Television vet and wildlife presenter Steve Leonard visited Milton Keynes this morning (Sun), to officially open Howe Park Wood Education and Visitor centre.
The facility – owned and operated by The Parks Trust – will raise awareness of the natural history of MK and the work by The Parks Trust, while also highlighting Howe Park Wood, a site of special scientific interest.
Bird, bat and insect habitat boxes and pond dipping platforms enhance the area, which will be widely available for use by community groups and schools.
“These sorts of centres are absolutely vital to communities,” Steve told Total MK.
“You've got a fantastic woodland here, but people can come in and out of a place like this and not really understand the significance.
“Having a centre where people can come and find that information, whether it's a history of the place, or what animals and birds they should be looking out for is important,” Steve said.
[gallery link="file" ids="9838,9833,9835,9831,9825,9830,9829,9828,9826"]“For children to come to a place like this and be educated on the environment is really important.
“I've done a lot of travelling and made television programmes about animals from all over the world, but here in the UK we've got some spectacular species, and it's just about being taught how to appreciate it.
“Anybody that's ever been a birder or into plants or whatever, has always started off with someone teaching them and passing information on. It's great to have a centre here that they can do that from.”
And Steve said there are things we can all do to encourage a little wildlife into our own green spaces: “Having a pond, even a little one, and being able to go and see what lives in there, to seeing what visits your little bug habitats are receiving, these are things you can do in your own garden. And also, don't keep things too tidy!
“Gardening and having a nice environment around your home can be very wildlife friendly if done in a sensitive way and there is going to be loads of information here for people to take away and make those changes in their own environment.
For more information on the centre visit www.theparkstrust.com
