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Biodiversity: the local response to a global crisis
With thanks to
Claire Serpell
(Updated 15 June 2018)
On Monday evening 11 June 2018, 90 people
from WildCookham and WildMaidenhead gathered at the Odney Club in Ferry
Lane to hear a talk about biodiversity by world-renowned expert,
Professor Nigel Stork.
Born in Cookham, Nigel has studied insect
biodiversity patterns in forests across Europe, the Americas, Africa,
Asia and Australia. He’s written more than 180 articles - his most
cited research is on tropical forest diversity and estimating the
magnitude of both global species richness and extinction rates. He
served on the UK National Biodiversity Committee and was a lead author
of the 1994 UK Biodiversity Action Plan before moving to Australia where
most recently he was Dean of Research for Sciences at Australia’s
Griffith University before retiring and being appointed Emeritus
Professor.
The evening began with a short tour of the
John Lewis Odney Club’s delightful 200 acre grounds, led by head
gardener Uel McGowan. Having worked there for over 30 years he had many
tales to tell. We learned about the pottery started in 1942 to provide
wartime jobs for the village - that building now houses the John Lewis
Heritage Centre. He told us how one very cold winter, after an extreme
freeze followed by a hasty thaw, the entire river bank collapsed into
the Lulle Brook. It was rebuilt using wooden posts and faggots - bundles
of sticks - to ensure the riverbank was accessible to wildlife. At that
time, water voles were still commonplace, Kenneth Grahame's very own
Ratty in the place that inspired the Wind in the Willows. Sadly the
water voles are no longer in residence, probably the victims of mink. As
we continued around the grounds, we admired the hay meadow, the
herbaceous border, the cricket pitch and the many ancient trees. At the
end of the walk Uel introduced us to the magnificent magnolia that
Stanley Spencer had painted in 1938. It was a fitting start to the
evening.
Back at the Bernard Miller Centre with its impressive green roof, Professor Stork took to the stage. He told us of his early career at the Natural History Museum, his favourite part of which is the insect collection that houses specimens collected by Darwin and no doubt, by Prof Stork himself. His fieldwork for the museum in Indonesia involved smoking insects out from the tops of the rainforest canopy. Most he let go alive but he did bring back a glass full of specimens for the museum to study. In that one glass there were 25,000 individual insects from 5000 different species!
On moving to Australia he studied the biodiversity of golf courses in comparison to local parks and gardens. Interestingly he found that the minimum number of bird species found on golf courses was always larger than the maximum number found in neighbouring parks and gardens. The same could also be said for bats. Given the current plans to build on Maidenhead Golf Club this is certainly a worrying statistic.
In the UK, he told us, there are about 60,000 different species of all types. 25,000 of them are insects and 17,000 are fungi. He then introduced us to Nigel's Action Plan.
1) Engage the community. Groups like WildCookham are invaluable. Get the message into the schools to inspire the next generation. Get businesses to pledge to do something - a green wall, a green roof, an area of meadow. Utilise the time of retirees to spread the word.
2) Learn about biodiversity. It's not just birds, plants and butterflies. Get out into meadows, marshes and woodland. Take note of seasonal variations, some species are only around for a few days each year.
3) Identify key habitats and ecosystems. In Cookham we're lucky enough to have meadows, marshes and woodland as well as a golf course, hedgerows, rivers and parks.
4) Protect veteran trees. Ancient trees are the home to vast numbers of critters and fungi. We must look after them. Also coppicing increases small bird populations.
5) It's more than just plants, birds and butterflies. The loss of wildflowers matches the decline in pollinators in the UK. Let's plant some wildflowers!
6) Identify heritage crops. There are certainly some ancient fruit trees around Cookham. These must be cherished, many are rare and hence the other lifeforms they support are also rare.
It was an enormous privilege and pleasure
to have such an inspiring, articulate, eminent expert speak to us. I
hope we can implement Nigel's Action Plan and help preserve and even
improve Cookham's biodiversity for future generations.
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