Cookham-born Nigel Stork is a leading world expert on biodiversity and he returns home in June for a WildCookham event on the subject.  His talk,  'Biodiversity: the local response to a global crisis', will be in the Odney Club's Sir Peter Miller Centre, courtesy of the John Lewis Partnership, with the added attraction of a chance to see the club's grounds and also enjoy a guided tour around them.

Nigel, brother of Cookham Festival chairman Malcolm, now lives in Australia and was most recently Dean of Research for Sciences at Australia’s Griffith University before retiring and being appointed Emeritus Professor at the university. His particular field of study has been insect biodiversity patterns in forests across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia as well as Australia. He also served on the UK National Biodiversity Committee and was a lead author of the 1994 UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

He will bring this exceptional experience to his talk and will relate it to more local issues – for example, urban biodiversity, public parks and golf courses – all of which is highly relevant to our own local challenges.

Register to attend at www.meetup.com/WildCookham/events/250481077/ or by emailing lpeperell@f2s.com.  If you want the guided tour you can register at the Odney Club from 6pm: spaces are limited. The bar in the Sir Bernard Miller Centre will be open from 6pm to 7.30pm, so come and make an evening of it!

There will be no charge for attending the event but a donation to Wild Maidenhead and WildCookham funds will be welcome.