Stockwood makes space for nature

“So far it’s been amazing, it’s really been something that’s changed my views on the environment, and people,” Samuel Malley enthuses on a stroll around a square outside his local neighbourhood shops.

“I know I’m only 25, but I just think ‘what can I contribute, to nature and to my community?’”

Since August, Samuel has been spending his spare time working to improve Stockwood, the area he has lived since birth, for local people and wildlife. He’s recruited the help of other residents to pick litter and spruce up planters, and has organised nature walks in the green space down the road.

The experience has been transformative.

Samuel has been organising volunteer workdays to improve the planters in the square outside the shops at the corner of Hollway and Stockwood Road Road

Samuel has always cared about his local area, and it was voluntary litter picking that opened the door to wildlife and nature for him.

It was on a litter pick that he encountered his first muntjac deer and a fox sitting, watching butterflies dancing.

Samuel recognised that nature can be given a helping hand in any setting, even the most urban. When the council told him they weren’t responsible for maintaining the planters in public spaces he decided to take on the project, clearing rubbish from the undergrowth and pulling out weeds.

On a recent workday he was joined by a handful of others to top up the compost and plant bulbs to add springtime colour.

“It’s just making this square as welcoming for the public to sit as possible,” he explains. “What we’d like is a mix of flowers, to help pollinators as well.

“Going in to the new year we want a mix of plant species, bird feeders and insect hotels to help biodiversity. And to just improve it for everyone here so they can all enjoy it.

“It’d be nice for someone to sit here and be able to smell the lavender, watch the birds and so on.”

Samuel is also helping to maintain the new planters that have been put in outside Stockwood’s local library

He’s keen to involve others in his vision for a cleaner, greener Stockwood and has enjoyed discovering just how many other people out there in his local community are as passionate about animals and the environment as he is.

“It’s experimenting with different people, different experiences,” he says, of his initial explorations into organising community workdays and wildlife events.

“There was a guy who came on our first session who does a repair café locally. It’s getting people like that, from all different backgrounds, with different ideas. Your perceptions change as you meet new people.

“It’s also about getting people to say what they think and what they would like to see here.”

Stockwood Open Space nature reserve is one of the biggest patches of green space in Bristol with ancient woodland, wildflower meadows and ponds

In the Stockwood Open Space nature reserve, one of the largest green spaces in Bristol, Sam describes the nature that calms and inspires him.

There’s an ancient woodland, wildflower meadows, an orchard that hosted a recent community apple pressing event, and woodpeckers, sparrowhawks, rabbits, roe deer and a wealth of different trees and plants.

Samuel points out the ash and oak, the scrubby undergrowth that protects nesting birds and the spread of ivy that is so helpful for pollinators when it flowers.

It’s a beautiful place on the doorstep of local houses and shops that Sam encourage locals to visit to ease their worries, switch off from pressures like the cost-of-living crisis, and learn about the abundant nature he is working to protect.

He organises nature walks which he promotes on this Friends of Stockwood Nature Facebook group, and is considering dropping a newsletter through letterboxes to make the activities as inclusive as possible.

Samuel’s wildlife walks meet at the Stockwood Road entrance to the Stockwood Open Space nature reserve

Above all, Samuel is keen to keep learning and to do as much as he can, while he can.

“When you look at conservation, extinct species, endangered species, animal welfare – it’s all encompassing,” he says.

“So it’s just learning as much as I can and trying to make a difference.

“We don’t live forever so in the time that I have – whether it’s a long life or a short life – I want to do as much as I can in that little space for the future, for wildlife, and hope my actions make a difference.

“And sure you have some days where you think, am I actually making a difference? But you soon get back on your feet and get back out there!

“When you look at news story about species declining and you’re thinking, what can I do to help – I think that no matter how small your actions are, even just litter picking a little area like this for instance, it does make a difference overall to the community and to nature.”

Samuel’s running a wildlife walk in Stockwood Open Space at 10am on Sunday December 3. Find details at www.facebook.com/events/1985678518483825

If you’d like to help Samuel green up Stockwood, get in touch via the Friends of Stockwood Nature group.

All photos: Ursula Billington

This piece of independent journalism is supported by The Extra Mile and the Bristol24/7 public and business membership.

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