An Evening of Poetry with Geoffrey Palmer

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust's reserve at Warburg was the perfect setting on a warm sunny evening as guests listened to the Butterflies actor Geoffrey Palmer read poetry and prose in tribute to the Chilterns countryside. The evening was organised by BBOWT to promote and celebrate the Trust's Chilterns Chalk Grassland project which, with assistance of a grant from WREN's Biodiversity Action Fund, will restore 12 chalk grassland sites to their full glory.

Chalk grassland has been described as the European equivalent of tropical rainforest because of the diversity of its plants and also its rarity. Over 80% of the UK's chalk grassland has been lost in the past 60 years with the loss of associated species, such as chalk grassland butterflies, as a result. The Chilterns are home to some of the finest chalk grassland in the country and WREN is delighted to be helping BBOWT to preserve it.

The Trust also used the evening as an opportunity to show off its newly acquired Alpine Tractor, funded by WREN, which it will use to manage the sloping grassland and woodland glades characteristic to the Chilterns.

Guests were given guided tours of some of the highlights of the Warburg reserve and Trust staff were able to explain how the project would help them manage and further improve this delightful and striking reserve.

Click here to read more about the project