Marilyn's general Wildlife website
New Marston Wildlife Group
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New Marston Wildlife Group
FUTURE
events
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Milham Ford Nature Park Pond dipping event - Sunday, 27 May ! |
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Tree lovers who have not already discovered the excellent Oxford University Parks website may be interested in its very useful 'Trees listed by location' page. You can get lists of trees for each 'walk'. Each tree has a code, indicated in the lists, and bears a label showing its code. So if you take a print out of the list(s) and a map of the park with you when you go for a walk there, you'll be able to identify all the trees.
To see the comprehensive response submitted by Dr Judy Webb to Oxford City Council's Consultation on Draft Green Spaces and Playing Pitch & Outdoor Sports Strategies (2012-2026) click here.
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If you would like to learn more about the New Marston
Wildlife Group, please contact Dr Curt Lamberth at
Members of the group receive newsletters with details of forthcoming events, what is happening regarding
wildlife locally and additional related information. To see a sample newsletter, click here.
Annual subscription £7 per family, or £4 per family, if all members are unwaged.
To download a printable form to apply for membership, click here
Dr Judy Webb puts in a tremendous amount of voluntary work in the Milham Ford Nature Park, often on her own as well as occasionally with volunteers from the New Marston Wildlife Group, and also spends a lot of time at other local sites that are important for wildlife. She mentions some of this work in e-mails sent to the volunteers. I thought it would be a good idea to make the information sent out to volunteers more widely available and so, with Judy's agreement, set up the page Judy's Jottings. Marilyn
History of the New Marston Wildlife Group
When Oxford changed from a 'three-tier' education system to one divided into primary and secondary levels only, 10 of its schools were closed, one of them being Milham Ford Girls' School. The announcement of these changes some years earlier had led Dr Judy Webb, at that time the school's Biology teacher, to consider how the flora and fauna of the playing field and meadow areas in front of the school, notably the rare fungi and the orchids, could be protected in the future. Her short presentation to a meeting of the full City Council in November 1999 on the wildlife importance of the site was very well received and created considerable interest.
Working with Dr Curt Lamberth, an environmental consultant, Judy went on to plan the formation of a local wildlife group. In December 2000 a meeting was held in the school dining room (48 attended), during which local people were asked to help with surveying the wildlife of the Milham Ford site and with other management activities, including distributing newsletters to residents.
On 19 March the following year, the NMWG held its inaugural meeting in the school hall to elect officers and clarify its aims. The Constitution subsequently drawn up states that the aims of the group are to:
● enhance the
biodiversity of the area
● identify and manage existing areas of wildlife
● actively encourage local participation in the
identification and management of wildlife
● propose areas of high wildlife potential
● propose ways of reducing the impact of developments
● link to other local and national groups with similar aims.