Welcome to our website where you can find out more about this project and how you can get involved!
What you can do at your own home
Would you like to get involved?
Background
The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs and Natural England are collaborating to encourage the creation a nationwide Nature Recovery Network (NRN) to restore and enhance England’s wildlife rich places. It has become evident during the covid-19 pandemic restrictions that local natural spaces and wildlife have proven to be beneficial to many communities.
Standlake and Brighthampton are fortunate to be in a rural setting surrounded by multiple land uses and we have a high potential for increasing the nature network within our Parish boundaries. In fact, our Parish lies in areas identified by a partnership of local nature conservation organisations* as being either core zone (most important sites in Oxfordshire for biodiversity) or the recovery zone (Conservation Target Areas, Important Freshwater Areas or areas to provide better habitat connectivity)
*Led by Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC), Wild Oxfordshire and The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) and overseen by Oxfordshire’s Biodiversity Advisory Group (BAG) and adopted by the Oxfordshire Environment Board (OxEB). Link to document?
What you can do at your own home:
Plant wild flowers or just allow an area of your garden to grow a bit wild. See lots of tips here, at the Plantlife website.
Allow sections of hedgerow to flower and fruit by pruning them less often
Create a wildlife pond – find tips on how to do this from the RSPB here!
Manage the verge outside your house, if safe to do so, to let the grass grow longer and allow flowers to bloom and set seed. There’s a wealth of information, and a sign you can print out here, at the Plantlife website.
Plant a tree …… and value deadwood as an important habitat
Reduce pesticide and herbicide use, or eliminate them altogether – many are harmful to beneficial insects and other wildlife
Ensure hedgehogs can move between gardens, perhaps even provide them with a place to hibernate
Create overwintering insect habitats. Here are some ideas from the BBOWT website
By doing any of the things above you make it more likely that wildlife will visit your garden. The Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC) collects and collates information about sightings in our area. You can use their website or download their app to add your sightings and help them build up an accurate picture of what wildlife is living where and which species need particular protection. So if you do spot something interesting, why not record it? Click here to get started!
Would you like to become involved in our local Nature Recovery Network?
We are looking for local residents who can help take this project forward with their expertise, local knowledge, fundraising experience …..or just enthusiasm! For example, if you have skills in GIS, data management, surveys (vegetation, bird, butterfly, bee, mammal, tree), administration, practical projects, we’d love to hear from you. We are also looking for people who could write articles or share photos for the website or newsletter.
We are already working on making a map of the parish showing where people are gardening with wildlife in mind, planting trees, or letting wildflowers grow. A copy of this map is now on display at Lincoln Farm Park. You can put a sticker showing the location of your project or idea on the map and write a short description in our log-book.
This project is only just beginning; we would welcome help and involvement from local residents to ensure the survival of our local nature recovery network, for the mutual benefit of local wildlife as well as present and future residents of Standlake and Brighthampton. See phone or email contact details below, and don’t forget to fill in the form to receive our eNewsletter and information about upcoming activities.
Click here to register, via Mailchimp, for our email communications.