dave Bytheway, has spent another four days in Apley Woods creating more fantastic woodland wildlife sculptures...
Family Events in Apley Woods
The Telford Access to Nature Partnership was established as a way of being able to provide free family environmental arts events and family activities in some of Telford’s most beautiful green spaces. The intention has been to use the outside environment in a creative way, showing how it can be enjoyed in a variety of ways...
Please respect the woods
Please DO NOT drop litter.
Clean up after your dog using the bins provided.
Report any criminal damage and malicious behaviour to the Police on 0300 333 3000. Please also inform Telford & Wrekin Council on 01952 384383.
Friends of Apley Woods
Friends of Apley WoodsIn 2007, local residents of Apley along with Apley Borough Councillor, Karen Blundell, and Adrian Corney, Environmental Maintenance Officer of Telford & Wrekin Council, formed a unique partnership called, “Friends of Apley Woods”.
The group’s aims are to restore and celebrate the rich and intriguing heritage of Apley Castle and to protect, foster and develop Apley Woods as a very special and valuable amenity for the whole community to enjoy and appreciate.
Unfortunately, the woodland had become badly neglected and was so dense and overgrown that it became very dark and threatening. The bird life was reducing, wild snowdrops and bluebells were getting fewer and the trees were becoming spindly, creating an unfriendly landscape with deteriorating habitat value for wildlife, and he woodland was eventually downgraded from Wildlife Site status.
Friends of Apley Woods have been working extremely hard with Telford & Wrekin Council, Small Woods Association and Shropshire Wildlife Trust to restore, maintain and develop Apley Woods, its lake, ponds and meadow. They have an enthusiastic and committed group of local residents, young people from disadvantaged areas of Telford, and volunteers with learning and physical disabilities who carry out volunteer activities on site throughout every week engaging in woodland management tasks and habitat enhancements. They also regularly run activity days and with the Shropshire Wildlife Trust, the Small Woods Venture out and Telford Green Gym projects, and trainees from RAF Cosford.
With the financial support of Hadley & Leegomery Parish Council, over 200,000 bulbs have been planted in and around the Woods along with some 500 native plants/ferns and over 300 specimen trees. A further 2000 tree and hedging whips have also been planted including Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Dog Rose and Holly.
The results of all the hard work by everybody involved is now becoming very visible and has attracted wide appreciation and comment from the local Community and both the Parish and Borough Council. The group received a prestigious national ‘ENCAMS’ Award for the success that has been achieved in engaging the Community throughout the project and the group have also been commended in the Outstanding Commitment to the Community category of the Horticultural Week & Landscape Amenity Awards earlier this year.
Apley Woods is now enjoyed by the whole Community including patients, staff and visitors from both the Severn Hospice and Princess Royal Hospital. Pupils from our local schools regularly visit the woodland and have been involved in various educational and ecology projects.
Having successfully received £50,000 from the Peoples Millions Big Lottery Scheme, the main thrust of the Lottery cash was used to make easier more attractive entrances with lower kerbs making better access for people in wheelchairs, create wider and smoother paths and the installation of information panels at each entrance so people can find their way around the woods and appreciate the fantastic landscape Apley Woods has to offer.
Apley Woods has many beautiful mature trees and part of the development of the project saw the creation of a tree trail. A Forest Schools Project now runs on a weekly basis for pupils from our local schools, the duck pond has been desilted, and a pond dipping platform has been installed to improve safety. Volunteers have also been creating new habitats for birds and wild flowers to flourish.
The group run educational events throughout the year along with the Shropshire Wildlife Trust as part of the Telford Access to Nature Partnership, and they also run guided walks around the Woods every Monday at 2pm, as part of the “Walk for Health Project”. Information regarding all forthcoming events is detailed on the events page of this website.
If you would like to take part in the forthcoming volunteer events or become actively involved in the group and its future activities, you can contact the group by clicking the Information link at the top of the page followed by the Contact Us link.
The Friends of Apley woods together with Shropshire Wild Life Trust
Supported by
Support Apley Woods and make a donation through localgiving.com
We are looking for volunteers.... See Your participation.
Friends of Apley Woods are now on Facebook.
- Photography Competition
see news page