More than 100 people packed into the Memorial Hall for the launch of the Charlbury Year of Nature Recovery. The idea was to bring together community groups and interested individuals living locally to come up with ideas for increasing biodiversity and protecting the natural world locally.
Organised by the town council’s Land and Nature Working Group, the event on Saturday, 11th January was by general acclamation better attended and more inspirational than anyone had dared to hope. An artist recorded the proceedings in the form of visual minutes.
The afternoon kicked off with a thought-provoking presentation by Catriona Bass of the Long Mead nature recovery project in Eynsham. Her community has scored some big successes in expanding the area available for plants and wildlife to flourish through initiatives such as creating nature corridors of connected hedgerows running between ten different villages.
Tea, cake & inspiration
Next up was a session in which groups and individuals based around Charlbury explained in not more than a minute what they were doing to protect nature. There were contributions from the Cotswolds Wardens, who keep paths open and clearly signed, the Farmland Bird Project which runs wild bird feeding stations through the winter, the Mill Field meadow restoration project, the Finstock Community Orchard project, the Charlbury Garden Society, Charlbury Wildlife Society and many others. It was inspiring to learn that so much is happening already in our area.
After a break for tea and cake, the afternoon concluded with group discussions on future projects. Ideas ranged from setting up a training programme to help create wildlife friendly gardens to a project to record memories of the species of plants, animals and birds that have been lost locally in recent decades. It is hoped that many other ideas will emerge as the year progresses.
Charlbury Year of Nature of Nature Recovery is about giving local meaning to Britain’s 2022 commitment to the UN’s “30 by 30” goal, aiming to protect 30% of land and sea for biodiversity by 2030. Sustainable Charlbury contributed financial support for the launch event and is keen to receive grant applications from groups looking for funding for local nature restoration projects.
“There was a lot of positive energy in the room. Many people came away inspired.”
Anne Miller, Charlbury Land & Nature Group
