Nature is in crisis across the UK. The numbers of breeding birds, pollinators, and species in general have fallen rapidly in the last 50 years, and wildlife rich habitats are getting smaller, more disconnected and constantly under threat from human activity and climate breakdown. Although the Forest of Bowland is a protected landscape biodiversity is in decline here too.
As part of our action to support nature, designed as part of the new Forest of Bowland management plan, nature recovery plan and Local Nature Recovery Strategies the Forest of Bowland is launching a new Community Nature Fund.
This fund will offer grants to local community groups who have plans to save and restore nature and also those who provide opportunities for people to engage with and connect with nature. We have been inspired by people in the area who are already taking action, like the Waddington Swift group and Community Pollinator Patches; and by projects such as Connecting People and Nature the health and wellbeing work of Burnley Football in the Community, Active Lancashire, Access the Dales and many others on the fringes of the National Landscape who get so much out of nature-based day trips to Bowland.
Grants must meet our criteria which is laid out below and available in full in the download here
Grants will be open for applications (download application form here) from Monday 29th June until Monday 3rd August 2026 and will be assessed on a first come-first served basis.
To be eligible for funds, your project must:
- Require funds in the region of £2500 to £5000, which need to be spent by 1st March 2027
- Be located within, or demonstrate clear links to, the Forest of Bowland National Landscape (you can see our boundary on Google Maps or view a map on our website here)
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Meet one or more of our priorities:
- Improve the condition of nature
- Provide new spaces for nature and/or our Champion Species
- Increase peoples understanding of nature
- Provide opportunity for people to connect with nature to benefit their physical or mental health and wellbeing
- Improve access to nature
- Support one or more of our management plan outcomes
- NOT be a profit making or commercial project
- Demonstrate clear public benefit and have the backing of communities that you want to support
- Seek to be sustainable by utilising locally sourced or re-purposed materials, seeds and plants; work with local contractors wherever possible; utilise traditional skills; provide good value for money; minimise greenhouse gas emissions
- Secure some form of match funding as either cash or volunteer time
- Have the permission of the landowner if taking place on land the applicant does not own
- Have plans that are financially realistic and achievable in the time given
We strongly recommend that if you have a project idea in mind you discuss it with us prior to making an application. This will ensure it meets our criteria and also helps you to get any advice or support that can help make your application successful.
Please contact cathy.hopley@lancashire.gov.uk or Daniel.holden@lancashire.gov.uk
Waddington Swifts
Chris Taylor, local resident, set up the Bowland Swift Group in response to concerns over the declining number of these iconic birds. Following a kick off meeting in Grindleton there has been great support from the local community. The group have been supported and advised by Sarah Whitwell at Forest of Bowland NL team and the fantastically enthusiastic Louise, from Bolton and Bury Swift Group.
Bowland Swift Group now have a small team building their own nest boxes and assembling free boxes kindly donated by FoB NL. Their installation team has installed over 40 swift boxes in Sawley, Grindleton and West Bradford. Most of the nest boxes have been installed complete with callers playing the sound of swift calls. Swift callers have been shown to significantly increase the probability of swifts finding the boxes.
The group have held training sessions on assembly of the swift callers. They are also planning to start monitoring existing swift number and nest locations. Hopefully they can then see increases in the swift population locally in the future.
This is currently the only swift group in the Forest of Bowland and going forwards they would like to support other communities to maintain and hopefully increase swift numbers across the National Landscape and beyond.
Community Pollinator Patches
This vibrant group of volunteers, led by the inspirational Erica Sarney, plant native wildflowers and grasses on a landscape scale for wildlife. They have 're-wilded' roadside verges and village open spaces in the lower Lune valley for several years, and in 2021 embarked on an ambitious project to improve Hermitage Field at the Crook o'Lune in Caton. Starting off with an area of rank grassland the site has been tended by volunteers growing wildflowers from seed and adding plug plants of many varieties until, as the photos show, it has become a community meadow full of colour and wildlife! With great support from the Public Realm team at Lancaster City Council and the Bowland Haytime project they have transformed this and many other sites for the benefit of nature and people.