Hello, I’m Ros Jones and I run Wildlife Wellbeing Walks. As the name suggests, the aim of Wildlife Wellbeing Walks is to provide wellbeing through walking and connecting with wildlife. The first FoodFutures seasonal market I joined with a stall was in March 2024 and I have loved meeting people and chatting with them about what I do, and generally talking about the joys of being out in nature!
I run a range of events including guided nature walks and talks, but my main project this year has been with Marsh Community Centre.
In November 2023 we were successful in bidding for £7,000 from the Your Pots fund through Pots of Possibility. With this money, we started a project to help connect people with each other and with nature. As part of that, we wanted to find out about more sustainable practices with food and culture. Activities have been varied, from a food web tig game to learning about tree identification, with over 60 people participating.
Food has been a huge part of our activities which has included children sowing seeds, watering plants in the Marsh’s community garden and harvesting apples. We’ve also had a fantastic chef, Jake Fisher, who demonstrated cooking for our young people and cooked at sharing events for the local community. We produced recipe cards for the weekly food club, giving people ideas of how to use the less familiar vegetables in their boxes to produce affordable meals.
One of the best outcomes of the project has been working with the Gardening Club at the Community Centre alongside Diana from FoodFutures to install a compost bin. The staff and volunteers at the centre were thrilled: One of the youth workers had been wanting to compost veg peelings from cooking sessions with the young people for years! Our discussions also led to us purchasing some recycling bins to encourage the youth groups in particular to help reduce the amount of waste going into landfill.
Working with a number of local groups, Wildlife Wellbeing Walks’ next venture is Wild Roots Nature Fest, which will be starting at the Midsummer Market in June 2025 and running throughout the weekend. I will be at the March and June markets with other members of the festival working group, so please come and say hello and find out more about the activities we have planned (and how to book on).
I have some events coming up over the winter. People can find it hard to get out because it seems that everything is ‘dead’, but there is real beauty in bare trees (and it means you can see the birds more easily!) and still so much to see. Why not join me for a little nature-based nurturing? And if you don’t fancy a walk, I have a talk on trees in winter.
- Guided nature walk: Trees in Winter. Friday 27 December, 10.00-11.30am. £10.50. Freeman’s Wood.
- Guided nature walk: New Year’s Day sunrise. Wednesday 1st January. 8.15-9.30am. £8.40. St George’s Quay (opposite Lune Road).
Details and booking: www.wildlifewalk.co.uk/events
