A Webinar Series Showcasing Oxfordshire’s Grassroots Nature Recovery & Inspiring You To Take Action In Your community.
These events are free attend, but places are limited and advanced booking is required. Once you have registered we will send you the Zoom link to the meeting.
Webinar Programme
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Wednesday 11th November 19:30 – 21:00 (GMT)
Neighbourhood Planning for Nature – Weaving Nature into The Future.
BOOK HERE
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The importance of neighbourhood planning and community engagement in a growing village.
Speaker: Edel McGurk
Benson Benson Nature Group
The inspirational Benson Nature Group (BNG) work closely with their Parish Council, the Neighbourhood Plan Delivery team and developers to ensure that as their village grows it remains a great place to live. They expect to see Benson’s green network more than double in the coming years and aim to ensure that new green spaces are designed to be good for both wildlife and the people who use them. Check out Wild About Benson
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Funding Nature’s Recovery.
Speaker: Rachel Sanderson
Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment
TOE is Oxfordshire’s independent environmental funder. Their Local Environment Fund raises money and allocates grants for local projects that benefit wildlife, people and the planet. It has been developed to address recognised local environmental challenges and opportunities. These will not only help tackle the climate and ecological emergency, but make life better for people, too. Rachel will showcase the exciting projects that TOE has funded and outline how to go about securing funding for your projects.
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Thames WaterBlitz
Speaker: Kes Scott-Somme
Freshwater Research Researcher at Earthwatch
Wild Oxfordshire has promoted the Thames WaterBlitz since its inception. Now that Oxfordshire’s citizens have been collecting samples for 5 years what does the data tell us? Read the 2019 Report to learn more.
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Letcombe Brook Project
Speaker: Mark Bradfield
The Letcombe Brook Project was set up in 2003 in response to a worrying Environment Agency report about the deteriorating condition of the brook. Since then, they have worked closely with many local people and organisations to protect and enhance the brook and help people to understand, appreciate and care for the environment and local wildlife.
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Oxfordshire’s Nature Recovery Network: what it means and how your community can contribute.
Speaker: Mike Pollard
Wild Oxfordshire
Nature continues to face an uncertain future, with many birds, butterflies, flowers and other wildlife disappearing from Oxfordshire’s countryside at an alarming rate. But nature can bounce back given a chance. And to give wildlife that opportunity, experts from around the county are developing a Nature Recovery Strategy for Oxfordshire. Wild Oxfordshire, Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre and BBOWT have published the first draft of a Nature Recovery Network Map, identifying places where wildlife can be helped to return.
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Case study: Nature’s recovery around Eynsham and turning a vision into reality
Speakers: Catriona Bass and Kevan Martin
Eynsham’s Nature Recovery Network
Eynsham and the surrounding parishes are fortunate to be located on an extraordinarily nature-rich stretch of the Thames Valley and thus are optimally placed to make a major contribution to nature recovery. Eynsham’s Nature Recovery Network of people has the potential to offer a model to other parishes along the Thames Valley.
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Biological Recording: Why and How?
Speaker: Robbie Still
Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC)
If you are doing any conservation work TVERC can provide you with a data search of the records they hold for your land and the immediate surroundings free of charge. This can include a map to highlight where important habitats and species of interest are and whether they’re protected by law or planning policy. They also offer a number of services such as: green corridor identification, biodiversity net gain assessments, land management advice and habitat surveys. TVERC relies on your data, they cannot advise protection of a species or habitat if they don’t know it’s there in the first place, so please submit your records to TVERC to protect and enhance our natural environment!
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Case Study: ‘River Thame – a birding desert or just under-watched and undervalued?’
Speaker: Nick Marriner
Volunteer Recorder for River Thame Conservation Trust
The River Thame Volunteer Bird Survey has been running since 2015. Their greatest achievement to date is to have documented sufficient evidence to support the formal designation of the River Thame flood meadows at Waterstock as a new Local Wildlife Site. This acknowledges the area’s hitherto overlooked exceptional variety of bird, mammal and plants species. Find out more about how to develop a volunteer recording network.
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Partners
This webinar series comes to you free of charge due to the generous support of Smiths & Sons (Bletchington) Ltd and Natural England.
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Wild Oxfordshire continued to work through lockdown, offering bespoke advice to community groups and parish councils. Over this period, we were delighted to be inundated with enquiries from individuals, parish councillors and emerging groups wanting to know how they can do more, at a community level, to protect their natural environment. We really hope that this connection with nature and enthusiasm continues. This webinar series features some inspiring case studies of communities harnessing their collective energy and knowledge and taking effective action for nature on their patch.