Hamilton resident Alan Bevington writes: Since 1990 Hamilton in the north-east of the city of Leicester has seen considerable new housing development. In spite of this it has retained a large amount of greenspace, for example hedgerows and hedgerow trees from the original farmland along its roads and footpaths, and the Melton Brook washlands. Hamilton Residents’ Association (HRA) is very aware of the value of this greenspace to the local community and its potential importance for local wildlife. However it also recognises that, if little is done to record and demonstrate the importance of the wildlife in this greenspace, reallocation of the land for other purposes is a real possibility in view of the many pressing and conflicting demands on land use in the city. With this in mind, in 2024 HRA set up the Hamilton Wildlife Project with a website designed to display Hamilton’s wildlife and to encourage the people of Hamilton to record on NatureSpot: Hamilton Residents - Wildlife.

Under the supervision of the HRA, the Hamilton Wildlife Project brings together the enthusiasm and expertise of a number of individuals who assist with the wildlife identification and recording; including members of the Hamilton Library community gardening group, the Hamilton allotment group, Hamilton Angling Club, and the Natural History Section of the Leicester Literary & Philosophical Society who staged a joint outing with HRA on Melton Brook Washlands which led to the recording of a considerable number of new plant and insect species. To promote this further, NatureSpot has now set up a Hamilton Wild Place page, which allows Hamilton residents to see the species that have been recorded (through dynamic dedicated wildlife pages of the area in a convenient and continually updated form). In this way it is hoped that the residents will become more engaged both with local wildlife and its conservation.