2024 was another great year for Binfield Environment Group but a mixed year for Binfield’s nature. BEG broke records for work parties, won a quiz and were praised by a teddy bear!
We have more people than ever supporting us, which led to us breaking our record for the most people on a work-party in February and for the most hours worked in November. One of the reasons for these records is the support that we have had from Bracknell’s Green & Active Heroes scheme - https://involve.community/green-active/.
In a shock result, BEG won the annual Wildlife in Ascot quiz last February, but we’ll need some more quizzers if we’re going to defend our title.
Teddington Bear, the social media presence of Keep Britain Tidy, has just been in touch to thank us for our work litter-picking in the parish and to make us aware of a local area that needs tidying.
Thanks to our dedicated surveyors, we have recorded 61 bird species and 19 butterfly species across the six green-spaces that they visit each month.
We recorded 52 bird species at Piglittle Meadow, 47 at Blue Mountain, 44 at Keephatch Meadow , 38 in Farley Copse, 36 species at Popes Meadow (a few more species were picked up by the Merlin app, which we are only using at this site at the moment), 28 species at Wicks Green and 19 species at Foxley Fields. Amongst our highlights were a purple hairstreak butterfly at Piglittle Meadow, firecrest and lesser redpoll at Farley Copse, and a kingfisher at Popes Meadow (sadly not seen during our surveys). It also seems to have been a good year for bullfinches and ravens. Listen out for the muffled cheap of bullfinches at this time of year in our hedgerows. Despite the bright plumage of the males, you often hear them well before you see them. Similarly, the cronk of a raven may alert you to the presence of the largest member of the crow in the sky above you.
2024 was not a good year for some species. We recorded very few large skipper and comma butterflies, treecreepers and swifts. It was not a good year for many of the birds and butterflies that visit Binfield in the summer. Most of the swallows and house martins that were recorded during our surveys were flying through on migration.
We know that 2024 was a mixed year for weather which may explain some of these changes, but there may be other things going on too. Some of our survey data seems to reflect patterns that were seen in our gardens. For example, blackbirds seem to vanish from Binfield for a period during the late summer but have now returned. Blackbirds do migrate and the bird in your garden in the summer is not the same one that you see in winter. This blackbird gap is being investigated by the British Trust for Ornithology.
During 2024, Bracknell Forest Council and local authorities and their partners across Berkshire have been developing plans to do more for nature. One of the ideas behind this work is to make sure that more effort is going into protecting, extending and connecting those ecosystems that are important to a particular area. In Binfield the focus should be on woodlands, wood pasture (parkland with mature trees), orchards and the River Cut.
These priorities will also be picked up through the nature-friendly features being delivered in new developments. A report published just before Christmas made it clear that developers and local authorities need to do more to deliver the nature-friendly features that they promise - https://wildjustice.org.uk/general/lost-nature-report/. BEG will continue to monitor new development proposals and work with BFC to ensure that promised features are delivered.
Let’s hope that 2025 is good for BEG and Binfield’s nature.
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