August 2026 News
Very exciting news – Announcement of grant
We are thrilled to announce that the partnership of green groups in Benson has been successful in getting a significant grant to help even more people to get outdoors and enjoy the nature on our doorstep!
Benson has grown a lot in the past few years, and with the new houses, we have got some significant new green spaces to enjoy. People get enormous health benefits and joy from being outdoors enjoying green spaces and nature, whether alone or with family and neighbours.
Over the past 18 months, our wonderful Nature Group volunteer coordinator, Tracey Comber, has been doing a sterling job, getting events set up and people involved in caring for nature across our four parishes. But there is so much more we can do.
Local fish suffer under drought conditions
When temperatures rise and water in our rivers and still waters warms beyond 19°C, fish become stressed. Warm temperatures reduce oxygen levels in rivers, while algal blooms make conditions worse for fish and other wildlife.
A resident of the new Cala estate recently reported that fish were stranded in the off-take of Lady Brook/Elm Brook in the new ‘Benson Country Park’ area made by the developers. It was reported to the Environment Agency and a fisheries officer came out straight away to check. Sadly, most of the fish in this small stream were already dead and a small collection of tiny fry in remaining muddy puddle were not salvageable.
Lady Brook by Warwick Spinney was also pooling and looks likely to dry out completely soon. Again, there were small fry trapped in puddles, but nothing that could be moved. The fisheries officer felt that this area is probably acting as a safe backwater sheltering the fry of bigger fish breeding in the Thames, so will probably be recolonised once flow returns.
This grant from the National Lottery Community Fund will enable us to boost our efforts. We are also very grateful to Benson Parish Council for agreeing to top up the grant to make our efforts go a bit further. As a result, you will see a lot more of Tracey in Benson!
We will now be doing a lot of project planning, including work on youth engagement and will share more news in early autumn. We’re looking forward to continuing to build our partnerships with multiple village groups. If this news excites you, please let us know - we’d love to involve more people.
If you spot dead fish or fish in distress, please report it by calling the Environment Agency (EA) incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60. The EA Fisheries team are very responsive and will attend and help if possible (but only if issue is reported via incident hotline). Please do not enter the water or attempt to move fish yourself - reporting quickly helps the right teams respond safely.
The following posts may also be helpful:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BftGWWzRF/ and https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1TZxuToKsx/
On a more positive note, riverfly monitoring carried out at the end of July at Millbrook Mead and Ewelme Watercress Beds showed healthy results, with lots of active Gammarus and no sign of dead invertebrates
Volunteers water new drought-affected trees
Sadly, despite a wet winter, the summer heatwaves have taken their toll on the tree saplings planted at Benson School playing fields last November. Trees under heat stress tend to lose their leaves early as a means to conserve energy, so how many have actually perished won’t be clear until next spring. In the meantime, despite problems with low water pressure, volunteers will continue throughout the summer to water them to try to ensure the survival of some of them. If you are interested in helping please look out on social media for dates for future sessions.
BANG supports Duke of Edinburgh volunteers.
For a few years now, BANG has been supporting local Duke of Edinburgh students to achieve their volunteering goals. This year we have assisted three young volunteers who have been working on the following projects.
1) Alfie monitored birds in St Helen’s Churchyard for 3 months between April and July. He has surpassed his goals and shown such wonderful dedication. He participated in 25, one-hour monitoring sessions, which equates to approx two volunteering activities per week. Alfie went above and beyond and should be recognised for his commitment to this volunteering task.
The data he collected will contribute to the national British Trust for Ornithology (BTO’s)'s “Birds in Green Spaces” programme, which aims to find out how important green spaces are for UK birds. It will also provide baseline information to help Benson Area Nature Group monitor birds in a key green space within Benson village.
2) Jack has completed a litter picking and recycling project, particularly cleaning along the brook in Benson. Completed in April
3) Amber is carrying out an ongoing 6-month bird monitoring in Berrick
Butterfly Identification and Monitoring
At a convivial meeting in the Millstream Centre, Benson, members were treated to a fascinating briefing on how to identify local butterflies by BANG member Richard Soulsby, assisted by Tom Stevenson. Richard is an active member of Butterfly Conservation and has been monitoring the abundance of different species locally for a number of years. We learned the key differences between the different species of the main families of “blues”, “browns” and “whites” and put the theory into practice the following Saturday at Warwick Spinney.
Here we found 14 different species in just an hour. The beginners amongst us made a first guess and turned to experts Richard and Tom for confirmation (or otherwise). They were invaluable as they know not only the butterflies but also the likely spots where each species will be.
We ended with a demo of the various apps that help identify sightings and others that can be used you can submit sightings to the citizen science community
Local fish suffer under drought conditions
When temperatures rise and water in our rivers and still waters warms beyond 19°C, fish become stressed. Warm temperatures reduce oxygen levels in rivers, while algal blooms make conditions worse for fish and other wildlife.
A resident of the new Cala estate recently reported that fish were stranded in the off-take of Lady Brook/Elm Brook in the new ‘Benson Country Park’ area made by the developers. It was reported to the Environment Agency and a fisheries officer came out straight away to check. Sadly, most of the fish in this small stream were already dead and a small collection of tiny fry in remaining muddy puddle were not salvageable.
Lady Brook by Warwick Spinney was also pooling and looks likely to dry out completely soon. Again, there were small fry trapped in puddles, but nothing that could be moved. The fisheries officer felt that this area is probably acting as a safe backwater sheltering the fry of bigger fish breeding in the Thames, so will probably be recolonised once flow returns.
If you spot dead fish or fish in distress, please report it by calling the Environment Agency (EA) incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60. The EA Fisheries team are very responsive and will attend and help if possible (but only if issue is reported via incident hotline). Please do not enter the water or attempt to move fish yourself - reporting quickly helps the right teams respond safely.
The following posts may also be helpful:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BftGWWzRF/ and https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1TZxuToKsx/
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