Environment Subgroup

Welcome to the OVEG environment subgroup!

We are a small, informal subgroup of the OVEG committee who want to encourage and work with Oxhey residents to increase biodiversity and support our dwindling wildlife by making small changes that can make a big difference. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth (https://stateofnature.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/TP25999-State-of-Nature-main-report_2023_FULL-DOC-v12.pdf) but we really can do something about it locally if we all work together.

“If you feel that you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve never spent the night in a room with a mosquito” – Dalai Lama.

It’s very easy to feel powerless when we think about climate change and biodiversity loss so we want to focus on what we can do locally as a whole community to leave our area in the best possible state for our children and grandchildren.

We are just at the start of our journey in Oxhey – we’ve been inspired by the St Albans Wilderhood Watch project (https://wilderhoodwatch.org/about-us-2/) and have started to create a hedgehog corridor in Villiers Road following a sighting of a wild hedgehog!

We have lots of ideas for things we would like to do, including expanding the Wilderhood Watch, so if you’re interested in doing something for your road, please get in touch! Creating pollinator pathways, bat corridors, toad roads and hedgehog highways are just some of the ways we can help nature in Oxhey.

So, what are our aims?

To raise awareness of quick and easy things anyone can do (or stop doing) to help nature – we can’t all do everything……but we can all do something).
To encourage everyone in Oxhey to get involved in one of our initiatives, eg Wilderhood Watch or litter picking
Work alongside the many groups in Oxhey that are already involved in becoming more sustainable or supporting nature to increase our impact
Work with local schools to inspire our children to appreciate nature and learn about ways of supporting it
Work with local councillors and Watford Council to support local rewilding or nature-supporting initiatives

Future project ideas include:

Training some keen volunteers to offer advice and tips on request to Oxhey residents on how to make their gardens more wildlife-friendly
Run a “Switch off and see the stars” small citizen science project to understand the effect of light pollution on our wildlife, particularly insects, in Oxhey
Running climate cafés
Organising/joining litter picking events
Encouraging people to join the Big Garden Birdwatch, the Big Butterfly Count, or the Natural History museum’s “Nature overheard” project are all things we can do as a local community to support nature conservation.

Get involved/join us –

We are a small group but have lots of ideas – we’d love you to join us! You don’t need to be an OVEG member (although that helps), you just need to be keen to help and interested in supporting biodiversity and improving our local environment.

Contact: shirena.counter@oveg.org