Biodiversity on Maidenhead Golf Course

The 132 acres of green belt land currently leased by Maidenhead Golf Club is home to thousands of trees, hedges, wild flowers and funghi, all supporting a rich array of wildlife.

There are roe and muntjac deer, foxes, green woodpeckers, greater and lesser spotted woodpeckers, many types of woodland birds (including wrens, robins, blue tits, great tits, black birds and mistle thrushes), butterflies, bees, bumblebees, stag beetles, grass snakes, moths and owls.

There are also a number of protected species, including:

• Slow worms ‘Anguis fragilis’ – numbers of these legless lizards are in decline due to habitat loss.  They are protected in the UK under the Wildlife & Countryside Act, 1981 and a Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework;
• Badgers – and their setts are protected by law by the 1992 Protection of Badgers Act;
• Red kites ‘Milvus milvus’ – this medium sized bird of prey is Protected in the UK under the Wildlife & Countryside Act, 1981;
• Sparrowhawks ‘Accipiter nisus’ – these small birds of prey is classified in the UK as Green under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015);
• Kestrels ‘Falco tinnunculus’ – these small birds of prey like open habitats like grassland, farmland and heathland.  They are classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015);
• Hedgehogs – are on the Red List as under threat of extinction in the Mammal Society’s recent report; and
• Bats – there are a number of bat species living around the golf course, including Common pipistrelle, Soprano pipistrelle, Noctule, Serotine and Long-eared bats.  All bats and their roosts are protected under The Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 and The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010.

Our council itself acknowledges in its Environment and Climate Strategy¹ that by protecting and enhancing our environment, we can ‘help to protect the ecosystem service benefits that we receive (e.g. clean air and water), tackle climate change, create great places to live and support residents’ health and wellbeing.’

The strategy explains that our natural world ‘has suffered significant losses’ and ‘The 2019 State of Nature report demonstrated that populations of the UK’s most important wildlife have plummeted by an average of 60 per cent since 1970.’

It doesn’t make sense to destroy precious wildlife habitats for housing at this time when we are facing a climate and environment crisis. 

The Wildlife Trusts is currently campaigning to kickstart nature’s recovery across 30% of the UK’s land by 2030.  ’30 by 30’ funds will buy land to provide new homes for wildlife and allow nature to thrive in increasing abundance across wilder, joined-up places.  One of the Trust’s new schemes will transform a 42-acre ex-golf course in Carlisle into an urban bee and butterfly oasis.

Sir David Attenborough is backing the call for ‘30 by 30’, explaining “We are facing a global extinction crisis which has implications for every one of us. It’s tempting to assume that the loss of wildlife and wild places is a problem that’s happening on the other side of the world. The truth is that the UK is one of the most nature depleted countries on the planet and the situation is getting worse.”

Our council says that it will take steps to improve biodiversity elsewhere in the borough, to offset the losses on the golf course when its development plans replace woods, hedges and grass with houses, flats and roads. But, each time we lose a place for wildlife, we cut off green corridors. And we should be doing our best to protect and enhance all remaining places for nature.

In its ‘State of the Green Belt 2021’ report, CPRE, the countryside charity explains that ‘the current and future threat of housing development faced by Green Belt land continues to be unprecendented’². 

Maidenhead golf course is our ‘countryside next door’ and it is absolutely vital that this green belt land is saved from development, for the benefit of both people and wildlife in Maidenhead.

1. ‘Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Environment and Climate Strategy 2020-2025’ https://www.rbwm.gov.uk/media/2288/download
2. CPRE’s ‘State of the Green Belt 2021’ report https://www.cpre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/CPRE-State-of-the-Green-Belt-report_February-2021.pdf