About Cam Valley Wildlife Group

Cam Valley Wildlife Group

Cam Valley Wildlife Group was set up in 1994 and was formally constituted in year 2000. The group has always taken a pro-active approach to wildlife conservation and the enjoyment of wildlife. Its three aims are

to conserve the biodiversity of our area
to promote awareness and understanding of wildlife and its environment, and
to encourage the enjoyment of wildlife.

The CVWG area

The group’s area covers approximately 300 square kilometres and is based on the catchments of the Cam and Wellow Brooks. It is centred roughtly on the Midsomer Norton, Radstock, and Westfield area in Bath & North East Somerset and includes many villages and hamlets in the surrounding countryside. It extends into Mendip. The towns and villages included are listed below. Because of the nature of wildlife recording, however, the recording area of individual projects does not always coincide directly with the political boundaries of the villages or the geographical boundary of the brook catchements, so you could say that our area is a little ‘variable’! The maps page shows our area and recording squares. The villages in our area are listed below.

How CVWG operates

We are a fairly informal group with a formal structure underpinning the way we operate. We have three teams – the Events Team, the Newsletter Team and the Coordinating Team. We have one committee, the General Committee, for discussing group matters. All meetings are open to members. We have a Treasurer and a Membership Secretary, and the various projects are each run by a Project Leader. We hold Annual General Meetings in the last quarter of the calendar year. The group has a Constitution and a range of policies, available to members and contacts for whom we hold personal details. These documents are listed below. Our Constitution and policies address our legal obligations and how we operate as a group. We also have a number of internal documents for the same reasons. Our Data Protection Policy is also available on this website on the Data Protection policy page. Risk assessments are done for all CVWG events. A CVWG event is defined as “a Cam Valley Wildlife Group Organised Activity in which the public and/or members are invited to partake”.

CVWG Group events and activities

Events and activities include walks, talks, hands-on conservation work, surveys, visits and trips, plus giving advice on wildlife matters, working with other organisations and bodies, and engaging with land use planning consultations and other planning matters. The newsletter and events programmes go out to members once a quarter. The most recent back copy of the newsletter is displayed on our Newsletters page with more back copies available from there. The benefits of membership and how to join are set out on our Membership page.

The villages in our area

Cameley, Camerton, Carlingcott, Chelwood, Chewton Mendip, Chilcompton, Clandown, Clapton, Clutton, Coleford, Combe Hay, Dunkerton, Emborough, Farmborough, Farrington Gurney, Faulkland, Foxcote, Hallatrow, Hardington, Haydon, Hemmington, High Littleton, Hinton Blewett, Hinton Charterhouse, Holcombe, Kilmersdon, Litton, Midford, Midsomer Norton, Norton St Philip, Paulton, Peasedown St John, Priston, Radford, Radstock, Shoscombe, South Stoke, Ston Easton, Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Temple Cloud, Timsbury, Tunley, Welton, Westfield, Wellow and Writhlington.