about
Image courtesy of John Lindley
about
South Stoke Wildlife & Conservation Group is a volunteer-run Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Reg no: 1202352) which aims to help improve the natural environment around South Stoke for the benefit of all. We’re proud of our wonderful parish and its natural environment and want it to be protected and improved.
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What we do
We run events and deliver projects, providing opportunities for people to be involved with the nature around them and inspiring others to act - adults and young people alike.
Recent and planned events include pond dipping, dragonfly, butterfly, and glow worm walks, tours of local wildlife sites, and pub quizzes. Current projects include; planting new sections of a hedge, hedgehog surveying and mapping, swift surveying and installation of nest boxes.
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The Group’s dedicated volunteers, local experts and amateur naturalists collect and submit data on the biodiversity of species across the Parish, to better understand the wildlife that we share our Parish with. This information enables us, in collaboration with others, to create targeted conservation plans.
We are a friendly and inclusive community of like-minded individuals who are all passionate about nature and are keen to learn more about it - SSWCG events provide a fun way of learning about nature and our local environment - come and join us!
Get involved!
There is no formal or paid membership, so getting involved is simple. Join our active Facebook Group, sign up for our Newsletter and see our events & surveys page for volunteer days, educational and fun activities, and community and social events.
Ian Haslam
Chair - Trustee
John Lindley
Trustee
Paul Jenkins
Secretary - Trustee
Ali Brazenor
Trustee
Nathalie Weekes
Trustee
Tats Hawker
Vice Chair - Trustee
Paul has had a life-long fascination with natural history and has been involved with bees since he was young. He has watched the decline in number and variety of wildflowers, insects and birds over the years and would like to help do something about it. South Stoke has some varied habitats and he believes that more could be done to improve conditions here for local wildlife. He would like to see people get together in a group to share knowledge and focus on wildlife in the area. Paul hopes that he and the rest of the community can learn more about the life around us, and find out what we can do to better support it.
John is a keen amateur naturalist, specialising in Insects, particularly Butterflies, Moths and Dragonflies. He also tries, with varying success, to take photographs of the Insects that he sees. Having lived in South Stoke for well over 30 years, John has a reasonable knowledge of much of our local wildlife, but he's keen to learn more, particularly about our local birds and mammals. John is happy to share his knowledge of wildlife friendly gardening, and is always keen to meet up with anyone else who wants to learn about our local wildlife.
Nathalie joined the group after taking part in the wildflower growing and mapping during lockdown. She has learnt a lot about local nature and conservation from other members in the group and enjoys helping out with SSWCG projects in the village.
Ian is concerned about the unfolding crisis in biodiversity decline and the impact of climate change on our planet and everyday lives. As well as making this a national and global debate he is keen to see initiatives at a local level and is encouraged by the actions of small groups to protect our existing species and habitats. He is not particularly knowledgeable about wildlife, but spends a lot of time outdoors and is keen to learn more about the animals, birds and plants that he fails to identify so often on his walks and forays around our area.
Ali's keen to learn more about the wildlife in and around South Stoke, and has been helping with mapping species recordings. She has a particular interest in what we can do to help the local hedgehog population and would like to learn more about how to make her garden more wildlife friendly. She joined the group to expand her knowlegde of local flora and fauna, and help conserve and enhance our local wildlife for all to enjoy.
Tats grew up in nearby Brightwell cum Sotwell spending much of her childhood cycling round the village visiting the farm, parks and streams. She was inspired by her botanist grandfather who used to take her into the woods on beetle catching trips to record and track species in the local habitats. Having had such an idyllic childhood, she is keen to preserve the natural habitats and wildlife around South Stoke for both current and future generations. Tats hopes that her enthusiasm for nature will be passed on to her own daughters and is keen to inspire other children in the local area to get involved. She is already enjoying learning more from the other conservation group members about the local dragonfly, butterfly and wildflower species.
People we'd like to thank:
Simon Booker, local wildlife photographer, who has been generous with his time and his wonderful photographs. Stokerpix.com
Eric Beaton (RIP), who designed our logo and did so much to assist us with getting the website designed and set up.
Bryan Urbick, who as Chair of South Stoke PC backed us at the start and allowed the use of the PC bank account to get us going
Maggie Fillipova-Rivers, who has supported us from the start through a series of grants from SODC
Jerry and Susan Pride at Harwell Swifts for advice, support, bird boxes and general enthusiasm in all things Swift. https://www.facebook.com/groups/harwellswifts
Rachel Sanderson at TOE for expertise and advice about funding
Nikki Cheetham for financial support through the Keith Ewart Charitable Trust
Martin Bullock, local farmer, for agricultural advice and for support at White Hill Quarry and various tree and hedge planting schemes around his farm
Guy Hildred, local farmer, for all his support and enthusiasm for our hedge planting program
Peter Shalcross, for advice on Dutch-Elm resistant trees and supply of same
Murray Maclean, for advice on hedge planting and laying and the supply of native hedging materials
Graham Scholey, Faye and Lucy from the Environment Agency who are a highly knowledgeable team helping us with our plans for the Lower Marsh.
Roselle Chapman of Wild Oxfordhire who provided advice and gave us a talk about native bees
Pete Morton, warden of our neighbouring Nature Reserve- Withymead, who has provided expert advice and entertaining tours.
Dr Melanie Gibbs who organised a butterfly wing competition for kids at the May Fair
Darren of Goring Logs who donated materials for benches https://goringlogs.co.uk/
Organisations we’d like to thank for supporting us:
South Stoke Parish Council for initial support and for promoting our proposals for community orchard and garden.
South Oxfordshire District Council for grant support for equipment and hedge and tree planting
TOE- Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment for grant support for equipment and hedge planting
Trust for Conservation Volunteers for provision of native trees
Keith Ewart Charitable Trust for grant support for work with birds
The Earth Trust, Long Wittenham for advice and working with us to create exciting proposals for environmental improvements at Lower Marsh
Wallingford Green Gym for providing teams of volunteers working on hedges at White Hill Quarry
Environment Agency for expertise and advice about landscape-scale wetland
