Watchtree Nature Reserve

Factors in the formation of Watchtree

The formation of Watchtree Nature Reserve Ltd was influenced by four factors:

  • a group of some ten key individuals who had a knowledge of the site since March 2001
  • a champion within DEFRA, already closely involved in the project, with a commitment to the local area as well as to the national policy and situation, and with an empathy for the views put forward by the local liaison group
  •  the fact that one of the individuals involved in the early proposals to establish a nature reserve happened to have knowledge of and belief in the potential for a social enterprise to provide the management solutions required at Watchtree
  • the existence of VAC’s Enterprising Communities project at that point in time, and its ability to offer resources and support to the initiative in the form of advisors Anne Cunningham and Kris Brennan.  

One member of the Liaison Group, Bill Knowles, knew about Enterprising Communities and suggested bringing Anne Cunningham in to work with the group. As Bill states, ‘Bringing Enterprising Communities in ... provided credibility for the social enterprise conclusion’.  ‘Enterprising Communities’, he says ‘allowed them (Watchtree) to give voice to their own thoughts and feelings,’ .and ‘got them to take ownership of the solution already in their heads’.

Asked to speculate what might have happened to the site without the establishment of the social enterprise, Bill Knowles describes a sterile, unattractive landscape.  ‘It would have been pretty bleak, “ he says, “All the concrete would still be there instead of being broken up, and the burial sites would be secured off, and would have been a complete no-go area. The site would have returned to its original state as a unused airfield with areas of unmanaged brush and scrub, and probably been used as an unofficial shooting ground and off-road driving space, and no doubt also for various anti-social practices such as the dumping of rubbish.’

However, the real gains of the Watchtree Reserve go far beyond the improved state of the physical landscape. Most important of all is that it has produced a wellspring of social capital sorely needed by communities who were very deeply wounded – almost destroyed - by the outbreak of FMD and its consequences.  Watchtree has contributed to a vital healing process, enabling the community to see itself differently and to move forward.