Thank you to everyone who came to the Film Night, which was a joint event with Watlington Environment Group, Wild Oxfordshire, and Watlington Climate Action Group.
We showed three films, the first was a five-minute film about the scything that was done on the Marlbrook Meadow in the Autumn. This scything was necessary in order to allow the wildflowers to be able to grow back this summer. Nigel Adams, who has also scythed the wild meadow area on King Charles' estate at Highgrove, came to show project leaders Andrea Brewer and Josh Robinson how to do this traditional skill.
The meadow area will be allowed to grow up again this Summer and we are looking forward to people being able to enjoy the mown paths and seating area, surrounded by a corner of nature with wildflowers and pollinators. If you would like to get involved with this project please get in touch!
The other two films were commissioned by Wild Oxfordshire. "Curlew River" was about the amazing work being done to help save the Curlew. I absolutely loved working on this film, I learned so much and despite the huge challenges being faced it is extremely encouraging to see the collaboration that's going on, and also the enthusiasm which comes across from the people involved is inspiring. Thank you to David Wilding, the RSPB Otmoor Reserve Manager who attended and answered questions with so much knowledge.
Finally "Beneath The Surface" was about the River Evenlode which is a river on the other side of Oxfordshire. It's in beautiful countryside, and should be absolutely stunning, but instead it snakes through the countryside, murky, brown and so badly polluted it is advised not to swim in it.
We all know by now the problems of river pollution being faced by rivers across the country and to me the Evenlode really encapsulates just how bad that situation has got. But again, we have an amazing collaboration of organisations, which are taking action. The thing I found absolutely fascinating working on this film is what is happening behind the scenes on private land to improve the water quality in the river. We were fortunate to have Ann Berkeley, the Evenlode Catchment Partnership Co-ordinator attending so again we were well supported with experts for questions at the end.
If you would like to watch the films, they are both available to view via these links:
"Curlew River" or "Beneath The Surface".
They are also up for the MBP Better World Film Awards - to vote for either of these films you can go to www.geographical.co.uk and click on "Better World Film Awards", where you can select the film you would like to vote for. Voting ends on February 26th - vote soon!