 Cantley play area - coming soon
Our all new destination play area is almost ready for you...
Due to the wet weather just before Christmas period, the remaining surfacing and landscaping is now due to be undertaken over the next few weeks.
We are hoping this will be done by mid-February, right before half -term - keep your eyes peeled for updates very soon.
 New catering company
Hot off the press...we have a brand new catering company coming to Dinton Pastures Country Park. They will be providing food and drink at the Dinton Activity Centre cafe, the Dragonfly Cafe and the Riverside Kiosk.
We are so excited to be welcoming Cleverchefs - Cleverchefs was founded in 2015 by Nick Collins who you may have seen on Masterchef the professionals a few years ago. The award winning catering company already provide in-house catering for a number of different venues around the UK and we can't wait to have them join us!
Stay tuned, more information coming very soon...
 Big Garden Birdwatch
Be wowed by your local wildlife. Big Garden Birdwatch is for everyone, whether you're a complete beginner or a birding expert. Simply count the birds you see in your garden, from your balcony or in your local park for one hour between 28 and 30 January 2022.
Visit the RSPCA webpage to sign up and read some handy tips for the Big Garden Birdwatch!
If you capture any im-peck-able photos during your birdwatch, we'd love to see them. Email them to us on CEM@wokingham.gov.uk.
 Volunteers help restore Heathland nature reserve
Last month volunteers from the Mohanji Ammucare Charitable Trust Foundation UK joined the Countryside team at Highwood nature reserve in Woodley.
Through the cold and drizzle, the group of 14 staff and volunteers worked to remove brambles and scrub (small trees) from areas of the heathland that have become overtaken by these plants over time.
Heathlands are home to a wide array of wildlife, including rare birds such as nightjar and Dartford warblers, rabbits, hares, common lizards and butterflies, such as the small copper butterfly and the common heath butterfly.
By clearing areas of bramble and scrub, heather seeds are able to spread and grow on the bare ground, extending this important, rare and protected habitat.
If you would like to get involved in the countryside volunteer programme, visit our website.
 Studio development brings footpath upgrade
A footpath running alongside the site of the future Shinfield Studios, off Cutbush Lane East, has been resurfaced as part of the project's works programme.
The path was previously a narrow dirt track and difficult to navigate but now it has been resurfaced and the vegetation cut back to provide a level 2m wide path with a 1m verge at either side, providing a more pleasant and comfortable route for the community to use all year round.
A barbed wire fence has been replaced with a green security fence which blends in better with its rural surroundings.
The work was a condition of the planning permission which we awarded for the studios in October, allowing major international productions to be shot in our borough across 18 film stages and creating thousands of new jobs in the process.
It now has the green light after Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, confirmed last week that he wouldn't ask for the final say on approval. We asked as a precaution because of the scale of the development.
The application also commits to improving biodiversity on land in the Loddon Valley as well as a raft of other improvements, including upgrades to another path in the area, which is a benefit of our strategic approach to development.
The studios, known as the Creative Media Hub, will be a joint venture between Shinfield Studios and the University of Reading. Preliminary building work should start early next year.
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