This poem by Laura Mucha visiting the Soil Exhibition. London.
The soil exhibition: there was quite a lot of artists showcasing their work which was enjoyable to see as I am a creative at heart but I was expecting to come home with a little more knowledge about soil and it’s importance! However, if you don’t fancy a trip to London, there are plenty of other nature opportunities happening in and around Thame.
Nature Discovery 2025-2026 in and around Thame.
Did you see that the Heriot Watt University were doing research down at the Cuttlebrook, looking into the health of UK frogs. Thame has 2 fantastic new large ‘scrapes’ at Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve. Scrapes are like ponds but they are shallow with sloping edges to provide wonderful habitat for aquatic invertebrates, frogs, toads and dragonflies. Very important nature recovery projects just on our doorstep.
City Challenge 2025 STARTING THIS FRIDAY
We’d like the people of Thame to get involved in nature recovery and an important action that can be taken by everyone is to observe and record. There is the City Challenge 2025 that everyone can get involved in whether individuals, schools or community groups. It’s all about more people getting involved in seeing what is living on their doorsteps and recording it simply through an app.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2025-oxfordshire
- The international observation period this year is Friday 25th April to Monday 28th April – take photos and record sounds of wild animals, plants, and fungi.
- There is an Identification period from Tuesday 29th April to Sunday 4th May where work is done to identify what has been observed.
- The Results of the project are announced on Monday 5th May.
TVERC (Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre) – all year round
Through the year, every year Thame Valley Environmental Records is also a great way to show your support. Data is very important to help nature. Getting enough data is crucial for informing decisions about property development and land management. There are so many developments going in and every one has to request information about the nature on the land from TVERC in our area! If there isn’t any data for a place, then there is an assumption that there is no nature there !
Apps : I-Record and I-Naturalist and Merlin
There are simple ways to record all your findings, download the I-record or I-Naturalist app and have a play. I can’t identify all the things I can see on a walk but the key is, that I have started and any small amount of data is beneficial.
Download the Merlin app and discover the bird sounds around you – try to identify the birds by learning their song! A great excuse for a walk.
Join the 21st Century Thame project groups in Thame, Chinnor and surrounds
21st Century Thame is a community group with a keen interest in the environment. You might have noticed some of the trees in the Thame parks recently or seen us at a fete or two over the last few years – often talking about hedgehogs ! This year we are keen to get people out of their houses and into their gardens and the countryside around recording what they see and hear and adding to the environmental records that can be used to protect our environment.
If you are interested in joining in this year please do contact us at [email protected]. We are hoping to run some quarterly programmes for adults to learn how to record the local wildlife, learn how to identify some of the species around and how to send findings to the right places. Send us an email and we can let you know when we get going.
Here are our first 4 adult workshops to look out for – Dates to be confirmed soon but please let us know if this is something you are interested in.
2025 21st Century Thame Sponsors
