Dry Sandford Pit Nature Reserve - Saturday, 28th February 2026
Blog by Sally. Photos by Julio, Margaret and Sally For the last session of our winter 2025/26 programme, we returned to Dry Sandford Pit Nature Reserve in Cothill, assembling in the car park, where Adrian, our session leader, met us all. The Nature Reserve is owned and managed by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (or BBOWT) and provides a range of habitats for flora and fauna to thrive, including grassland, woodland, sandy cliffs and fen. Adrian had been given a list of tasks from Beth of BBOWT for us to do. The weather was mild and cloudy to start with, but the sun soon came out. Kevin and Simon were asked to return to the alkaline fen to finish off removing scrub (mainly willow) from an area which we were unable to complete last time. If left unchecked, the willow would grow into large trees, not only crowding out the specialist fen flora, but also drying out the fen. Adrian asked the remainder of the group to work on the grassland eith...