The seasons of life come to us all, and so it is in our wonderful Cookham countryside. March gave us early foliage on trees such as Ash and Rowan, permitting many caterpillar types to mature and set in place the year’s stock of insects, before the early nesting birds in April and May feasted on the second wave of larvae for their own young. And now in June, even the latest trees to dress themselves, such as Oaks and Beech, continue to be the supermarket for protein hunters of many kinds.
The bouncy hymnals of May have quieted as birds secrete themselves within
the canopy, with their progeny gradually learning to fend for themselves. But the visual spectacle is enhanced as, by now, just about all our amazing butterfly species are on the wing, as we hope to experience on our Butterfly Walk on June 12th at Winter Hill.
Similarly, many of our dramatic damselflies and dragonflies will be in evidence, with their brilliant adornments and dizzying flying skills. Identifying them can be challenging, but rewarding, as we have three of the rarest Thames Valley species within the Cookhams, as we will be exploring on our July event at Odney.
The first of our Swallow and House Martin young are testing out their acrobatics, eagerly watched by our local Spotters, and, deep in the grasses around Cookham, we hope to discover more of our Glowworms as part of our survey mapping this extraordinary species (contact us – wildcookham@gmail.com) if you would like to join in either of these or other survey work). You can learn more about this project at a talk scheduled for 15th June.
We’re hoping that there are a good number of young House Sparrows (now on the endangered list) and Tits in the nest boxes we have placed in each of Cookham’s primary schools. Meanwhile we continue our work ensuring that the Cookham Neighbourhood Plan will protect and enhance our local
natural habitats as we start work with the Council implementing the Biodiversity Action Plan created to do the same across the Borough.
And our Wild About Gardeners are welcoming the myriad species that share their homes – are you involved yet?
WildCookham’s work is never done and we welcome anyone who can help us with it. Contact us at wildcookham@gmail.com. And check out our upcoming events at www.meetup.com/wildcookham. These include:
12th June Butterfly and wild flower walk
15th June Discovering Cookham’s Glow worms: talk
26th June Open Wild Gardens Day in Cookham Rise
4th July What’s about at Odney? With Brian Clews
8th July Glow worm walk
Brian Clews/Mike Copland