Open days for rural conservation

The Blackwater Valley open days are for people of all ages

A month of conservation work is beginning in a 23-mile long (37km) stretch of countryside through Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire.

The Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership is organising open days for interested people to find out how the area's green spaces are maintained.

Volunteers can have a go at hay raking or scrub clearance.

The first open day was being held on Sunday at the Snaky Lane site in Ash Vale, Surrey.

Lakes and ponds

And next Saturday the Cove Brook Greenway Group will welcome visitors to Southwood Meadows, near Farnborough, Hampshire.

The group recently won lottery funding towards a conservation and management plan for the site.

Sue Dent, from the Blackwater Valley partnership, said: "Although people love to get out into the countryside and enjoy the many wildlife areas found within the Blackwater Valley, very few realise exactly what is involved in looking after these special areas."

The Blackwater Valley contains more than 30 wildlife sites and 70 lakes and ponds.

It runs north from Badshot Lea, near Aldershot, up past Farnborough, Camberley, Sandhurst and Eversley, finishing at Swallowfield in Berkshire.