Conservation Fund Projects

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The Conservation Fund is a small grant pot to supports projects to deliver practical conservation work and/or educational and awareness-raising activities relating to the Shropshire Hills and its conservation, especially involving young people.

In March 2025, grants, totalling £14,775.45 were awarded to 9 projects.  

As part of the grant claim, each project writes a short report to share results and any challenges that came up along the way (reports are uploaded onto this page for you to read).

St George’s Meadow, St George’s Parochial Church Council - £1,000

Through practical conservation work the project is creating a publicly accessible wildflower meadow and wild place for the community.  This will increase local biodiversity; strengthen fragmented habitat networks and raise awareness and appreciation of wild spaces in a village setting, connecting people to nature. 

Small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly recovery project, Rob Rowe – grant £1,700

This project is improving the condition of wet flush habitat on sites in the Stiperstones area to benefit the Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary Butterfly (SPBF). Volunteers will be involved in the practical management and survey work. Marsh violet (SPBF larval foodplant) will be propagated from cuttings and planted at two sites around the Stiperstones where it is in short supply.

Study & monitoring of pine marten and dormice in Morville Parish, Morville Parish Council - £2,000

To investigate the presence of dormice and pine marten in 15-acre woodland at Weston. The project involves events to generate community interest, installing nest and den boxes, and trail cameras to monitor wildlife activity.   This builds on survey work which is already happening in nearby parishes.

Rea Valley Community Wildlife Group Events Program 2025 – 2026 – grant £1,999.17

The project is delivering a programme of wildlife training events to reach out to new audiences and young people within the local community and engage with them about the wildlife in the Rea Valley and the Shropshire Hills National Landscape.

Woods for Wood White, Forestry England – grant £2,000

The project aims to restore ride side habitat and scallops to support locally and nationally significant populations of the Wood White butterfly in the forest surrounding the Bury Ditches Iron-Age hill fort.  The project will raise awareness of the Wood White and its importance to the Shropshire Hills landscape, and create new interpretation signage about the Wood White at the Bury Ditches entry car park. 

Caring for God’s Acre in the Shropshire Hills, Caring for God’s Acre – grant £2,000

Supporting Parochial Church Councils, vicars, church wardens, parish and town councils, groups and individuals to investigate and care for the biodiversity, built heritage and social history of burial grounds in the Shropshire Hills National Landscape. The project will engage with all 65 burial grounds within the National Landscape in a conversation leading to action about the importance of burial grounds in relation to Nature Recovery plans to support the Shropshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy. 

Hill Stories 2025, Nick Fogg – grant £1,000

This project is about helping young people to explore and engage with Shropshire Hills landscape, its wildlife and heritage.  The participants will use digital technology to reflect on their experiences and create their own physical and digital media responses to share online.  An exhibition will showcase their work.  

River Monitoring, Bishop's Castle River Monitoring Group - grant £956.28  

The project will run monthly river monitoring sessions to record multiple variables, including ammonia levels, nitrate levels, phosphate levels, temperature, conductivity, pH, turbidity etc. The source of the Kemp is above Bishop's Castle, so monitoring the effect of pollution from the town on the Kemp is important for understanding the whole state of the Kemp.

Youth Forum Rangers, South Shropshire Youth Forum – grant £2,000

The project is working with young people (aged 11-18), helping then to be involved in appreciating the Shropshire Hills landscape in which they live, and giving the opportunity to get actively involved in improving and conserving it.  The young people will help to develop this programme of natural heritage-based activities in the Clee Hill/Craven Arms area.

You can view past projects by clicking on these links:

The Conservation Fund is made up with donations from Friends of Shropshire Hills subscriptions, the Millichope Foundation and individual contributions.  

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Registered Charity no. 1168432