We know many villages and towns across the UK were named because of their links to a family, a landscape feature or natural abundance of particular wildlife species, so I decided to take a look at one: the village of Finchampstead, on the Surrey/Hampshire borders of Berkshire.
There may be some discussion about it, but however Finchampstead took its name, it still resounds with the characterful songs of the small, seed-eating, splendidly colourful bird family Fringillidae.
Goldfinch, chaffinch, bullfinch, greenfinch, redpoll and linnet can all still be seen in the area, and some may be easily tempted into Finchampstead gardens with fresh water in a shallow dish or pool and seed mixes put out in clean feeders.
Unfortunately rare in Finchampstead now, though formerly common on The Ridges, are hawfinch and crossbill. Both present today in the New Forest, and crossbill resident in nearby heath forests, it’s not inconceivable that they were both once a common sight in Finchampstead; to see them there again would be wonderful.
Finchampstead and the surrounding Bracknell Forest areas were once part of the extensive Windsor Forest royal hunting grounds. Alexander Pope referenced many of the birds found here in his work of 1736, Windsor Forest, but he didn’t mention any finches – they were all game birds (partridge, pheasant, doves, woodcocks, plovers, larks), sadly only seen when ‘…chearful horns are blown, and arms employed on birds and beasts alone.’
Agriculture and building development changed the landscape irrevocably, but one man mourned the loss of game birds and re-introduced black grouse onto a nearby Surrey heath in 1815. According to naturalist William Yarrell in 1843, ‘some of the descendants of these birds…extended themselves as far as Finchampstead in Berkshire.‘ How marvellous if they could still be found there now!
Our local British wildlife is rich, varied and, unfortunately in some cases, increasingly rare. The black grouse and resident hawfinch have disappeared from Finchampstead, but we can still celebrate the natural diversity that we do have, wherever we live.
Artists, photographers, fashion designers and musicians all continue to be inspired by nature. Conservation groups and local people are passionate about protecting their local wildlife patches, and with good reason: local health walks aren’t just good for the body, they’re great for easing the mind too!
Rebecca, x
Rebecca Reynolds Photography 