A PROMINENT nature conservationist and TV presenter visited Cliddesden to launched a national ‘wildlife audit’.

Chris Packham has announced the nationwide campaign, UK Bioblitz in which he will visit 50 places around the country, documenting the wildlife, plants and animals.

This is the first wildlife audit of its kind conducted by an independent citizen scientist, taking place from July 14-23.

The video which announced the UK Bioblitz launch took place in Cliddesden, and featured Alison Mosson from the Cliddesden Community Conservation Group telling the Springwatch star about the work that they had undertaken in the area.

They were standing in a meadow beside the M3, which had been re-planted by the group and is now flourishing.

Alison said in video: “We’ve sown the field with lots of wildflower seeds, mostly collected from around the area, and we’ve got around 120 species of wildflowers, and of course, all the insects and butterflies etc, and we do hope that more people will come and see the beauty of it.”

Chris praised the efforts of the group, calling it ‘a pleasant walk and much better for wildlife too.’

The team and Chris will be visiting the Cliddesden Community Conservation Group as part of the effort on Monday, 23 July.

Chris said: “I’m doing this because I want to highlight that the UK’s landscape is in big trouble.

“We should have a far greater expectation of having wildlife around us all of the time but sadly we find ourselves going to nature reserves.

“We treat them like they’re museums and art galleries, we go there, we get fully satisfied there’s lots of life, but on the way home when we’re driving through the countryside there’s nothing left. Some parts of it are absolutely bereft, they’re deserts, and what we want to do is say to people ‘that’s not good enough’. We want wildlife everywhere, nature reserves are not enough.”