Our Projects
We are a friendly, active group and we are always looking for more ideas and more folks who want to get involved in any way. We meet casually on the third Friday evening of each month at the Harlton Hare and Hounds pub at 8pm. You can get the latest news of our activities through our Calendar on this site, by signing up for our free newsletter, joining our WhatsApp group (email for joining info) or by email: hnheco@gmail.com. We are also on Facebook!
Below are examples of our past and ongoing projects.
Friends of the Rhee: River Rhee Water Monitoring
Launched November 2024
Friends of the Rhee was established in 2020 under the umbrella of the Haslingfield and Harlton Eco Group. For the next couple of years the group got to know the stretch of the River Rhee which runs past Haslingfield, conducting regular visual monitoring and water vole monitoring. In 2022 Friends of the Rhee installed a wooden sign-post by the Haslingfield path, which names the Rhee as a tributary of the Cam.
Last July, Lara Hawkins from Friends of the Rhee joined the Chair and Vice Chair of Haslingfield Parish Council for an informative tour of the Haslingfield Water Recycling Centre (or Sewage Works). The tour was facilitated by CamEO (Cam and Ely Ouse Partnership), and hosted and led by Anglian Water, with members from Cam Valley Forum (CVF) also in attendance.
We were given a thorough explanation of how the waste water from Haslingfield is treated, and the opportunity to put questions to the Anglian Water representatives who showed us around. We discussed the capacity of the Centre, sewage discharges into the river and plans for future improvements.
After that meeting Cam Valley Forum shared recent monitoring data from the Rhee which shows that if it were designated as a Bathing Water, it would receive a “Poor” rating, with advice not to swim. Haslingfield Parish Council (HPC) are keen to understand more about the water quality in the River Rhee so that they can provide guidance to Parishioners and visitors about the use of the river, in particular for activities such as fishing, bathing, paddling and dog walking.
Friends of the Rhee has therefore offered to co-ordinate a period of monitoring and testing of Rhee Water quality. The Parish Council have confirmed that there are some limited funds to support this work.
Would you like to help us by volunteering for this collaborative, citizen science project? Please call or email Lara Hawkins 01223 874524 / 07881 348429 or larahawkinshome@yahoo.co.uk.
Other ways you can help the river:
A huge problem at the moment is that during periods of heavy rainfall or storm events, the Water Recycling Centre becomes inundated with more water than it can treat, resulting in untreated waste water being discharged into the river. While the efficient running of the Centre is the responsibility of Anglian Water, there are measures that local residents can take to help reduce the problem of inundation, including:
• Only flushing toilet paper and human waste down the toilets. Items with the specific ‘fine to flush’ logo can also be flushed. Items that simply say ‘flushable’ should not be flushed.
• Laying down porous surfaces (e.g. gravel) rather than concrete for outdoor landscaping.
• When planning home or garden improvements, make sure any waste rainwater (e.g. from shed roofs/extensions) is directed into a soakaway in the garden, not channelled into the sewer.
• Considering having a ‘rain garden’, if you have the space – this is just a shallow dip in your garden, into which the run-off from roofs/hard standing is directed. It can be planted with water-loving plants.
The Cambridge Nature Festival
June/July 2023
We organised two events for this year’s Cambridge Nature Festival.
On June 11th we hosted a Guided Walk to our orchid rich Haslingfield Quarry, or clunch pit, which is the only local site at which the rare Man Orchid can reliably be found, and also boasts bee orchids, common spotted orchids, twayblades and many other wild flowers. Led by Parish Councillor Clive Blower, who has been helping to look after this very special site for many years, the event was very well attended, with people coming from all around Cambridge.
On July 1st and 2nd we carried out our first every BioBlitz Nature Survey at Harlton Quarry. With existing records from former Harlton resident Martin Johns, and assistance from local experts like Vince Lea of the Barton based Countryside Regeneration Trust, botanist Ashley Arbon and lots of local enthusiasts, we surveyed plants, bats, small mammals, and moths, and reported our findings to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Environmental Records Centre (CPERC).
Harlton and Haslingfield Let it Grow Project
From Spring 2023
We encouraged residents of our communities to “let it grow” and not mow a patch of their gardens in May and June. Harlton Parish Council even agreed to leave the land on their village triangle untouched, with the gorgeous results above. We had an enthusiastic response with lots of people signing up and sending us photos. We kept a list of all the plant species people identified and at the request of the Cambridge and Peterborough Environmental Records Centre we have sent them our results for their records - more than 100 different species!
Community Share Fair for the Coronation
8 May 2023
In partnership with the Haslingfield Parish Council, we organised a celebration of our local families, gardeners, crafters, artists and small businesses, with shared food, textile repairs, outdoor games, and a play tent with planet friendly and economical activities like rock painting, textiles, sand play and much more.
The Queen’s Green Jubilee
Fri 3 June - Sun 5 June 2022
We partnered with the Haslingfield Parish Council to provide three days of activities with an eco twist for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, for which we received significant funding from the Lottery’s Together for Our Planet scheme.
We had a wonderful weekend full of outdoor fun and inspiration, including art, stories, crafts, sport and cake! Huge thanks are owed to all our wonderful volunteers, stall holders and guests for making it such a memorable weekend.
Working with Parish Councils - Declaration of Climate and Ecological Emergency
We submitted a request to the Haslingfield Parish Council asking them to declare a Climate and Ecological Emergency and take whatever steps they could to mitigate the two, interconnected crises. In September 2021, the Council voted to declare an emergency, and a few months later adopted a plan which included informing ensuring their planning application responses reflected the need for renewable energy and efficiency, managing public spaces for nature, and communicating information to the community. You can see these materials on their website, here: https://haslingfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk/environment#
At the invitation of Harlton Parish Council, we have introduced ourselves at their AGM and told them about our projects and plan. They have also been very supportive.
November 2024 update
We are currently supporting the Haslingfield Parish Council in reviewing its Climate Emergency Plan for next January, 2025. We also, with the help of Parish Councillors Liz Hales and Ann O’Brien, submitted a draft biodiversity plan for the parish, which is currently under consideration by the council. However they have already adopted a few ideas, such as leaving standing wood in the Wellhouse meadow when two trees recently required removal. Standing dead wood is hugely beneficial for wildlife - see this article for info: Deadwood in Woodland - British Habitats - Woodland Trust.
We are always looking for further advice on these subjects, so if sustainability or biodiversity or your things, please get in touch by email to hnheco@gmail.com.
Haslingfield Environmental Working Group - Increasing Biodiversity
Ongoing from 2021
Working together with the Haslingfield Parish Council, we have helped to devise a new mowing plan for the Well House meadow, which we hope will increase biodiversity in the meadow and allow wildflowers to flourish longer. We are also working hard to make sure all grass cuttings are removed from the main meadow and spread into the margins, as this will help reduce the nutrients in the soil which allows more wildflowers to compete. We are carrying out regular plant surveys of the meadow and have also tried our hand at small mammal and insect surveys. We are also planting annual wildflower seeds in the space left by the yearly Guy Fawkes bonfire. We saw the results with a lovely, colourful display and masses of butterflies in 2023.
We have also been looking after the small green on Lilac Close, planting two wildflower verges and other plants good for pollinators.
We have recently been given the opportunity to look after some of the space behind the village green and in front of the Methodist Church. This space already has quite a few wildflowers, including dead nettle, mallow, ground ivy, yarrow, buttercup and more, and we plan to add further seeds this fall.
Friends of the Rhee
Ongoing
We set up a working party to advocate for our river, carry out water vole surveys, and educate locals about water issues. We funded a signpost to let people know they were enjoying the banks of the Rhee, a tributary of the river Cam.
