Action for the River Kennet (ARK) is launching a citizen science initiative to address ongoing water quality issues in the Wallingford Brooks catchments. The program aims to fill monitoring gaps by training volunteers in two key methods: Riverfly Monitoring, a long-term monthly commitment to identify serious pollution incidents by studying river ecology, and Fresh Water Watch, a fast testing method used to identify nitrates and phosphates. Currently, there are no active River

Annual Celebration and General Meeting, Weds 22 April, the Manor Barn Andy Evason, one of our Trustees, has kindly agreed for SB to use his barn for the AGM. Andy has been ‘greening’ the Manor since he moved here a few years ago. He will show us what he has been doing and what he is planning to do in future including to improve energy efficiency. We will walk around the Manor Gardens from 7.30pm, return to the Barn for refreshments and then have our AGM when we will give our

This talk by Terry Hurley, a Trustee and Volunteer, and Kirsty Somerville, the education tutor, took place in the Melland Room on 23 February. It covered the 40-year history of the Earth Trust from its establishment in 1967 through to its current plans for expanding its headquarters at Wittenham Clumps. The Trust’s story is remarkable. It was founded as the Northmoor Trust by Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood to promote environmental conservation, subsequently acquiring sites s

Last year was the first year of a systematic reptile survey on the site. It took place between March and October when reptiles are not hibernating, and weekly between April and September. Our surveys included 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. Many thanks to all our volunteers who helped. As a result we now have good baseline data and ideas for potent

Do you know what happens to the food waste that you put out in your caddy each week for collection? Biffa takes it to Severn Trent’s Green Power’s Anaerobic Digestion facility, east of the A4074 in Crowmarsh, where about 700 tonnes of food waste is treated each week to produce electricity and fertiliser for farmland. The site takes all the food waste from South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils (DC). It also takes commercial food waste from commercial wast

If you went up Boham’s road to Churn last Autumn, you may have noticed some cranes and workmen operating on the triangle where the road bears left and there is right turn to Saltbox. Did you wonder what they were doing? There is a pumping station here which is part of the West Berkshire Groundwater Scheme. This is owned by the Environment Agency and operated as a strategic water resource during drought conditions. The scheme consists of 32 boreholes (90 to 195m deep) and pump

The most exciting news is that Thames Water have given us a charitable donation of almost £21,000 so that we can buy equipment and a store for it, to continue to maintain the site. This is really good because up to now, we have depended on the tools of volunteers and had to drive them to the site. We have been researching what to buy. We want to use electric tools rather than petrol tools, due to our commitment to tackling climate change. (We will still use manual tools such

A big thank you for the continuing support from volunteers to plant replacement hedge plants at Quaker Wood.  As always, many hands make the job so much easier, and we planted 140 or so plants in around 2 hours.  So now we wait for the buds to burst and new growth to come from our trees and hedge into the second season of the wood.  Some plants have already made it to the top of the shelters and these should put on growth this year to start looking like young trees.  There ar

Thanks to everyone who turned up to help with this on March 7. This was part of the Great British Spring Clean happening across the country in March and April. We had a great turnout for a small village. Twenty-three people came, including one child, and collected 26 sacks of litter. Most of it was food and drink containers although there were also two golf balls, two vapes, a wood saw and a steel bar! Bessels Way ditches didn’t seem as bad as last year but we tackled Boham’s

Thames Water's contractors have spent two days at the Nature Reserve making some enhancements. They have increased the depth of the pond. They have made a butterfly bank with the spoil. They've planted more trees in the 'orchard' and along the outer fence line. They've also created a dead hedge with the willows that were pollarded.

The sun finally made an appearance last weekend, and we took full advantage of it. A dedicated team of volunteers gathered at Quaker Wood to tackle the task of replacing failed hedge plants. While the skies were clear and the sun was shining, the ground told a different story. It was very wet underfoot, making for some muddy boots and a bit of a workout, but the damp soil was actually perfect for settling in new roots. The volunteers made light work of planting the 140 replac

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