Repair café, Sun 23 Nov, 2 to 4pm, Village Hall Why not bring your bike for a check over? Or, some clothes you’ve been putting off mending? We will try to mend your household items including electrical and gardening articles, sharpen tools, and fix bikes for free. Come and see what we do. Refreshments available. Donations welcome to cover costs. Thanks to all our volunteers who come to do the repairs. We want to thank Jo Lakeland for initiating repair cafes in Blewbury over s

For the care and maintenance of the Nature Reserve, Quaker Wood and the Chalk Pits, Sustainable Blewbury has acquired two scythes and three other volunteers have their own. We are using them to cut back the rough grassland and vegetation in the Orchard area at the Nature Reserve. We are intending to use them at the Chalk Pits this autumn and in the spring. Why scythe rather than strim? Historically, meadows were cut over weeks which gave a much greater chance for regrowth of

It is now November and autumn on the Reserve. Leaves come in a range of colours and there is a fine crop of hips, haws and sloes.  Bird wise it is relatively quiet, the most obvious signs of life being roaming flocks of long-tailed tits and twittering groups of goldfinches seeking out any remaining seeds in the stands of teazel.  Blue and great tits are active and there are churring wrens and peeping dunnocks low down in the vegetation.  Robins are singing, laying claim to th

MP Watch is an organisation that works to engage MPs in environmental debate and encourage them to join environmental groups such as the Conservative Environment Network, Socialist Environment, Resources Association, Labour Climate and Environmental Forum and UK100. I went to an event in Oxford in September organised by the local group MP Watch Witney featuring a cross-party debate with panellists John Selwyn Gummer, Lord Deben (Conservative peer, formerly MP for Suffolk Coas

Neville Hargreaves, one of our long-term supporters and editor of the Blewbury Bulletin, took on an amazing sustainable transport challenge this summer by walking the whole way from Blewbury to the Isle of Islay in the Inner Hebrides. Islay is about the same size as the Vale of White Horse but only has 3,000 residents. It has a great variety of scenery: stunning beaches, spectacular coastline, rough moorland, woodland and fertile farmland. It also has rich wildlife, especiall

Opening Quaker Wood was opened on 22 June with a crowd of about 60 people including Ann Brodie, sister of Richard Brodie, whose estate generously donated a large sum towards it, Councillor Hayleigh Gascoigne and Simon Barrett, who kindly gave his time as a solicitor. Thanks to BVS we hired their marquee which acted as a good focal point. It was also a shelter when a shower came at 2pm just as John Ogden, chair of Sustainable Blewbury, made a speech. Several children took part

On the morning of 8th November volunteers gathered at a very sunny nature reserve, the main focus of thier work was helping with scything and raking the orchard and rough grassland areas. Other taskes focused on included: Mulching the trees Replacing some the dead hollies Strimming and weeding around the hedging plants.

This event in May was facilitated by the Catchment Lead, Thames 21, and supported by staff from the Environment Agency who are writing a ‘Catchment Management Plan’ for the Mill Brook. It was funded by Mend the Gap (see note at end). The purpose of the event was to get a wide range of perspectives on The Mill Brook to identify issues and opportunities to see if everyone can work more collaboratively in this catchment. It was well attended with over 50 representatives from wil

Anna Dillon, the guest speaker at our AGM in April, is part of the core team behind the Aston Nature Recovery Project in Pick’s Field. This field is the north of the bridleway between Aston and Blewbury (see photo). It is part of Blewburton Hill, being on its south side. Anna told us the background to the project. It is named after the house of the people who own the five-hectare site. The team have a fiveyear plan to improve the biodiversity of the site and have obtained som

This year’s reptile survey season (March to October 2025) is well under way and as things warm up, so too do our team of volunteers who have upped their efforts to one survey per week! This will provide us with an excellent data set across the season. Our surveys consist of carefully looking under 15 strategically placed “Refugia” (mats) and a quiet walk-over transect that takes in the various habitat types found across the reserve. Since 30 April, our team has found at least

Featuring in this update Events Quaker Wood opening, Repair café, Apple juicing, New Trustee appointed, Visit to Ardley Waste-to-energy Plant, Oxfordshire’s Great Big Green Week Quaker Wood Opening and Picnic, Sun 22 June, 12 noon to 3pm Come along to this special event to celebrate our new community wood. It’s the same day as the school fete and families and friends can enjoy both by following a trail between the two sites. Bring your own picnic (and rug) for lunch from 12 p

We described what we’ve been doing and discussed some of our newest projects: a new nature reserve and our Blewbury chalk-streams group....