Climate Conversations in Buckingham

On the 24^th March 2022 people from the community of Buckingham attended the Annual Town Meeting which this year focussed on the climate emergency. People gathered together to express their views of Climate Change and to share ideas and suggestions on how to respond to climate change as a whole community. The public meeting brought together representatives from local environmental organisations and over 65 participants, including Buckingham’s MP Greg Smith and Town and Buckinghamshire Councillors.

Attendees had the opportunity to visit information stands from the Electric Vehicle Centre, Planet Refill, Buckinghamshire Recycles, The Buckingham & Villages Community Board and Canal Society. There was also a small exhibition of artwork from Buckingham School pupils, made from recycled materials that is now on public display in the Tourist Information Centre.

The Mayor of Buckingham, Councillor Margaret Gateley, opened the meeting, giving a brief on how Buckingham Town Council has declared a Climate Emergency and developed its own Action Plan to drive the organisation toward carbon neutrality by 2030. The meeting had six tables, each with different discussion topic, with people moving around each table.

Participants were asked to share their ideas and consider the creation of a Community Climate Action Group to investigate ways of building a strong and resilient community to tackle the threat of the climate crisis in Buckingham. A full feedback report will be prepared and published within the next few weeks.

The new  Buckingham Community Climate Action Group needs more members.  Everyone is welcome.  You can register your interest and share your views at: https://forms.office.com/r/HrYdp4xvPV or scan the Qr code

Notes

1. For enquiries about the Town Council, please contact Paul Hodson at Buckingham Town Council on 01280 816426, communications@buckingham-tc.gov.uk.

Sharp-eyed residents may have noticed some new nest boxes gracing the Willow trees in Bourton Park. The boxes have been built and installed by Buckingham’s wildlife volunteer Michael Hunt, who has worked for years alongside the Railway Walk Conservation group and an active member of the Buckingham Tree Wardens. The three new boxes contribute to bird conservation by providing additional nesting sites for wild birds such as blue tits, great tits and nuthatches.

All year-round volunteers, such as Michael, keep an eye on the birds at Railway Walk – monitoring them so we can find out which birds visit, which are resident, and which breed on the site. As well as telling us the health of the local bird population, the data also contributes to national bird recording schemes and helps the site to be managed for conservation. Every year, hundreds of volunteers across the UK submit observations of nests they have monitored.  The data is used to assess the impacts that changes in the environment, such as habitat loss and global warming, have on the number of fledglings that birds can rear. (A fledgling is a young bird who is ready to leave the nest). It is hoped that the new nest boxes in Bourton Park, that carry individual reference numbers, will contribute to the growing numbers of the UK’s bird populations.

Chair of Environment Committee, Cllr. Warren Whyte said: “We are very grateful for the public spiritedness of Michael Hunt in making these wonderful nest boxes and making a really positive contribution to the town council’s climate action plan to protect and enhance our native species and habitats”

For some top tips on putting up your own bird box, visit the British Trust for Ornithology.

Notes

1. For enquiries, please contact Paul Hodson at Buckingham Town Council on 01280 816426, communications@buckingham-tc.gov.uk.

Buckingham Town Council is looking at ways of protecting and enhancing native  wildflowers species in order to support our declining bee population. We know that bees are vital to pollinate the food we need to survive and these hard workers need regular ‘snack-stops’ to provide enough energy to fly from their home to fields and gardens where they collect nectar, and pollinate plants in the process. Modern, manicured gardens, frequently lack the diversity of flowering plants that needed to help re-fuel these busy bees.

Buckingham Town Council has already turned over large swathes of its parkland to wildflower meadows and reviews its grass cutting schedule to ensure verges and hedges are trimmed less and later in the year to support more wildflowers and insects…but this is not enough. Buckingham Town Council’s vision is, eventually, to have a network of bee corridors (which are planting schemes that link up different areas) so bees and other pollinators can travel easily from one area of wildflower planting to another. In order to start on the road toward a more Bee-Friendly town, we are encouraging residents to plant small sections of native wildflowers across Buckingham’s gardens, creating regular nectar ‘pit stops’ for our hard-working pollinators.

Councillors will be handing out free packets of native wildflower seeds at this year’s Celebrate Buckingham event on Thursday 2nd June 2022 from 11-2pm, in Buckingham’s Bourton Park.

The Town Council’s new initiative, Bee-Friendly Buckingham aims encourage the development of Bee-Friendly corridors by handing out free packets of wildflower seeds with instructions on how to create your own Bee-Friendly pot, plot or planter!

Cllr. Schaefer, Vice Chair of Environment Committee said: “Pollinating insects, such as bees, are so important for a healthy environment and also for our own food security, yet they are in serious decline. We can all do a little bit to help them by sowing a small area of insect friendly, native wildflowers in our gardens or even on a windowsill.”

You can access more information and resources on how to support our insect pollinators at Buzzing Buck’s fantastic website. They have lots of advice from Creating Wilder Spaces in our communities to resources for helping each of us to get our homes and workplaces buzzing with wildlife.

This year’s Annual Town Meeting will be themed on Climate Change and is open to EVERYONE to attend and share ideas on how Buckingham can respond, as a community, to the Climate Crisis. It is hoped the meeting will identify Buckingham’s key themes for the initiation of a community led Climate Action Group. The meeting will have a series of information stall and six tables, each with different discussion topics on possible actions the community can undertake to accelerate their own response and resilience to ongoing climate impacts.

• Energy & Housing
• Transport
• Waste
• Food & Land
• Community & Change for the Future
• Other Issues within Buckingham

Buckingham Town Council has already declared a Climate Emergency and developed its own Action Plan to drive the organisation toward carbon neutrality by 2030 but how can the town’s population, organisations and businesses to work with us in that aim. This public meeting will bring together stakeholders from the community, local Councils, businesses and residents to:

• discuss what has been achieved so far
• share ideas on how we can all take action to achieve net zero carbon Buckingham

All members of the public are invited to come along. Town and Unitary Councillors will be in attendance to answer your queries on any other matters relating to Buckingham. However, if you have a burning question or feel passionately about a local issue that doesn’t get the attention it deserves then come along to one of our weekly Committee meetings. For more information on what to expect from a Town Council meeting please visit our website at: https://www.buckingham-tc.gov.uk/your-town-council/committees/attending-council-meeting/

Notes

1. For enquiries, please contact Paul Hodson at Buckingham Town Council on 01280 816426, estates@buckingham-tc.gov.uk.

As part of the Town Council’s Climate Emergency Action Plan it was agreed that the Council should protect and enhance native species and habitats, promoting and supporting opportunities for environmental enhancement and regeneration.

Since 2018 the Town Council has introduced 3 unique areas of wildflowers and, with the help of numerous local volunteers, planted swathes of native woodland bulbs across Bourton Park. All of the species have been carefully chosen by our knowledgeable Estates Manager to ensure they were native to the UK and well suited to the environment in which they were planted.

The wildflower meadows have proven extremely popular with visitors to the park, receiving lots of positive comments across social media and in the local newspaper.

Since the coronavirus pandemic led to restrictions on people’s movements and activities, many have learned to see their surroundings with fresh eyes, and have come to view the streets and parks where they live in a new light, discovering walks, trails and landmarks they had not realised were there before.

In 2020, in order to enhance visitors’ enjoyment of the park the Town Council’s Environment Committee agreed to install wildflower illustration boards, fixed at regular intervals, to the new fencing surrounding the junior play area in Bourton Park. Each board displays a watercolour illustration and short description of a native wildflower species, commonly found in Buckingham.

The panels provide further information or insight into the importance of wildflowers to our environment and entice visitor’s sense of curiosity and discovery and inform people as to the strong cultural bonds that exist with species such as:

Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor)
‘And where high grasses wave Shall great moon-daisies blink’ With rattle and sorrel sharp And Robin’s ragged pink’–    Robert Bridges, “The Idle Flowers”

Often used to create a bright yellow dye, Yellow Rattle’s striking bright yellow flowers with white lips are a sight to behold. When you brush through a wildflower meadow at the height of summer and you’ll hear the seeds of this flower rattling in their brown pods, this is why it is called Yellow Rattle.

Another excellent example of wildlife education boards can be found in Scott’s Lane, Maids Moreton, where the local conservation group have commissioned local artists to create 12 monthly illustrations raising awareness of the different kinds of wildlife in the environment where the panel is situated. One of the local artists, Fiona Hancock has created 9 beautiful watercolour images of our chosen flowers for use on the Bourton Park illustration boards.