Boston Woods Trust is pleased to announce that Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind has made a donation of £15,000 to fund the maintenance of 46 acres of wildflower meadow in Sir Joseph Banks Country Park and Dion’s Wood Nature Reserve. This donation is part of Outer Dowsing’s commitment to environmental sustainability and conservation of local biodiversity.
“Strong environmental stewardship is central to Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind’s vision. We also know that local communities and organisations, like Boston Woods Trust, are best placed to help protect and conserve the local flora and fauna. This donation to enable the conservation and management of the wildflower meadows in The Sir Joseph Banks Country Park and Dion’s Wood Nature Reserve is one way in which we hope to bring about a long term positive environmental impact in Lincolnshire. We are really pleased to be working with the Boston Woods Trust on this project”
Chris Jenner, Development Director, Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind.
Caption: Some of the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind team putting their bluebell-planting skills to use at a recent volunteering event at Beech Woods which is managed by the Boston Woods Trust.
“The Boston Woods Trust is a local independent charitable trust that relies on support from our members and benefactors, so we are very grateful for this donation which will enable us to enhance the woodland and wildflower meadows we manage around Boston for the benefit of all”
Steve Elwood, Chairman Boston Woods Trust.
Dion’s Wood is Boston’s newest woodland development located just a short walk north of Boston town centre and contains a 35-acre nature reserve. The wildflower meadow will serve as a haven for various native plant species, ensuring optimum conditions for their growth and reproduction. Once established, the meadow will also attract many pollinators, including bees and butterflies, therefore promoting a healthy ecosystem, and supporting local biodiversity.
Wild meadow facts (Source WWF)
· Since the 1930s, the UK has lost 97% of our wildflower meadows that provide a critical habitat for many species such as butterflies and moths that have both seen declining populations (17% of butterflies and moths down by 25%).
· Between 1980 and 2013 33 % of our wild pollinator species have disappeared.
· On a single day in summer, one acre of wildflower meadow can contain 3 million flowers,
producing 1 kg of nectar sugar. That’s enough to support nearly 96,000 honeybees per day.
This donation could therefore help maintain enough flowers to support hundreds of thousands of bees.
About Boston Woods Trust:
The Boston Woods Trust is run exclusively by volunteers and is entirely funded by donations, legacies and grants. It currently manages just under 150 acres of woodland and parkland in three sites in the Boston area. The first trees were planted in Westgate Wood in the autumn of 1999. The most recent planting was of 17,000 trees in the new development at Dion’s Wood Nature Reserve in 2022.
We consider this project to be multi-generational providing community amenity for many decades. The young children of today should see many of the trees grow to maturity. As well as providing local amenity it provides wildlife habitats and, in the future, will be self-sustainable as quality timber is produced that has a commercial value.
About Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind:
Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind is a 1.5GW project being developed approximately 54km (33miles) off the Lincolnshire Coast. The project is being developed by Corio Generation, TotalEnergies and Gulf Energy Development. Upon completion (estimated to be in 2030), it will be one of the UK’s largest offshore wind farms. It is anticipated to generate renewable electricity equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 1.6 million households and will play a critical role in achieving the UK Government’s ambition to achieve net zero by 2050. Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind will displace the equivalent of nearly 2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year of operations through the generation of renewable electricity.
