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Hundreds of visitors flocked to Jubilee Square on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 May for ‘Wild About Woking’, an event raising awareness about how we can all help care for Woking’s natural life through local biodiversity and green space projects.
Visitors were treated to stalls from organisations including Woking Environment Action, Surrey Bat Group, and Thames Basin Heaths Partnership, providing information and activities about Woking’s natural habitats and wildlife, and how you can help protect it.
Attendees were offered the chance to plant sunflower seeds in a recycled pot, and have an up-close look at some pond life. Meanwhile, the Woking Peregrine Project invited interested shoppers to catch a glimpse of our peregrines through high powered telescopes.
The highlight of the event was Surrey Wildlife Trust’s pop-up garden which featured a pond, herb garden, bug hotel, and lots of flora and fauna. The garden proved very popular with visitors and wildlife alike, attracting animals including bees, butterflies, and damselflies.
Woking Borough Council’s Green Infrastructure team was also in attendance, representing the Council’s Natural Woking strategy, handing out fun activities showing the range of wildlife in Woking, including a nature trail and a name-the-animal competition.
Cllr Rob Leach, Woking Borough Council’s Portfolio Holder for Greener Woking, said: “Woking is home to a fantastic array of wildlife, green spaces, heathland and common land.
“Wild About Woking was a great opportunity to learn more about these local animals and plants and the small changes we can all make in our daily lives to help protect them, such as growing vertical gardens on walls or leaving holes in our fences to allow animals to pass through.
“Woking Borough Council is a keen advocate for protecting our environment and wildlife, pledging to become carbon neutral by 2030. We are encouraging all our residents to think about what they can do to help support the natural life around them. If you’re not sure where to start, Planet Woking has lots of information and ideas about how you can make a difference.
“I would like to extend a big thank you to Surrey Wildlife Trust for organising such a successful and inspiring weekend.”
Wild About Woking was hosted by Surrey Wildlife Trust and Woking Borough Council.
For more information on how Woking Borough Council is working to protect biodiversity in the borough, visit our Natural Woking webpage.