10 Nature Pledges to support Chelmsford’s wildlife

By Charlotte Maltby

9 March 2026

nature loveyourchelmsford parks

Chelmsford residents are being encouraged to take on the Love Your Chelmsford Nature Pledges. These are small everyday actions to help wildlife thrive right where we live. The idea is simple: when we all do a little, we create a big impact to support our local environment.

The Love Your Chelmsford team has created 10 easy pledges to help get people started.

The Nature Pledges:

Volunteer for nature
Feed the birds
Create a hedgehog highway
Go pesticide free
Create a bug hotel
Plant for pollinators
Plant more trees
Water for wildlife
Grow your own food
Adopt a tree (coming later this year)

Head to the Love Your Chelmsford website to explore each pledge, find ideas, and register your choices. From there, you will also find links to contact the team if you have any further questions about taking on a pledge.

Throughout the year, Love Your Chelmsford will be sharing tips, ideas and inspiration to help people stick with their chosen pledge. It’s low pressure and there are no deadlines – pick the pledges that fit with your free time and the outdoor space you have available, whether that’s a garden, a balcony, a window box or something else! The pledges can be revisited at any time, with a goal to build them into your life.

You can make a pledge on your own, or team up with neighbours, family or a local community group. If your street is keen, you could even work together to create your own nature corridor.

Micro-actions that support big changes

Why are the Nature Pledges important?

In 2019, Chelmsford City Council declared a climate emergency. Since then, the council has been changing how it manages land across the district, keeping benefits to our environment at the forefront.

You may have noticed more wildflowers, new planting schemes, or fewer closely cut grass areas – these changes are intentional and part of a wider plan to help support a diverse range of insects, birds and mammals.

The council manages more than 1,700 acres of grassland, which gives us the ability to restore nature at scale. By taking on a Nature Pledge, you can help shape the wider landscape and be part of Chelmsford’s response to the climate emergency.

Cllr Rose Moore, Cabinet Member for a Greener Chelmsford is pledging to increase water for wildlife by creating a pond habitat in her garden:

“
“Nature is in crisis. We are seeing profound changes evidenced all around us - from the RSPB’s estimate that 38 million birds have vanished from UK skies in just six decades, to the Met Office confirming that last year was the UK’s warmest on record and Buglife reporting a 59% decline in insect numbers in only five years. These are stark reminders of the pressures facing our wildlife and the ecosystems we rely on. But they also remind us that we still have the power to turn things around. The Nature Pledges are about hope in action – simple, everyday steps we can take at home that genuinely help restore habitats, support biodiversity, and protect the natural world that sustains us.

"I’ve made my own pledge too: to create a pond habitat in my garden, providing life‑supporting water and shelter for insects, birds and amphibians. When each of us plays our part, these micro‑pledges become a powerful reminder that we are all connected - to one another, and to the planet we share. Together, our small actions can create real, lasting change for future generations.”
Cllr Rose Moore, Cabinet Member for a Greener Chelmsford

Community Library book box in Central Park (1) — Drop by the community library book box in Central Park

Community book boxes installed in Chelmsford parks

There’s another way to connect with nature this year.

Some mini library boxes have popped up in two of the city’s parks – Central Park and John Shennan Nature Reserve – in case more reasons were needed to spend time outdoors enjoying Chelmsford’s green spaces!

These beautifully illustrated, handmade book boxes were crafted by a member of staff in Chelmsford City Council’s talented parks team and are designed to look like traditional bird boxes.

You can borrow a book for your walk, take one home, or swap it for another when you’re done.

Just like the Nature Pledges, the book boxes celebrate small, everyday actions that help us appreciate and care for the places wildlife depends on. Whether you’re feeding the birds, planting for pollinators, or enjoying a chapter in the park, every moment spent in nature helps build a stronger connection to the environment we’re working to protect.