Simon Cousins describes how a young love for wildlife led to a varied role as a volunteer at Chimney Meadows nature reserve in West Oxfordshire

Like many people, my passion for nature was fired up when I was very young. The event that lit the fire, so to speak, was the unforgettable winter of 1963 when thousands of redwings and fieldfares were literally just dropping out of the skies with exhaustion, starvation and cold. No one was talking about global warming or climate change in those days!

This catastrophic event was the catalyst for my lifetime love of birdwatching. From about the age of eight you couldn’t stop me - at every available opportunity I would be off with my binoculars to watch the birds on my local patch in Torbay, Devon.

As I got older my passion for nature grew and I went on to university to get degrees in zoology and entomology with the aim of securing my dream job in nature conservation. Unfortunately, as with a lot of dreams, it didn’t come true - other things like marriage, mortgage, kids and work always seemed to get in the way.

Fast forward to 2018 and at the tender age of nearly 63 I was made redundant. I did the financial calculations and realised, to my relief, that I could survive on a modest income and retire. This was great news – no more work and no more office politics!

Now, at long last, I would have a load of spare time on my hands to concentrate on what I really wanted to do with my life. As soon as I had received my wad of redundancy cash, I was straight on to BBOWT to find how I could get involved.

I was particularly interested in doing some practical conservation work again and, very fortunately for me, there were still some spaces available on work parties at BBOWT’s Chimney Meadows nature reserve. This is where it all started for me.

Towards the end of 2018 I attended my first work party at Chimney Meadows and, at first, I felt a bit like a kid joining a new school. Lucy Garrod, who was running the work party, introduced me to the rest of the team and I was made to feel welcome.

I can’t remember what I actually did on my first work party, but I do remember that I had a really enjoyable time doing stuff alongside a really great group of like-minded people. 

The Friends of Chimney Meadows Group meet the first and third Thursday of every month to carry out a range of tasks. Being such a large reserve, these tasks can be many and varied.

Since 2018 I have personally been involved with pulling fences down, putting fences up, clearing scrub, clearing out ponds, laying hedges, cutting hedges, putting up nest boxes – the list goes on!

Importantly, BBOWT also lay on courses, free of charge, to help volunteers expand their set of practical conservation skills. I have attended a scything course at Chimney Meadows and hedge laying course at BBOWT’s Wells Farm reserve. Both courses were excellent, but I particularly enjoyed doing the hedge laying course and learnt how to make a Midland style hedge on a very cold January day in 2019.

Although I really enjoyed practical conservation, I also wanted to get involved with the surveying side of things as well. I asked Colin Williams, BBOWT’s Ecology Officer, if any surveying needed doing and he kindly gave me the opportunity to carry out regular monthly bird surveys in the north-eastern part of Chimney Meadows.

Doing these surveys has been great, not just for the data that I gather, but also for seeing how the bird and insect life changes with the seasons.

Every so often you get to see something unusual like the time I flushed a woodcock from some scrub, or when I spotted five great white egret flying in formation over the reserve.

My personal highlights though were seeing a hen harrier (ring tail) last year and, more recently, a spotted flycatcher, which I had never seen on the reserve before. 

Back in 2019, Colin asked me if I would also like to get involved with a national curlew survey that, at the time, was being conducted by the RSPB. Sadly, curlews have been in decline for years and it was hoped that the survey could shed some light on why this decline was happening.

I agreed to do the survey and Colin assigned me Duxford as my area. Duxford Old River was purchased by BBOWT back in 2017 and it was suspected at the time that curlews might be breeding there but there was no definitive evidence.

Over a period of three years the surveys confirmed that curlews were, in fact, breeding successfully at Duxford Old River and that fully fledged young were raised in both 2019 and 2020.

Being part of this survey has been particularly satisfying for me and I am hoping that the haunting call of curlews will be heard over Duxford for many more years to come.

During the winter months I also carry out regular surveys of the wildfowl that congregate at Duxford. Being a natural floodplain, Duxford Old River is the ideal place for wildfowl when it floods.

One of the great pleasures for me is seeing and hearing hundreds of wigeon and teal as they dabble and whistle on the floods. The slightest hint of danger, like an overflying buzzard or red kite for instance, and the entire flock takes off in a big circling cloud, whistling loudly as it does so.

Later in winter other species of dabbling duck join the wigeon and teal but always in much smaller numbers. These species include gadwall, shoveler, and the majestic looking pintail.

When the floods get really deep even diving birds such as coot, moorhen, little grebe, great crested grebe and tufted duck appear. I even saw a group of five goosander once.

On one occasion, at the beginning of 2021, it was so cold that the floods froze leaving only a small area of water that was ice-free. Hundreds of wildfowl were all crammed into this small area and steam was rising up from the collective heat of the flock – a spectacular sight!

The biggest highlight for me, however, was when the floods were at their highest in 2020 and I saw an otter on two separate occasions. This was the first time that I had seen one since spotting one on the River Dart in Devon when I was a teenager.

In the three years that I have been volunteering with BBOWT I have had some very memorable experiences. Along the way I have also got to know a really great bunch of people, such as the hard-working BBOWT staff, the work party volunteers and my fellow surveyors.

To anyone reading my story I would thoroughly recommend getting involved in volunteering - young or old, it doesn’t matter, your help will have a positive benefit for the wildlife and the environment in your area!

Simon Cousins, volunteer at Chimney Meadows

Take a virtual tour of Chimney Meadows with Louise King

Download a map of Chimney Meadows

Get involved

There are many ways to volunteer at BBOWT - out on our nature reserves, at our visitor centres and in our offices. Take a look at our current opportunities to see if there's one for you.

Volunteering opportunities