Hatch Warren Nature Group

18/06/2026

New mural on Hatch Warren Community Centre thanks to Sian Storey Art 🐇

15/06/2026

Very important to not allow wildlife to get tangled up. Hedgehogs are particularly prone to getting stuck in netting

The RSPCA is urging football fans to pack away goal netting after play, with the World Cup expected to inspire people to get outside for a kickabout. The RSPCA is highlighting the story of two fox cubs that were found with goal netting wrapped tightly around their bodies.
https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2026-06-15/fox-cubs-caught-in-goal-netting-sparks-warning-from-rspca-during-world-cup

15/06/2026

Three lovely photos of St Marks Meadow on Sunday taken by Emma Deacon. We need thousands of hectares of new meadows.

06/06/2026

Today in the town centre

🎉 Basingstoke Green Week begins today

The annual, week-long celebration of climate and nature action kicks off with a green market and live kids’ shows in The Malls in Basingstoke town centre from 9am to 5.30pm today.

Come along to:
🎭 enjoy live family-friendly performances by artists including Junk Jodie Art and Storytelling, Scratch Built Productions and the Pied Piper Theatre
🚲 browse refurbished bikes and get a free bike safety check
🗺️ take part in a free wildlife trail for all ages
💧 pick up free water-saving devices from South East Water
🌳chat with Natural Basingstoke about joining a local nature group

👉 There’s much more going on today and throughout the week too. See the first comment for the full programme.

04/06/2026

Just shows that nature knows what it is doing

On a London Tube line, a flooding problem may have found the most unlikely maintenance team: beavers.

In 2023, five Eurasian beavers were released into Paradise Fields, a 20-acre green space near Greenford Station in west London. The Ealing Beaver Project brought them in to help restore the landscape and manage water naturally in an area long affected by flooding.

And the beavers got to work. Within months, they built dams across local streams, slowing the flow of water and creating new wetlands.

Those wetlands now act like natural sponges, holding water during heavy rain rather than letting it rush straight into nearby streets and infrastructure.

That matters because Greenford Station had flooded repeatedly in the past. Local reports say the flooding has stopped since the beavers moved in, even though authorities had previously looked at expensive flood defence options.

Beavers are often called ecosystem engineers, and this is exactly why. Their dams can reduce downstream flooding, create habitat, and make green spaces better for other wildlife. Since the project began, more birds, bats, and butterflies have reportedly been seen around the park, too.

British beavers were hunted to extinction more than 400 years ago, but reintroduction projects are slowly bringing them back.

And in west London, five busy beavers may have done what concrete alone couldn’t.

04/06/2026

A great initiative

31/05/2026

I noticed lots of hedge sections covered in fine webs berween Farleigh and Ckiddesden and realised all of them on Spindle trees. Apparently the work of the Spindle Ermine moth. Couldn't see any caterpillars though.

28/05/2026

26/05/2026

For several years Volunteers have been growing and planting out a plant called Horseshoe Vetch on Old Down as well as sites in Hatch Warren. Efforts at Beggarwood Park have so far proved unsuccessful. The pictures below are of the bank on Beggarwood Lane where it meets with Woodbury Road and Garlice Lane. Horseshoe Vetch is the food plant of the Chalkhill Blue Butterfly and the aim is to create suitable habitat so that any visiting butterflies of this species can lay eggs. There have been occasional sightings but the butterflies have to travel a great distance to get here. Meanwhile residents can enjoy the wonderful colourful display that thede plants create in May.

26/05/2026

As well as hosting a Wildlife Gardening event just over a week ago with HIWWT Hatch Warren Nature Group hosted another event with HIWWT and with the HCC Pollinator Network so that a simpler form of pollinator monitoring could be introduced to volunteers. The aim is to measure changes in the species range and numbers of pollinating insects over time. HWNG would like to attract more volunteers for this type of seasonal activity. The event attracted volunteers from as far away as Reading and Alton. St Marks Meadow is ideal for this kind of exercise given its diversity.