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Last month we heard about bumblebees. This month the subject of our talk is something a little bigger - The Great Bustard. On 15th June we'll welcome David Waters, Executive Officer of the Great Bustard Group, which is based on Salisbury Plain. The Great Bustard was once common in the UK but hunting and changes in farming … Continue reading June’s Evening Talk

The subject of this month's evening talk is something dear to everyone's hearts - bees. We're lucky enough to have local bee expert Trevor Smith come and talk with us about Bumblebees and some of the other species of solitary bees we might find in our gardens. Trevor has been running bee identification courses for … Continue reading May’s Evening Talk

Ed Cooper of BioCap Ltd gave a fascinating talk on the Sulham Woodmeadows project near Tilehurst in West Berkshire. He explained the importance of Natural Capital and how it helps building developers meet their Biodiversity Net Gains (BNG) targets. Developers must increase the biodiversity of the sites on which they're building by 10% but this … Continue reading Talk Summary – BioCap’s Sulham Woodmeadows Project

Reading or listening to the news isn't easy these days and cheering stories are few and far between. Well, here's one that will make you smile Back in 2018, Nightingale Triangle was a patch of overgrown and scrubby woodland, with more discarded hypodermic needles and rubbish than flora and fauna. Today, thanks to the hard … Continue reading Good News Story

Hello, The RSPB has recently issued new advice on bird feeders that seems counterintuitive but is extremely important for the wellbeing of the birds which grace our gardens. The problem is a disease called trichomonosis which is highly contagious disease and can spread where birds gather in large numbers such as at bird feeders. Research … Continue reading Tough Love – New RSPB Advice on Bird Feeders

Hello all, This month's talk should be fascinating. Our guest speaker is Ed Cooper, the founder of BioCap, a charity working with partners to ensure that 130ha of former arable land near Tilehurst is speedily repurposed to ensure that biodiversity gain, carbon and nutrient offsetting - and other natural solutions - are managed to enhance … Continue reading April’s Evening Talk

Our next Monthly Talk, to be held on Monday 16th March, will be a great deal of fun, as our speaker is Grahame Hawker from the Upper Thames branch of Butterfly Conservation. He’s going tell us about the many species found in our area and teach us how to tell which is which. So if you've always wanted … Continue reading March’s Monthly Talk – Butterflies