ISSUE 235 • SPRING 2020 www.chilternsociety.org.uk High Heavens Our Living Village Spring events & activities CAMPAIGNING • CONSERVING • PROMOTING ISSUE 235 • SPRING 2020 www.chilternsociety.org.uk In this High Heavens Our Living Village Spring events & activities CAMPAIGNING • CONSERVING • PROMOTING Heron at Rickmansworth Aquadrome issue (Photo: Colin Drake) NEWS & VIEWS 3 Editor 4 NO TIME TO STANd STILL Says our Chief Officer, Tom Beeston 5 society LAuNChES NEw campaigns 7 BERKOFEST BOOK FESTIVAL 15 acting ON climate ChANGE 5 The work of Hope for the Future NEw 24 DON’T LET ThE BuGS BITE! Campaigns Advice on Lyme disease LAuNChEd 36 hIGh SPEEd TwO uPdate 36 newS IN BRIEF 18 HERITAGE MANIFESTO 12 ChIPPERFIELd COMMON FOR A story of survival from David Thomas ChILTERNS 20 SMALL BuT BEAuTIFuLLy MARKEd wILdLIFE John Hockey describes Stocks Dovecote 30 RAF hALTON – ThE ENd OF AN ERA Visit it while you still can, urges Alison Beck 37 OuR LIVING VILLAGE Alan Kell introduces a fascinating new project 38 DAMSON hATTERS An old photo sparks George Stebbing-Allen’s curiosity CONSERVATION 32 STILL PLENTy TO SEE ANd dO The latest from Ewelme WILDLIFE 18 MANIFESTO FOR ChILTERNS 30 wILdLIFE RAF 34 GROwING OLd GRACEFuLLy Halton Tony Marshall reflects on the long history of a local wood 2 Chiltern 235 Ready for more From the Editor Richard Bradbury A few weeks ago I gave a talk to Wycombe Wildlife Group. The title which I agreed with the ENVIRONMENT organiser, Inge Beck (a fellow Chiltern Society member), was ‘Why I Love the Chilterns’. When I began to think about the subject, however, I wondered whether I’d made a rod for my own back, 6 CLEANER, GREENER ChILTERNS because I was fairly sure that all those present would love the Chilterns for the same reasons as Are you willing to sign the pledge? I did. This caused me a degree of anxiety during the planning process, but in the end I decided that I could still try and make my presentation interesting, informative and entertaining, and 14 TALKING RuBBISh hope that the audience would take some pleasure from identifying with what I said. The Editor visits High Heavens Waste Complex As I brought the material together I realised that I loved the Chilterns for more reasons 28 SOwING ThE SEEd OF than I could cram into the time allotted for CONSERVATION the talk. Eventually I concentrated a few key Hypnos demonstrates its points under various headings. environmental credentials I discussed my ‘roots’ in Croxley Green; 33 A BEEF ABOuT VEGANISM how, from taking my surroundings for granted Gill Kent questions current trends as a child and adolescent, I developed a real appreciation of the region as an adult, exploring more and more of it, principally on LEISURE foot, in what is effectively a walkers’ paradise with a wonderful network of paths, most of 7 meat-FREE RECIPE Croxley Common Moor (Photo: Colin Drake) them well waymarked, usable and increasingly 8 LANE ENd wALK accessible to people with disabilities. on a hillside in the Chess Valley, placed I reflected on the indisputable beauty there because he was afraid that come the 11 VITAMIN N EVENTS & ACTIVITIES – around us, and how I’ve benefitted from the resurrection he wouldn’t be able to identify SPRING 2020 insights and perspectives offered by others, his bones if they were interred near others; 16 A PERFECT ShOwCASE such as local artists, writers and naturalists. and the enormous fibreglass dinosaurs to be PhotoGroup News I talked about my fascinating encounters found lurking in a wood near Cholesbury. with wildlife and my slowly increasing Towards the end I drew on the joys of 17 PhOTOGROuP COMPETITION knowledge of Chiltern flora and fauna. Then being a grandparent to discuss the huge 19 BOOK REVIEw I emphasised how blessed we are to have variety of opportunities for children and such a rich heritage to enjoy in our buildings, young people to connect with the natural 22 EVENTS & ACTIVITIES – SPRING 2020 infrastructure and landscape, and their world in the Chilterns, and how organisations 26 A wALK wITh GORdON & dENNIS relevance not only to our past, but also to our like the Society can contribute to this present and future. I added that our towns, process. Finally, I paid tribute to all the 40 LET ThE TRAIN TAKE ThE STRAIN perhaps sometimes overlooked because of volunteers whose efforts testify to the Says Pete Bradshaw of the Cycle the beauty that surrounds them and the ill tremendous community spirit that exists in Group effects of planning decisions, are still worthy the region in various forms. of investigation, often with rewarding results. I hope the audience enjoyed my talk. They 42 Walks PROGRAMME Under another heading I drew attention were a friendly bunch, and it seemed to be to some of the more curious features quite well received. I concluded that the title that add colour to our experience of the wasn’t so bad after all – it made me stop and Chilterns, including ghostly apparitions; the think afresh about the many wonderful gifts shenanigans, centuries ago, of the Hellfire the Chilterns have given me. Perhaps I’m scan here for www.chilternsociety.org.uk Club; the lonely grave of William Liberty greedy – but I’m ready for more! dEAdLINES REPROduCTION OF IMAGES It is not possible to guarantee that items received after The photographs in this publication must not be the deadline will be included in the next issue, unless a reproduced elsewhere, except with the express prior arrangement has been made with the Editor. permission of the photographer via the Editor. If you do not wish your photographs to be used in other SENdING COPy ANd PhOTOGRAPhS Published quarterly by The Chiltern Society Society publications, please make this clear when you Please email text as Word attachments. Pictures should send them. Editor: Richard Bradbury • 01494 793049 be sent as jpg attachments. High resolution images Email: [email protected] are required for publication, although low resolution The Society does not necessarily accept images can be sent as samples in the first instance, if responsibility for the views of contributors or the AdVERTISING: Sophie Elkan preferred. Please indicate the quality of images sent, claims of the advertisers. Email: [email protected] entitle your pictures and delete any numbers. dESIGN & TyPESET: Clickdraw • 01392 841100 PRINT: hartgraph • Amersham on materials dEAdLINE FOR issuE 236 (JuNE 2020) produced by environmentally friendly processes. Items to the Editor by: Monday 30 March • Published: Saturday 30 May email: [email protected] 3 SOCIETY NEWS No time to stand still HS2 is still a major concern, and we’ll continue our attempts to stop the project, or if it goes ahead, to mitigate the damage done. On a more positive note, work on the Chiltern Greenway has started. We’re hoping that within a year the first section will be open to walkers and cyclists, and later to horse riders (along some of its sections, at least). I believe that as time goes by you’ll hear more about the likelihood of the Chilterns becoming a National Park in the not-so- distant future. We think this is great news. We’ll keep you updated on progress, and endeavour to ensure a positive outcome for our members, as well as all who live and work in the area. If you want to know more about this or any other aspects of our work, please Bottom Wood, donated to the Chiltern Society in 1984 (Photo: John Morris) feel free to get in touch. Alternatively, visit our new roadshow which we hope will be in your part of the Chilterns soon. You’ll From the Chief Officer Tom Beeston be able to see dates and locations on the events page of our website. Needless My first full year working for the Chiltern Society is nearly over. It’s been a great 12 to say, your enquiry will be particularly months! Much has been achieved, thanks to our amazing volunteers, staff team and your welcome if you’re interested in helping us generosity as members. With help from Extinction Rebellion protests and Greta Thunberg, in any way! 2019 was the year the world truly woke up to climate change, and an increasing number As this issue goes to press we’re saying of us are campaigning for a greener planet. Rest assured that the Society’s team haven’t goodbye to the Chilterns Woodland Project, been standing still. after more than 30 years. John Morris’s last day working for the CWP will be 31 We’ve reworded our mission statement our staff and trustees have done so, and, as March. He’ll still be around the Chiltern to help focus and more easily explain what we a team, to start with we’re aiming to halve Society for some time to come, however, as do, so please expect to hear with increasing our paper use, think about the impact of our we make sure the great work he’s done is regularity that we are ‘Campaigning, diets, and drive less. continued, and woodlands become an even Conserving and Promoting life in the As part of the wildlife manifesto we’ve bigger part of our conservation activities. Chilterns’. We recently launched three new been able to launch the Chalk Rivers Action Shortly we’ll also be saying goodbye to campaigns which should encompass much Group (CRAG), which is involving people Vicky Askew, who’s been leading our of our work: Cleaner, Greener Chilterns, at senior level in industry and government marketing and fundraising, when she goes Manifesto for Chilterns Wildlife and Vitamin in efforts to protect our chalk streams on maternity leave in May.