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Ewelme watercress beds scoops first prize in Conservation Awards
Story date: 26/08/2005
Once again this has been a bumper year for the Chilterns Conservation Awards with nine excellent entries vying for the hand-carved wooden hare trophy. Due to the number and geographical spread of entries, judges were forced to shortlist the very best to visit and assess further. This year’s judges included Tim Bagwell, adviser for Buckinghamshire Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, Tim Hill, Conservation Manager for Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust and Tracy Adams, the Conservation Board’s Farming and Land Use Officer. After a tiring but highly enjoyable day visiting sites from Barton-le-Clay, north of Luton to Harpsden Bottom, near Henley-on-Thames, the judges eventually came to a decision after much deliberating. The winner is a former commercial watercress bed in Ewelme which has been restored to a site of great wildlife interest after years of hard work by Chiltern Society volunteers. Tracy Adams explains, “The judges were impressed with the array of wildlife which now make the Beds their home. Wildflowers, birds and butterflies all thrive here along with the rare water vole. Better known as Ratty from Wind in the Willows, their numbers have declined by over 90% in the past thirty years so it is great to see them doing so well here.” Chiltern Society volunteers first worked on the site at the request of local residents in 1992, initially to preserve the remaining structure of the Beds which were constructed in 1890 but ceased commercial production in 1988. Fearing that the attached land would be developed, money was raised in 2000 to purchase the site. Structural work on the dams restored the historic Beds and conservation of the marshy areas, meadow hedges and trees all contributed to the wildlife interest of the area. In 2004 the site and new visitor centre were officially opened by the HRH the Duke of Kent. Beryl Hunt, the driving force behind the project, said, ”This award is a wonderful way to acknowledge the thousands of hours of work put in by so many volunteers over the years. There is open public access to much of the site and there will be a programme of guided walks for the public during this autumn and winter.” Narrowly missing out on the trophy was Oak Farm, Harpsden Bottom, owned by Tony Austin. He has been awarded a Certificate of Merit for an ambitious project to restore farmland to how it looked in the 16th century with new chalk grassland, hedgerows and woodlands. Other runners up included Barton Hill Farm, Barton-le Clay, managed by Brian Shaw, Whipsnade Wild Animal Park owned by the Zoological Society of London and Vincent’s Meadow and Pond owned by Hughenden Parish Council and managed by warden John Moorby. The hare trophy and certificates of merit will be presented at the Chilterns Annual Forum in November.
