Portal:Berkshire

Bluebells in Goulding's Wood, part of Park Wood and Goulding's Wood LNR

Local nature reserves (LNRs) in England are designated by local authorities under Section 21 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. LNRs are sites which have a special local interest either biologically or geologically. Local authorities have a duty to care for them, and must control the sites by owning or leasing them, or by having an agreement with the owners. The local authorities can apply local byelaws to manage and protect LNRs.

As of January 2020, there are forty-one LNRs in Berkshire. Five are also Sites of Special Scientific Interest, two are Special Areas of Conservation and four are managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

Berkshire is a county in South East England. It is bordered by Hampshire and Surrey to the south, Greater London to the east, Wiltshire to the west and Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire to the north. Berkshire lies in the valleys of the Thames and its tributary, the River Kennet, and in the west it is crossed by chalk hills. It has a population of more than 860,000. It is no longer an administrative county following the abolition of Berkshire County Council in 1998. It is governed by six unitary authorities: Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham. (Full article...)

Richard Alexander Burns (17 January 1971 – 25 November 2005) was an English rally driver who won the 2001 World Rally Championship, having previously finished runner-up in the series in 1999 and 2000. He also helped Mitsubishi to the world manufacturers' title in 1998, and Peugeot in 2002. His co-driver in his whole career was Robert Reid. He is the only Englishman to have won the World Rally Championship as a driver. (Full article...)

History: Battle of Reading (871)  • Battle of Reading (1688)  • First Battle of Newbury  • Second Battle of Newbury  • Siege of Reading
Geography: River Thames  • Swinley Forest  • The Ridgeway  • Walbury Hill  • Windsor Great Park
Towns: Ascot  • Bracknell  • Crowthorne  • Earley  • Eton  • Hungerford  • Maidenhead  • Newbury  • Reading  • Sandhurst  • Slough  • Thatcham  • Windsor  • Wokingham  • Woodley
Politics: Parliamentary constituencies  • Parliamentary representation
Culture: Henley Royal Regatta  • Museum of English Rural Life  • Reading festival  • Windsor Castle

• ... that three gasholders at the Windsor Street Gasworks were painted in the claret and blue colours of local football team Aston Villa?
• ... that Luke Bond, the organist for a royal wedding and a royal funeral at Windsor Castle, played Poulenc's Organ Concerto in Cape Town?
• ... that the cooking of Flora Mae Hunter was enjoyed so much by the Duchess of Windsor that she gained weight on her visits to the plantation where Hunter worked?
• ... that the Jubilate by Benjamin Britten was written in 1961 for St George's Chapel at the request of the Duke of Edinburgh, and performed there for some of his birthdays and his funeral?
• ... that Herbert James Gunn used a paper cut-out of Princess Elizabeth's corgi dog to help him paint his Conversation Piece at the Royal Lodge, Windsor?
• ... that when Queen Anne became too infirm to follow her pack of Buckhounds on horseback, she had paths cut through Windsor Forest so she could follow the hunt in a carriage?