There are three main parts that make up the parish of Bucklebury. The original village is situated on the banks of the river Pang. Directly south of Bucklebury village, and much higher up, is Bucklebury Common. This is an area of managed heather and woodland. Although open to all ‘commoners’ the land is privately owned. During the Second World War, much of the land was cleared for the stationing of troops, and some of the concrete paths laid down can still be found there, now used as bridleways. It was also once the location for a monks retreat, from Reading Abbey. At the eastern border of the common is the Blade Bone Pub, a butchers, a Doctor's Surgery and a tea shop.

In recent years the village of Upper Bucklebury has become the larger residential area. This is situated on the hill about a Mile and a half (2 kilometres) south west from Bucklebury village at the western tip of the common. It has a general store, a newly built Church, a pub and a Church of England Primary School.
 

4*4’s and Motorbikes are legally allowed to use unrestricted byways so long as they are taxed, MOT’d and Insured. However we all know they deviate from these routes and cause noise pollution and damage to the Common – this is illegal.

Please report any incidents to the Police on the non Emergency number 0845 8 505 505. You can also take photographs of the car/vans used to bring the bikes or of the 4*4’s and email them to me at stevebeeson@yahoo.co.uk and I will pass the details onto the relevant parties. We can still take action by writing to these people and warning them – it has worked in the past.

 

 

We all know that some people find it easier to leave their rubbish on the Common rather than take it to the local tip. Every week we ask Streetcare to remove flytipped material which generally they are very good at. To address the root cause of the problem we have arranged with WBC to have covert cameras strategically placed on the common. We wil keep you updated via The Oaks and NWN of any progress we make.
You can email Streetcare to come and collect and dumped material you see on Streetcare@westberks.gov.uk. Please copy the clerk (buckelburyparishclerk@yahoo.co.uk)  as I collate the data and report it to the Police and WBC. We want to catch these people !
BPC is trying to work on improving the maintenance of the Common and I am sure I can count on your help.

 

Berkshire's remaining heathlands are just 2% of what they were in 1761 and Bucklebury Common forms an important part of what remains. Some of the Biodiversity target species which we hope to help are the nightjar, sand lizard, woodlark, silver-studded blue butterfly, marsh clubmoss and large bumble bee.
A series of grants from WREN have helped the recreation of some of Britain’s most important historic heathland become a reality. Over the last few years WREN has awarded nearly £70,000 to pay for the work at Bucklebury Common, West Berkshire. The site was identified as being nationally significant for heathland and the work has met the aims of both local and national Biodiversity Action Plans. As the stages of the recreation have progressed it has been encouraging to see heather re-establishing itself and the landscape beginning to resemble how it would have appeared only a few generations ago.

 

The Bucklebury Heathland Conservation Group hold regular working parties to restore and conserve the heathland habitat on Bucklebury Common. Over the past winters volunteers have enabled a large area of birch scrub to be cleared which will be monitored for future heather regeneration. We appreciate that at first it seems strange to be clearing large wooded areas - but essentially only 60 years ago there were very few trees here and the Heather prevailed.

Volunteers are needed for the new season which starts in September - tools and training are provided, all skills and none catered for. Contact Tim Cully on 0118 971 4830