Notes from SOW talk on 29/1/25, by Rachel Harrison from Foxton and Amanda Davis from Shepreth – a big thank you to them both!

Rachel and Amanda have both set up recycling bins in their villages for hard-to-recycle items. Rachel began after picking up litter on her lockdown walks. Amanda used to take her recycling to Foxton, but when Sustainable Shepreth was set up she joined as recycling officer.

Lots of people want to recycle, but don’t know how or it’s too difficult, so are very pleased to have the easy-to-use recycling bins in their own villages. It also doesn’t make sense environmentally for lots of individuals to travel separately to distant recycling facilities.

Amanda highlighted the really useful South Cambs website which gives an A-Z guide of how to recycle a huge range of different items, both those that go in Council bins and those that can’t. Here is Rachel’s slide on recycling in Cambridgeshire.

What can be recycled?

South Cambridgeshire blue bins take more types of waste than in many parts of the country (so we can often ignore black “Don’t recycle” labels.) Any plastic that scrunches then springs back can go in the blue bin. (Not composite plastic/foil like crisp packets.)

Big supermarkets [and the Cottenham Co-op] take soft plastics that can’t go in the blue bin, such as crisp packets and cat food pouches. But not everyone can get to such a shop regularly.

One problem is that small things fall through recycling machinery – that’s why they ask you to put bottle tops back onto bottles. And dirty recycling contaminates the rest and makes it lower-value or impossible to recycle – that’s why you should rinse everything first.

Things are changing all the time – eg. food packaging changes to be more recyclable.

SCDC is soon to send its recycling, currently sorted at Waterbeach, to north London (not Dublin as advertised) where 5% more different things can be recycled, justifying the extra mileage, according to Jon Crisp the Recycling Officer.

Milton Recycling Centre is expanding the range of things it can take (eg now CDs and coffee pods.) But will be closed for refurb for 9 months from autumn 2025.

But the main message is Reduce then Reuse (then Repair) and only then Recycle – because it’s not easy and sometimes not possible to recycle (eg when soft plastics are sometimes incinerated.)

Terracycle

This is an organisation which links manufacturers with recycling facilities, and gets manufacturers to sponsor schemes for hard-to-recycle products (often composites eg plastic and foil.) More details on how products are recycled are on their website, and part of Terracycle’s work is to pressurise manufacturers to improve recyclability.

You can sign up on their website to be a public collection point. Terracycle collect for free so it’s quite easy to send off but you do have to have a minimum weight. (Terracycle also market their Zero Waste boxes which you do have to pay for, but that’s different.)

You are awarded points if you collect a sufficient quantity (eg 3kg – that’s a LOT of wrappers) which can be converted into money for charity. Rachel has raised £100 for Foxton Pre-school.

Schemes do change and close which means that you may no longer be able to collect something – eg in Foxton, pens and toothbrushes were collected but both of these have recently closed.

A collection point may not be within five miles of another of the same type, which can mean a long car journey for people. But not the way Rachel and Amanda have set it up – people in Foxton and Shepreth can put items in their village bins. (See below.)

Setting up the scheme

Here’s Rachel’s summary of the guiding principles, what they did and how, and lessons learned.

Identifying/locating the bins

The Foxton bins, identified by flowery stickers, are sited in the car park between the school and village hall, where many people walk by.

Rachel put together a project plan and presented to the Parish Council. She told them she would measure success and report back. She bought the (half-size) bins (the Council had run out of spare bins) but the PC paid for the fixing bracket.

The Shepreth bins are red and also in the middle of the village, behind the village hall.

Promoting it

Both when the scheme started and throughout, to keep interest up and to tell people about changes (in what you can recycle.)

Rachel has done three mailshots through all Foxton letterboxes, and posts on facebook every time there’s a change or she learns something new. Plus posters, and a regular advert in the parish magazine.

Amanda put together a stand for the recent Shepreth Eco Fair demonstrating what you could recycle in blue bins and Shepreth red bins, and Rachel has done engagement events at the primary school.

Work involved

Strongly recommend not doing it on your own – both Rachel and Amanda are currently one-man-bands, although Rachel had a helper during lockdown.

You do need storage space – Rachel uses her spare bedroom!

Every week they empty the bins into black bin bags and sort them (Rachel takes several bags to the bin and sorts on the spot.)

They are often caught out when schemes change and they are left with a heap of stuff they can no longer send off for recycling.

Sometimes people mistakenly or deliberately put litter in the village bins – a cup of coffee, half-eaten takeaways – that means sorting through and cleaning the contents of the entire bin. Rachel says she gets cross, but it’s better than those things littering the countryside!

Also often get things in the red bins/flowery bins that can go in the normal blue bin.

Hub and spoke

Rachel and Amanda operate on a hub and spoke model. They let neighbouring villages know about their schemes, and (largely) each has signed up with Terracycle for different items so they swap bags of recycling.

Networking is very important – with different villages and also with groups within the village.

Blister packs – a problem

They were particularly keen to collect medicine blister packs and had a phenomenal response (in Foxton the volunteers who deliver medicines to older people were recruited to pick up the empties.) But Terracycle only allows pharmacies to be collection points for blister packs (because they can safely dispose of any tablets left in them, and Superdrug in town takes them. However they only have a small bin and turned away the sackfuls from Foxton. So very sadly these can no longer be collected in the village schemes. Rachel suggested writing to MPs and putting pressure on the drugs manufacturers (some of them local) to provide more recycling facilities.

Recycling other specific things

There were lots of questions/discussion about specific items…

• Toothpaste (or similar) tubes – many of these can now be recycled in the blue bin (wash first) – cut in half ad if no foil lining they can go in blue bin. (Look out for HDPE 2 recycling logo.)
• Emily and Bee mentioned deposits on bottles – this is something which may come back in the future.
• Households (rather than village schemes) can send off Gillette razors in an envelope.
• Bread bags – an example of something which has the “Can’t be recycled” logo on it but we can put in our blue bins.
• Pringles – new pringle packets can now be recycled normally.
• Cereal packet inner bags – can go in blue bin.
• Blue paper towel roll – if put in with paper it contaminates it.
• Bottle tops – composite metal/plastic ones can’t be recycled. The ones you lever off with a bottle opener can’t be recycled in blue bins because they are too small. James collects his up and takes to the Milton Recycling Centre metal bank.
• Contact lenses and containers – can be recycled through Terracycle.
• Coffee cups – apart from a few places (Costa) these can’t be recycled – they say compostable but our green bins can’t take them as they compost too slowly. Solution is a reusable coffee cup.
• Bubble wrap – can go in the blue bin but Emmaus also glad of it for their online sales.
• Textiles such as old pillows – can take to Dunelm.

Purses and raised beds

Rachel showed up purses she has made from plastic packaging! And Amanda is collecting packaging-filled plastic bottles to make raised beds with.

What next?

The audience included people from Landbeach, Northstowe and Rampton, and we agreed to keep in touch and see if we could organise something reciprocal just as Amanda and Rachel have done in their area.

SOW has some grey boxes and permission to put them by the church. However the items we were thinking of recycling – toothbrushes and pens – have just been discontinued by Terracycle, so need to discuss other possibilities.

Saturday 8th February, 11am – 2pm, Oakington Pavilion

Don’t miss Oakington & Westwick’s second annual Repair Cafe!

You can bring broken bikes and blunt blades, torn T-shirts and laggardly laptops, ailing appliances and malfunctioning machines … we will fit in as many repairs as we can!

Or just pop down to enjoy lunch or cake and the community ambience!

All the details about the Repair Cafe are here.

A big thank you to our volunteer repairers and all the cafe and front-of-house helpers.

Solar Farm

Note that Friday 17 Jan – deadline for commenting on the proposed solar farm beside the airfield road. https://wilsonsroadsolarfarm.co.uk/

Orchard Wassail

Blue Barrel and OWN will again be running the popular Orchard Wassail community event, 4–6pm on Saturday 25 January 2025. Come down to the Jordans’ orchard on Arcadia Gardens for a fun traditional family celebration to encourage the apple trees to deliver a healthy harvest in the year ahead.

Dress warmly, bring a torch and something to make a lot of noise. Free entry, but donations welcome to cover costs. A welcome cup of free mulled cider on entrance and cash bar for further drinks. Mulled juice and a complimentary cup of warm soup will also be available.

Next SOW meeting

Wednesday 29 Jan – How to Recycle Eveything?! SOW meeting, 7:30pm at the Church Hall. Amanda and Rachel from Shepreth and Foxton will be explaining their villages’ terracycle schemes and giving us tips for starting ours. 

Repair Cafe

The next annual Oakington Repair Cafe will be held at the pavilion on Saturday 8th February, 11am – 2pm. More details on https://sustainableow.co.uk/repair-cafe/ including how to book a repair – it’s recommended to book repairs in advance to ensure they will be seen. Even if you aren’t bringing something to be repaired, you are very welcome to come to the cafe and enjoy lunch, cakes and the atmosphere!

We do need some help with:

• Baking cakes and vegetarian savouries for the cafe
• Serving, clearing tables and washing up at the cafe
• Helping on the front desk to register repairees
• Being a ‘runner’ to help communication between the front desk and the repairers

Please do get in touch if you bake in advance or help on the day: email
oakingtonrepaircafe@gmail.com or go to: https://forms.gle/gqtjRVL7d5io58k29.

Photos from our meeting on 27th November, which was partly prepared and led by the Eco Kids!

Wednesday 27th November, 7:30pm at the Church Hall in Oakington

Tips, ideas and hands-on activities for celebrating Christmas without hurting the planet. Come along, be inspired and share your own suggestions!

Free (but a £1 donation towards room rent appreciated)

Also coming up…

• Saturday 25 January – Orchard Wassail at the Jordans’ orchard on Arcadia Garden
• Saturday 8 February – Repair Cafe, Pavilion, Oakington, 11am – 2pm

Vegetarian Community Meal

We had a lovely evening with delicious food at our shared supper in October!

Wednesday 23rd October (NOTE not the last week of the month this time), 7pm (NOTE earlier time) at the Church Hall (as usual!)

We look forward to a relaxed evening together with a chance to chat about sustainability and other things as well!

If you can, please fill in the RSVP form to let us know how many are coming and very roughly what you might bring (just so we can do something about it if everyone plans to bring dessert!) If you are short of time then don’t feel you have to produce something amazing and home-made, we’d rather have you there than put you off coming. Just no meat or fish please.

There’ll be plates and cutlery for everyone but there isn’t a cooker in the servery so hot dishes will need to be brought while still warm.

Also coming up…

Sunday 20 October – Oakington Eco-Home tours. Paul and Chris will be running special tours for SOW members of their home which is a case study in this year’s Eco Homes. Contact sustainableow@gmail.com if you would like to see first-hand how a 1960s terraced house can be retrofitted to a high standard.
(See the Open Eco Homes website for all public tours and talks.)

Saturday 26 October – community apple pressing days with Blue Barrel Cider. At the old stables on the High Street 12–4pm. The event on 12th was very enjoyable and sociable despite rainy weather, so do come to round two at at the end of the month.

Wednesday 27 November – SOW meeting: How to Have a Sustainable Christmas.

18 attended, apologies from 4.

Events Coming Up

• 12 and 26 October – community apple pressing days with Blue Barrel Cider. At the old stables on the High Street 12–4pm. All welcome to this popular, family-friendly event – help wash and crush the apples, enjoy free refreshments, buy local cider. You can also help pick the apples at the Jordans’ orchard on Arcadia Gardens 10–12 noon on each of the two Saturdays.
  
• Oakington Eco-Home tours. Paul and Chris will be running special tours for SOW members of their home which is a case study in this year’s Eco Homes. Members should contact SOW for more information. Limited places, booking essential. A great opportunity to see first-hand how a 1960s terraced house can be retrofitted to a high standard. See the Open Eco Homes website for all public tours and talks.
  
• Wednesday 23 October (note NOT last Wednesday in the month), 7pm (note earlier time!) at the Church Hall. The long-planned Vegetarian Community Meal. Bring and share. It would be helpful to know numbers, so will send round an RSVP form.
  
• Wednesday 27 November – SOW meeting: How to Have a Sustainable Christmas.
  
• And in Histon: 7 October: Conversations about Gentle Travel, 2^nd December: Conversations about a Greener Christmas, 2^nd November: Swish (clothes swap) event. More details to come.

Notices

These included Nature Recovery project update, a discussion about some land under threat of development in Oakington which many members would like to see acquired for nature, a report from the Cambridge Carbon Footprint AGM and from Histon and Parents for Future. Please contact SOW for more information on any of these. The green library was open for loans!

Talk by Water Sensitive Cambridge

Notes are available here.

Notes from a Talk by Water Sensitive Cambridge, at the SOW meeting on 25 September 2024

We welcomed Clara and Yair who explained that WSC is a a not-for-profit social enterprise founded a year ago by people concerned and passionate about turning surface water flooding hazards into assets.

The problems

Climate change is bringing both increasingly heavy rainfalls and increasing drought. More building makes the situation worse because of more hard surfaces. The problems are pollution and property damage by flooding.

There are two kinds of system for rain run-off (on roads etc.) In combined systems sewage is mixed with rainfall, which dilutes the sewage but means that in very heavy rain treatment plants get overwhelmed, and overflow by design into rivers.

The other system takes run-off and releases it directly into rivers – also not good because road run-off contains oils, micro-plastics, bits of rubber, rubbish and other pollutants including forever chemicals which damage fish and invertebrates. Road run-off above a certain amount is supposed to be filtered but hardly ever is.

Even where more sustainable solutions are applied large-scale, there is a worry that attenuation ponds have not been maintained. Eg the ones along the M25 are now contaminated.

Ironically we also have a water scarcity problem. When water is drained away it isn’t supporting trees and life in the soil. We need to find ways of welcoming water, for plants and to fill the aquifer.

Solutions

Pressure is being put onto water companies to invest in preventing sewage spills. However just putting in bigger pipes does not help for long – with climate-change rainfall, any size pipe will eventually be overwhelmed – and solves flooding problems only. Applying water sensitive principles, like putting stormwater into the ground instead of the drain, also gives cleaner rivers, nicer neighbourhoods and builds resilience to changing rainfall patterns.

The government is hopefully, belatedly, passing a law to demand sustainable drainage for any new development, but there is no requirement for retrofit, which costs a lot. So where do we start? With very local, simple solutions. Little interventions can nudge the bigger system and can make a big difference locally.

Principles

• Put rain back into the ground as close as possible to where it falls
• Get rid of hard surfaces, let water in
• Lower the curve (like in Covid) – slow the flow – fill up butts and rain gardens. This is the catchment approach – on the large-scale, allow fields to flood before a village floods
• Want water to go into soil and stay there, preventing later drought

Rain gardens

Earlier this year WSC did a pilot project in Fallowfield, Cambridge, a junction which is under water for half a day after very heavy rain. This was low cost, low effort – the kerb was cut in three places and the verge dug. Compost-rich soil was put into the holes, and neighbours helped plant perennials (which have bigger root systems and can survive drought) and sow wild flowers. Water fills up one pool at a time then runs on to fill the next. Compost makes the soil more absorbent :the soil’s capacity to hold moisture goes up exponentially with the amount of organic matter. Plant root systems bring micro-organisms which break down pollutants so the water is cleaner when it enters the water table.

It has worked well – after an hour or two there is now no standing water – and there has been a really good reaction from neighbours.

Rain planters

These are essentially rain gardens in a box. Lots of water enters but it only slowly drains away. The boxes are made (from recycled materials) by the brilliant Phoenix Trust in Milton. You can buy these from WSC for around £400 (which also supports Phoenix), a bit more if delivered and filled, or you can make them yourself. It’s a competitive price because WSC are not-for-profit and want to gather data on their use. They can be connected to water butts.

https://www.watersencam.co.uk/projects/slowflow-rain-planters

Water butts

If the purpose is to “lower the curve” (stop sewers getting overwhelmed and causing flooding and sewage spills) empty them before the storm comes. The water then gets held back by the water butt, and doesn’t just go in the overflow and drain.

To do this, turn on your tap so it dribbles put slowly, You can use a piece of old gutter to direct the water from the tap into somewhere useful in your garden.

How and where to implement nature-based solutions

You need to know the area to know where the problems are. They can be very localised – eg a puddle which prevents people from crossing a road. Look for easy ways. You can do what you want on your own property. Cutting into the kerb needs Highways approval!

In Oakington & Westwick

We had a good discussion, including:

• Celine described how in Meadow Farm Close they got rid of the concrete round the foot of the tree, and all the neighbours added plants.
• David explained that when Bar Hill was built in the late 60s, attenuation ponds were included but have not been maintained so we get surface water run-off from there.
• There are 19 wells in our village including 4 in the vicarage!
• Westwick has septic tanks instead of mains drainage. They can be a big source of river pollution, but if you’re not seeing water come out the soakaway is probably working OK.
• 2014 floods – 53 houses had to have property-level protection but the flood overwhelmed them (or happened before training.) In some houses water came up through the floor anyway.
• Trees are good but what to do if their roots are affecting pipes? If a tree has enough water that directs the roots down, and you can control the extent of roots by controlling the size of the canopy.
• Asked about the moving of the sewage plant in Cambridge, Clara explained it’s motivated by releasing building land; it now has the capacity to serve the projected growth in the area.
• The run-off from our community buildings (eg. pavilion) goes straight into drainage pipes, and Rachel suggested looking into more nature-based solutions for these. David said he’d put it on the Parish Council agenda.
• David explained the PC has access to drainage system plans and that a rolling programme of maintenance has been established.
• Grants are available for village projects.

7:30pm, at the Church Hall, High Street, Oakington

We look forward to hearing from members of Water Sensitive Cambridge about their work in our area of scarce water and denuded habitats. Oakington & Westwick have suffered from flooding in the past, and Water Sensitive Cambridge have ideas about how to make best use of the precious resource of water including when there is too much of it!

Also coming up

• Apple Pressing. 12-4pm Saturday 12 and Saturday 26 October. Blue Barrel Cider will be opening up their yard at the old stables on the High Street. All welcome to join in washing, crushing and pressing the locally grown apples. There will be free refreshments available at this family favourite event, along with the chance for adults to buy delicious local cider. If you really want to muck in and get the full experience, you’re welcome to come to the Jordans’ orchard on Arcadia Gardens to pick the apples in the morning 10-12 noon on each of the two Saturdays.
• Wednesday 23 October – Bring and Share community vegetarian meal, church hall at 7pm – note earlier time. Please join the meal, bringing a food contribution to share (savoury or sweet, but no meat/fish please). If you have any home-grown veg left, then rustle up a stew and bring it along! Feel free to bring something to drink as well, and a minimal cash contribution towards rental of the venue will be appreciated.
• Wednesday 27 November – “How to have an Eco-Christmas”. 7:30pm at the church hall. Crafts and ideas for making the festive season more sustainable

Cambridge Open Eco Homes

See the Cambridge Carbon Footprint website to book up on in-person and online tours of local eco builds and retrofits and talks and workshops by experts. One of the eco homes is very local!!

Led by John Terry, 31 July. Here are John’s notes for any who missed the walk or who would like a recap!

1. Introduction at Church Hall. You may be aware that the UK Government produce a ‘State of Nature‘ report every few years and the most recent describes a significant reduction in species abundance ( 41% ) and one of the main reasons is intensive agriculture. Over 70% of the UK if farmed or forested so the industry is significant in land use but only employs 300,000 workers including farmers. Most of the land we plan to walk on is farmed by Peter Freeman, who rents the land from the County Council. He obviously farms to sustain a living for his family, he is interested in wildlife and is also influenced by the County Estates, who are keen that their tenants farm in a sustainable way. Farming is a way of life but also a business, and the Government also grant aid sustainable approaches. The very wet winter and spring has meant that some fields were not cropped this year, which of course will not help economic performance.

2. Ridge and Furrow land used for sheep grazing. Ridge and Furrow was used in the middle ages especially in the north and especially on heavy soil as part of the open field or strip system. Each strip was farmed by one family and the aim was to have a ridge which was well drained in wet conditions and a furrow which stayed moist in dry conditions. It was created by ploughing one way so the ridge built up over years. It was said that wheat did well in the furrow and peas and dredge (spring barley and oats) grew well in the ridge, i.e. a sort of insurance scheme. Much of ridge and furrow disappeared with the enclosures, and was ploughed out especially during the second World War but where the land was laid down to grass, it was sometimes retained, as here and at Westwick.

3. The concrete bridge carries water from Girton and Oakington, and from Histon a few yards downstream on its way to Rampton, Denver and beyond. This is where water vole was recorded some ten years ago and near to where Kate Spink spotted them this spring. As she explained in the recent Journal article, Water voles are classified as endangered, mainly because of heavy predation by American mink.

4. Mansell Wood. This wood was planted in 1990 by Cambridgeshire County Estates with oak, wild cherry, hazel and hawthorn being the main species. The one and a half- acre wood was thinned/managed about 10 years later but is probably due further thinning because of the lack of light reaching the ground, reducing growth at ground level.

5. A wooden bridge takes us over the Histon Brook. This is buffered by a wide grass margin to keep fertilizer and pesticides out of the water. Unfortunately, many water courses are not well buffered and as a result they can be polluted by nitrates, phosphates and pesticides. The water companies are not the only polluters. Meadowsweet grows well here where the soil is damp.

6. The arable fields. Many arable fields today are still wildlife deserts. They are sprayed with weedkillers, fungicides and insecticides to keep crop pests at bay to allow crops to grow close to their potential. Weedkillers kill weeds, some of which are important sources of food for birds and small mammals. Fungicides are relatively harmless but if they drift to neighbouring trees, they can damage lichens (fungus/bacteria). Fertilisers encourage dense crops and high yields. There is growing evidence that artificial fertilisers and pesticides do harm to soil invertebrates and fungi. All these imputs are very expensive so farmers use them more sparingly and in a very targeted way. In the fifties, many farms, especially smaller holdings were mixed farms with both arable and grass with livestock and arable crops followed well manured grass. Consultants the started to advise a more specialized approach with arable holdings tending to be in the drier east and more livestock specialization occurring in the wetter west. Arable farmers tended to grow winter sown crops, especially wheat which tended to be more profitable because they yield more, and a big national increase in winter crops over the last three decades has reduced numbers of some farmland birds, especially corn bunting, tree sparrow and linnet, all seed eaters. Peter Freeman grows a mix of winter and spring sown crops This is better for wildlife and allows a spread of workload. Skylark cannot easily nest in winter crops because they are too tall and dense by May, so prefer spring crops. Spring crops also allow overwintered stubble from the previous year, where a number of birds and small mammals benefit from weeds, seeds and cover. Peter grows winter wheat, spring barley and spring beans as well as special crops for birds. He also grows grass for cattle and sheep, so he continues as a mixed farmer.

7. The headlands around these fields are composed of grass margins and hedges. Given the fact that arable fields tend to discourage wildlife, these are vital for biodiversity. The tussocky grass and wild flowers in these margins encourage invertebrates such as spiders and beetles (ground and rove beetles), which in turn encourage birds to feed. These areas are also ideal for the breeding of grey partridge, yellow hammers and whitethroats. The plants in this headland area include vetch, cranesbill, musk mallow and knapweed. Where small mammals nest and live in grass margins, barn owls will hunt. Brown hares graze cereal leaves during the spring and summer, but when the crop is close to harvest, hares depend on grass in the field margins. Beetles, spiders and hoverflies in grass margins and beetle banks across fields predate aphid so farmers have reduced insecticide use in the last two decades.

8. The hedge. Hedges were largely developed in the 17th and 18th Centuries, when strip farming and common land were replaced by Enclosures (voted in by landowners who held parliamentary power in the Lords). Hedges were designed to mark boundaries of land ownership and to keep livestock in. Additionally, they are now recognized as important wildlife habitats and corridors, they can assist in flood protection and help store carbon. Wildlife have three key requirements: areas which offer protection from predators and weather, for feeding and for reproduction. Hedgerows provide all three. Hedgerows can also supply timber for man for firewood, thatching spurs and hurdles. This hedge contains a wide range of species including hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, wayfaring tree, spindle, privet wild rose, Guelder rose and unusually laburnum. The more species, the wider range of wildlife is encouraged. Hedge plants provide flowers, berries and fruit, so attract birds, small mammals, butterflies and moths as well as many other invertebrates. Caterpillars attract birds and wasps; birds and small mammals nest in hedges, and the grassy areas at the hedge base are important nesting places birds. Hedgerow cutting should not endanger nesting birds, so should be avoided between March and October.

9. Hedgerow trees can add some additional habitat. Chaffinch may nest in hedgerow trees but for most, these areas do not provide much protection from the weather until the trees are quite mature. Some predators, like owls and magpies, may perch in these trees to search for prey. In this hedge, there are some elms, killed by Dutch elm disease. Young elms can survive until the bark is rough enough to attract the beetles which carry the fungus.

10. Centenary Wood. This is a community wood planted by local people from Histon, Girton and Oakington, in 2010 to commemorate the centenary of Cambridgeshire Estates. It was planted into grassland so there was no colonization of plants and animals from previous older woodland. It contains oak, wild-rose, alder, dogwood, wild privet, hazel, hawthorn, wild cherry and field maple. There is a ride through the wood to allow access and a glade to allow light in to encourage wild flowers, invertebrates, birds and mammals. The ride meanders to avoid creating a wind tunnel.

11. From Mansell Wood to the community Orchard is an avenue of field maple trees. The ground cover includes Lords and Ladies (Arum lily) a plant which captures its pollinators (midges) with a dilute sugar solution and holds them within its petals for some hours. To the right is the old port where limestone stones for St. Andrew’ Church were unloaded after their river trip from Barnock, near Peterborough.

12. Community Orchard. Planted in two periods (2012 and 2014) with a mix of traditional varieties of fruit trees including apples, pears, cherries, plums and gages. In one half the grass is cut regularly and in the other, is cut at the end of the year. The orchard is likely to become better for wildlife as it gets older, and because it is not sprayed, it already attracts invertebrates and other wildlife. The 5 habitats that orchards provide are: well-spaced trees: rotting timber with lichens, moss and nest holes; unimproved grassland; pollen and nectar for pollinators; and hedges.

Appendix 1. Sustainable Farming Initiative. This new Government Scheme has been launched, enabling farmers to be paid for good soil management, habitat creation and management and crops to help wildlife. Peter Freeman is involved in some of these options, plus the older Countryside Stewardship. Grants are also available for Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery.