Sixty-five years of Dorney’s wildlife, 1961–2026, in three volumes

What the record is, and why it matters

Prepared by Bill Dax

Building on the work of Peter Tyler (1935–2022)

1  What it is

Since 1961, Dorney Parish News has carried a nature column almost continuously, written by a succession of residents: “Naturalist” (Mrs Toms), “Wayfarer” (Peter Tyler), “Brock” (David Shott), Lois Parker for fifteen years, Patricia Powell, Tony Dixon-Smith, Kristina Perkins and, today, Olly himself. Between them they noted what they saw, where and when.

Working through the DPN archive issue by issue, Bill has gathered those columns into two companion volumes, and added a third reproducing Peter Tyler’s own reports, with the kind permission of his family. All three are on the Dorney History website (dorney-history-group.org.uk), on the Land, Landscapes and Maps page, in the right-hand panel.

2  The three volumes

2.1  The Narrative: the story in the columnists’ own words

The first volume retells the columns year by year and month by month, keeping each writer’s voice: Mrs Toms in 1961 spotting Himalayan balsam, newly arrived, filling a ditch beside Huntercombe Lane; Peter Tyler in 1964 watching badgers spring-clean their sett; Lois Parker on the Great Storm of October 1987; and Olly nursing a soprano pipistrelle back to health in 2023. This is the volume to dip into for pleasure.

2.2  The Species and Habitat Record: the facts in tables

The second volume sets the same records out as tables under each year (birds, mammals, plants, insects, fungi and habitats), giving the species, a short note, the month, the place and the columnist. This is the volume to search for a particular bird, flower or place.

2.3  Peter Tyler’s Natural History: the scientific baseline

The third reproduces Peter Tyler’s Millennium report of 2000, the parish’s first systematic record of its plants, birds, insects and animals, with Jean Tyler’s photographs, and his 2018 update, which added 43 bird species seen since 2000. It is the yardstick against which the columnists’ sightings can be measured.

3  Why it matters, and how to help

Together the volumes form a village memory that exists nowhere else. They record red squirrels already gone by 1964; a moth caught in a Dorney Reach garden in 1976 that proved new to Britain and was named the Jubilee Fanfoot; and, sadly, no live hedgehog reported in the parish since 2008. Little owls, by contrast, bred here in 2024 and 2025.

These are neighbours’ observations, not a scientific survey, so the Diary cannot count populations. But it shows what has arrived, what has gone and what has changed, and points experts to where proper surveys are needed, which makes it valuable for planning responses and the Neighbourhood Plan. The Diary is a living record: if you have a sighting of your own, please tell Bill (bill@daxfamily.com) or Olly (olly74@gmail.com).