Chardstock Eco Group (CEG) is a community-based environmental group serving the parish of Chardstock and the surrounding areas in East Devon, South Somerset & West Dorset. CEG has a wide environmental agenda with an overarching aim of raising awareness and inspiring people to get involved!  We do not have a membership, we simply operate a ‘supporters’ database offering all of our activities free of charge.  These include:

Monthy Presentations

Delivered on the second Tuesday of the month these cover a wide variety of topics. We aim to include at least one per year from each of the following subjects

• Nature
• Rivers
• Farming
• Sustainability
• Community action groups

Litter Picking

Our Litter picking team were established post covid. Now the 14 strong band of ‘Wombles’ each has a designated route, ranging between one and three miles in length.  Between them they cover a whopping 34 miles of the roads and lanes of our parish, recycling as much as they can from all that they collect.

Walks

Our walks programme has included

• Dawn chorus events
• Lichen forays
• River walks
• Veteran tree surveying activities

Citizen Science Surveying

CEG acts as the conduit to a variety of citizen science surveying programmes, promoting and/or coordinating these events.  These have included;

• Hedgerow surveying – supporting the Great Big Dorset Hedge Project
• Great Crested Newt habitat suitability index surveys
• Bat surveying – we have most of the British bats recorded in Devon present in our parish
• Veteran Tree recording – in conjunction with the Woodland Trust
• Harvest mouse surveying – in conjunction with Saving Devon’s Treescapes
• Owl Pellet dissection workshops – in conjunction with Devon Mammal Group
• River water monitoring – in partnership with West Country Rivers Trust
• River Morphology surveying – reporting surveys to Cartographer
• Riverfly sampling – on behalf of the Riverfly Partnership

Inspiring the Next Generation of Environmentalists at the Local Primary School

We run a weekly Eco Team aimed at raising the children’s awareness around nature and the environment.  The children now coordinate their own compost and litter picking schemes amongst many many other onsite activities.

We are Community Allies of Plastic Free Axminster

We run a plastic plant pot recycling scheme, giving pots a second life and preventing them going into black bins locally.  Additionally, we take part in schemes at the school educating the children around the potential damaging effects of plastics especially in our seas.

Duke of Edinburgh Students

A number of students have completed the volunteering elements of their bronze and silver awards with us, via engaging in activities with an environmental focus.

Awards

We have attained a variety of awards;

• We were the first community in Devon to receive DWT’s ‘Wilder Communities’ status for our work around nature and the environment.
• We achieved a Saving Devon’s Treescapes award for our work with trees and hedges.
• We were nominated by Devon Wildlife Trust for the BBC ‘Make a Difference’ award and were shortlisted to the final 4, attaining a Highly Commended award at the BBC ceremony.

Contact

We love to welcome new supporters – it’s FREE! For more details please contact us

• Via email at chardstockecogroup@gmail.com
• Or via our website at http://chardstockecogroup.org.uk