On Sunday 1st July, Jane and I joined a walk led by Mike Taylor from Natural England exploring some of the green-spaces that form part of The Cut Corridor. Mike Taylor is part of the Thames Basin Heath Partnership (https://www.tbhpartnership.org.uk/). This is a group of conservation organisations working to protect the unique wildlife of the remaining pieces of heath-land in the Thames Basin. As part of this, the group are also raising awareness of other green-spaces in the Thames Basin area, in part to reduce the pressures on these areas of heath.
For example, lowland heaths are favoured by a number of endangered ground-nesting birds such as the nightjar and the woodlark. The nests of these birds can be accidently damaged by dogs that are off the leash during the breeding season. Hence, the partnership is raising awareness of both this problem and potential solutions, including walking dogs in other nearby green-spaces.
Mike took a small group round Larks Hill and Piggy Copse pointing out some of the trees, other plants and butterflies that can be found in this area. As we walked he provided an informative and entertaining blend of natural history and human history. Despite the fact that theoretically we knew the area better than him, we felt that we learnt a lot in an hour and a half.
If there is enough interest, then the Thames Basin Heath Partnership team would be prepared to run another event. Please respond to this blog/post or send us an email if you are interested in us arranging a future walk.