We want to know what species are present in our parish and where they are. To find out, we will be doing some organised surveys, but also we want to encourage everyone to record what they see.
We have chosen 20 species that we are especially interested in knowing more about and we are making the reporting of these as easy as possible.
We are offering two methods for reporting sightings. The easiest, which can be used for our ’20 Selected Species’ is via our website form below
The other method is via iRecord which requires more detail but goes directly to a national biological recording system that we can retrieve data from - but you’ll need to add our activity code when you fill in the form.



Image courtesy of Simon Booker stokerpix.com

friends
The group relies on help from some very good people:
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Simon Booker:
We are very fortunate that Simon Booker, the well-known Oxfordshire wildlife photographer, lives in the village. He knows more than most about the wild fauna around South Stoke, rising early and patiently waiting for those elusive appearances. His beautiful photography and his wildlife calendars are famous locally! We are very grateful to Simon for providing some of his wonderful photographs for this website. You can see, and purchase, a much wider variety of his wildlife and landscape images at Stokerpix.com
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Erik Beaton:
We have a huge debt of gratitude to Erik for designing our logo and somehow ending up building much of the website!
A graduate of Glasgow School of Art, Erik spent most of his working life as an Art Director in London advertising agencies, creating TV commercials, billboards and press ads, winning several international awards. In addition, he's always done freelance illustration, photography, caricatures and graphic design. Outside of work, he became involved in plays, musicals and pantomimes, and enjoyed creating set designs, projections and costumes, as well as acting, singing and dancing. He lives in Scotland now and is still involved with his old drama group in England, but these days is more focused on writing and performing my own shows. erikbeaton.com
Naomi Hallam:
A former member of the group. Naomi joined the group to become more knowledgable about the local environment and to learn from like minded others what can be done to ensure this unique area is there, at its best, for future generations to enjoy. Naomi coordinated the projects and events for younger members of our community and still joins us for events.
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Robbie Still, Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre, who provided us with invaluable advice about species recording and mapping, and provided records for the Parish.
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Edel McGurk, Benson Nature Group, who provided timely advice and encouragement
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Tom Harrison, expert Coleopterist who provided records of beetles and other insects in the parish
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Chris Powles, Kirtlington Hedgehog Street Project
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Martin Harvey, Biological Records Centre, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
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Tom August (aka "Batman"), UK Cenntre for Ecology & Hydrology
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Roger Wyatt, local wildlife photographer
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Bernard Novell, who provided advice on website specification and set up
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Griff Phillips, who provided advice on website specification
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Nick Pye, local copywriter and humourist, who came up with a list of creative names for the group, but despite that, we are SSWCG! https://nickpye.carbonmade.com/about