| Hundreds of local conservation activists will meet up in West Berkshire next month for a massive push to defend sensitive sites from pollution and developers.
Environmental enthusiasts from the Berkshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust will meet at the new Kindersley Centre at Sheepdrove Organic Farm, Lambourn, to hear how the trust will spend £640,000 grant on new tools and equipment, as well as training and a push for more volunteers.
The Trust protects rare habitats like the local chalk downland, and river valleys, and monitors dozens of sites across the Royal County. Notable successes include a recovery in the water vole population in the Newbury stretch of the Kennet and Avon Canal, after a cull of their most dangerous predator – the American mink.
Sheepdrove Organic Farm is already home to most of Newbury’s garden waste, which is composted on the farm. Last year, owner Peter Kindersley, who founded the publisher Dorling Kindersley completed a £2.5 million conference centre.
The annual gathering on October 16 is £10 a head for members, but to learn more about the work of BBOWT, go to www.bbowt.org.uk. | 
