Conservation and wildlife events

Many of the borough’s local conservation groups have regular practical work parties, undertaking a wide variety of habitat management, wildlife surveying and park maintenance work. To find out more about groups near you, visit our conservation groups webpage and Natural Basingstoke website to discover the groups events.

Love Parks Week

An annual week-long celebration of parks and green spaces, recognising their importance to local people, the hard work that goes in to maintaining and protecting them and celebrating community involvement. The campaign is run by Keep Britain Tidy, who are responsible for the Green Flag Award and The Great British Spring Clean.

Each year, a programme of free and low-cost activities in July offers people of all ages a wide variety of ways to play, explore, exercise and relax in the borough’s green spaces. The success of the campaign would not be possible without the support of partner organisations who deliver activities alongside the council during Love Parks Week. Numerous community groups and volunteers also help run and support events across Basingstoke and Deane’s open spaces as part of the campaign.

This year’s love parks week is being held from 26 July to 2 August. Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council will be hosting a Sport and Wellbeing Day at War Memorial Park on Saturday 27 July from 11am to 3pm. The ranger team will be joining the event and leading an Earth Walk at 1pm just outside the main park. An Earth walk is a unique experience which aims to provide a flow of sensory activities connecting participants with their natural surroundings. Due to restrictions on numbers, if you would like to attend the Earth Walk, please email Annie Bird at wildlifeconservation@basingstoke.gov.uk. The ranger team will also be running other activities throughout the day.

Also, Friends of Daniel Park Conservation Group are leading a wildlife walk followed by a picnic in the orchard. For more details please visit Wildflower, Bugs & Butterflies Walk (Facebook).

Basingstoke Green Week

A yearly celebration of action across the borough to address climate change and protect nature. It is organised by community groups and organisations, and the council helps to promote and co-ordinate events during the week.

This year’s Green Week is being held from 8 to 16 June 2024, with the main activities being held in the town centre on 8 June. We have some exciting guests such as the author Lucy Jones, and the Beardy Gardener joining us this year to help us celebrate.

Details of Green Week activities planned within the borough can be found on the Green Week web page during May and June every year.

Great British Spring Clean

Every spring, Keep Britain Tidy run the Great British Spring Clean, calling on #LitterHeroes, to take action to improve the environment on their doorstep by joining the country’s biggest mass-participation environmental campaign.

They aim to inspire people from around the country to collect and safely dispose of litter from our streets, parks and beaches, recycling as much as possible.

The council supports The Great British Spring Clean by helping local residents and businesses to run their own community litter picks during the campaign. For further information about how to organise your own event, please click on the image to the left.

You can also find some useful templates from the guide below to help you organise a safe event.

Litter pick risk assessment(DOC) [100 kb]

Litter pick safety plan(DOCX) [221 kb]

Loddon Rivers Week

Loddon Rivers Week is coordinated by the Loddon Catchment Partnership and South East Rivers Trust. It is a week-long campaign at the end of September, full of hands-on activities and events to encourage local residents to find out more about the River Loddon, how it is managed and the wildlife that lives there. The week encompasses World Rivers Day; a celebration of the world's waterways. It highlights the many values of rivers and strives to increase public awareness and encourages the improved stewardship of rivers around the world.

BioBlitz

BioBlitzes are organised every few years by the council working in partnership with local wildlife and land management organisations and conservation volunteer groups, to create a snapshot of the variety of life found in a specific location. Wildlife experts and the wider public work together, usually over a 24 hour period, to find and identify as many species of plants, animals and fungi as possible.

BioBlitzes can be carried out anywhere there is wildlife, including urban areas such as parks, cemeteries and canals. The records collected during a BioBlitz form part of a genuine scientific survey of the area. Bat walks, bug hunts, pond dipping and dawn chorus walks are just some examples of the activities people can get involved with; a fun and informal way for people of all ages to learn alongside experts and share and develop their enthusiasm for nature.

For more details email wildlifeconservation@basingstoke.gov.uk