🎉 Just a week after launching our appeal, we’re delighted to have passed the £100,000 milestone to make Hamgreen Wood our next nature reserve! Thank you to the huge generosity of our members and supporters who care deeply about protecting wildlife across our three counties 🙌

Great appeal here to protect a fantastic ancient woodland in Buckinghamshire. I've just walked through this landscape – the ancient royal hunting forest of Bernwood is being bisected by HS2 – and it is a magical area. Good luck @bbowt.bsky.social! www.bbowt.org.uk/news/wildlif...

🌳 "Recovering from cancer treatment and with an extended period of sick leave stretching ahead of her, Philippa was absorbed into the Finemere team. Like many of us, she discovered a quiet refuge amongst the trees." 👉 Read the latest blog from Finemere Wood: buff.ly/zYAP0tZ

🥳 It's now only a few weeks until the 2025 BBOWT Celebration! As well as celebrating our Volunteer Awards, and finding out which nature photo has been crowned the winner of this year's competition, it's also a fantastic chance to hear from BBOWT staff about three key areas of our work:

Volunteer warden Phil Townsend found some impressive horse mushrooms at Bernwood Meadows! The second picture includes a size-11 boot for scale 🥾

🦇 Did you know, unlike many other bats, Bechstein’s bats use woodland almost exclusively for feeding and roosting? Hamgreen Wood is one of only a few roosting sites in the region - so it’s central to the survival of the species here. 👉 Please support our appeal: bbowt.org.uk/hamgreen

🌍💚 The climate and nature crises are two sides of the same coin — we can’t solve one without the other. Repealing the Climate Change Act wouldn’t just be a setback, it would be a failure — a signal that we’re willing to accept a future where wildlife and communities continue to suffer.

A win for Nature! This week a ban on burning deep peat was extended to an area of 676,268 ha up from 222,000 ha. But… still more is needed to end extraction of peat for horticulture. Peat in bags means less in bogs. Read more 👉 www.wildlifetrusts.org/ban-sale-peat

Have you ever seen a cuter sight than this? 🥹 Our ecology team were thrilled to find three dormice at Moor Copse as they monitored the nest boxes. While we've previously spotted their signs, this is the first time they had been seen in person for around a decade!

⚠️ Due to staff shortages, The Nature Discovery Centre visitor centre will be closed on: Tue 7 October Wed 8 October Sat 11 October Sun 12 October The car parks and reserve will be accessible as usual, and the Bean & Blend coffee van will be onsite Tue 7, Wed 8 and Sat 11.

👂 What did you say? It's October? It must be time for mushroom spotting! 🍄 Click below to discover our favourite fungi to find at BBOWT reserves this month! 👉 buff.ly/nluzwWW

🌩️ Dark clouds are gathering over Liverpool for the party conference... but what is this great evil that threatens the land? www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfUI...

🌳 We have been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make Hamgreen Wood our next nature reserve. Will you help us to protect this special site for generations to come? 👉 Please support our appeal by visiting bbowt.org.uk/hamgreen youtu.be/cEmQWimBOu4

🤔 Can you name these two different types of gall spotted at Whitecross Green Wood? 👉 Discover more about these fascinating growths: buff.ly/QrJBu43 📸 Phil Townsend

🌈 The volunteers who persist through the pouring rain get rewarded! ☀️ Our Oxon Midweek Team were treated to this beautiful view of a rainbow as they cut low sprawling bramble at the top of Chinnor Hill to maintain the open chalk grassland. 📸 Elene Walton

Our ponies do an important job of grazing the fen at Parsonage Moor to ensure that the vegetation is kept low, improving the floral diversity on site 🌼 This one may have bitten off more than it could chew as it wandered into the neighbouring reedbed! 📸 Colin Williams

🍂 Welcome to autumn! 🍂 For each gift it takes, it returns in equal measure. 🍄 Lush green canopies are replaced with rich tapestries of gold. Swallows depart, sending fieldfares and redwings in their place. Flowers fade while fungi fruits in all its forms. We hope you enjoy this special season!

🐝 Brush cutters beware! Wasps nest among the chalk grassland at Aston Clinton Ragpits every year - and occasionally in the surrounding woodland. They're particularly active around September and can be seen coming and going from their underground nest! 📸 Phil Townsend

At this time of year you may see young great crested grebes riding on their parents' backs, but this one might be getting a bit big to hitch a lift!

📋 We delivered a hedge surveying workshop with a fantastic group of volunteers alongside Wild Oxfordshire as part of our RBOR partnership project! A classroom session covered how to manage a hedgerow and survey its condition, followed by putting into practice what we'd learned at Meadow Farm🐦

This Sunday at College Lake nature reserve www.bbowt.org.uk/nature-reser...

🍂 As a special autumnal treat, join the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust for half the normal price! Sign up before 30 September to redeem this offer 👉 buff.ly/jMsfoz8

⚠️ The section of the Ridgeway between Princes Risborough and Wendover will be closed to all traffic from 16:00 on Tuesday 17 September until 18:00 on Wednesday 18 September. Please be aware that this will affect access to our Bacombe Hill and Grangelands nature reserves.

A fun event for all the family! 🍎 Come and walk around the apple orchards of Woolley Firs, taste the many different apple varieties and make your own apple juice. Join us on Saturday 20 September, 10.30am-3pm, by booking a free spot here:

🐝 With their golden and crimson livery, hornets are beautiful insects. They also have painful stings and can defend themselves if threatened but, like most animals, they are more wary of humans than we are of them. 📸 Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography

🌿 Volunteer with us at Warburg Nature Reserve! 🌿 Help our Reserves Team keep the workshop running smoothly – from organising tools to maintaining equipment. Play your part in caring for this beautiful reserve! 💚 👉 www.bbowt.org.uk/volunteering...

🚜 Rotorvating has begun at Gallows Bridge Farm! Rotorvating wet features such as scrapes and pool edges creates areas of bare, wet mud for breeding waders to feed on in the spring. We rotorvate features on rotation so that vegetation is left for cover each year 🌱 📸 Chloe Bradford

⚠️ Today the House of Lords is debating amendments to the Planning & Infrastructure Bill, which as it stands weakens environmental protections. A key amendment we need to see is the safeguarding of the mitigation hierarchy. Not sure what we're talking about? Let Phil explain 👇

❌ We've asked councillors to sign a letter calling on UK Gov to reconsider Part 3 of its P&I Bill which threatens vital wildlife protections. Please ask your councillor to sign the letter by 16 Sept. 👉 Contact your councillor: buff.ly/kTzeJoC 👉 They can sign the letter here: buff.ly/GAd5xhl

🐝 You may remember we shared a video of bumblebees ventilating their nest by collectively fanning air through the entrance with their wings. Rachel Powell has recently spotted hornets displaying the same behaviour - that's certainly one way to cool your home!

🍒 The hot, dry weather this summer has seen many fruits ripening early, and in the past month the hedgerows at our reserves have exploded with blackberries, rowan berries, rose-hips, elderberries and sloes. 📸 Margaret Holland

Remember A Charity Week begins today – an opportunity to consider leaving a gift to charity in your will, once loved ones are looked after. For more information about gifts in wills, visit 👉 bbowt.org.uk/gifts-in-wills

🥳 We're excited to invite you to our 2025 Celebration on 25 October, where we will hear from BBOWT staff about what we've achieved for nature thanks to our members and supporters, as well as unveiling the winners of our photography competition and volunteer awards. Book your place 👉 buff.ly/bCNKrju

🍂 As the year fades to autumn, migrant birds prepare for their journeys south, while many invertebrates soak up the last of the summer sun. Discover our top 10 wildlife highlights for September 👇

👀 That feeling when you're in a wildlife hide and sense that something might be watching you back... 📸 Chloe Bradford, taken at Gallows Bridge Farm

🍄 Join the Bucks Fungus Group to discover more about the fascinating world of fungi and slime moulds on 4 October at College Lake! We have activities planned throughout the day as well as a bookable guided walk of College Lake’s fungi. Find out more 👉 buff.ly/FZXDQAp 📸 Barry Webb FRPS

📣 Voting for the People's Choice Awards in our Photo Competition is now OPEN! 👉 buff.ly/dDQ44EH Winners will be announced at our 2025 BBOWT Celebration on Saturday 25 October, alongside the other category winners and our volunteer awards. Register your place: buff.ly/Hkw11Ar

🔍 The Nature Tots had a close encounter with a cricket at our recent session! 🦗 Browse our upcoming family events below 👇 buff.ly/Cm22gf3

💙🧡 Henry Manisty captured a kingfisher with its fresh catch on his trail camera at Waterstock Local Wildlife Site! Did you know that kingfishers always eat their prey head-first?

🗣️ Photo competition closes THIS SUNDAY! Click below to submit your snaps 👇

☀️ "Finemere Wood is dry and parched under the relentless sun, yet life thrives here." Read Charlotte Karmali's latest 'Ramblings from Finemere Wood' 👇 buff.ly/cCxHNTi

🌿 The Great Big Nature Survey has returned! 🐦 Whether you're a wildlife whizz, a weekend wanderer, or just love a good view - we want to hear from you! Take the survey 👇

🐝 Wasps may not have the best reputation, but they're actually important pollinators! This black-and-yellow beauty was seen playing its part to pollinate a violet helleborine at Warburg Nature Reserve. 📸 Phil Townsend

A rare fly on a rare plant at BBOWT's Parsonage Moor - Fen Mantis Fly (Ochthera manicata) on Fen Pondweed (Potamogeton coloratus) one of 1200 species featured in #FliesofBritainandIreland bit.ly/4dqQI8Z to be published this Autumn @tverc1.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @bbowt.bsky.social

Known for its bandit-like appearance, the polecat was once so persecuted it was on the brink of extinction in the UK. Thankfully, numbers are now increasing across parts of England, and Paul Jeffery spotted one pursued by young foxes on his trail camera at Wells Farm!

Ragged Meadow Brown,Small Heath and Small Copper among the butterflies @bbowt.bsky.social Whitecross Green Wood. Some rides half mowed leaving resources for inverts and signs of sensitive management all over Quest was for elusive Southern Migrant Hawker. Fun looking !

Our photo competition closes THIS SUNDAY. Why not use this extra day off to take your camera out for a wildlife wander! We're especially looking for photos of flowers and landscapes taken on our reserves - taken on a camera or mobile 🌄 Click here to enter 👇 buff.ly/Zju2Ef8 📸 Peter Smith

📣 We're looking for an Operations Manager who will lead in the delivery of an exceptional visitor experience at our busy centre in West Berkshire. Interested? Find out more below 👇 buff.ly/lIORG2i

❗Our photo competition closes in ONE WEEK❗ The weather is looking perfect this weekend, so why not take a camera or phone to one of our reserves and get snapping? 🤳 Click here to enter 👇 buff.ly/Zju2Ef8 📸 Matilda Larking, 2024 Highly Commended in Children's category

Our Chief Executive, Estelle Bailey MBE, was pleased to be joined by @laurakyrkesmith.bsky.social, MP for Aylesbury, at our flagship College Lake Nature Reserve.