Oxford News
Rare orchid found growing on Oxford Brookes campus roof
The White Helleborine is listed as Vulnerable on the Great Britain Plant Red List.
But it was found growing on the green roofs of Oxford Brookes University’s John Henry Brookes Building during a plant survey led by Dr Andrew Lack, a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Biology.
Dr Lack said: “That was the find of the day, a totally unexpected orchid that I have not seen there before and is almost confined to the Chilterns within Oxfordshire.”
The green roofs, installed on buildings opened since 2012 including the Colonnade, Abercrombie extension and John Payne Building, were originally planted with drought-resistant stonecrop (Sedum) species.
Over time, they have evolved into semi-wild habitats supporting more than 100 plant species, including wild clary, salad burnet, ladies’ bedstraw, and at least six species of cranesbill.
Viper’s bugloss, a striking blue-flowered plant, is growing in some quantity across the roofs of the John Henry Brookes Building and is a hit with the bees.
The most unusual recent addition to the roofs is night-flowering catchfly, a nationally declining annual now known in Oxfordshire from only a handful of sites in the north-west of the county.
Dr Lack said: “We must treasure them, whole ecosystems largely invisible above our heads but adding considerably to the biodiversity of our campus.”
However, not all new arrivals are welcome.
Woody seedlings such as birch, willow, sycamore, buddleia and bramble have started to establish, posing a risk to the structural integrity of the roofs.
Dr Lack added: “Rogue tree and shrub seedlings could prove destructive for the roofs and will need to be removed.”
The Prime Minister is prepared to “explore every option” to keep Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers in jail, a Government source told the Telegraph on Friday.
The Government has so far resisted pressure to exempt the two killers from its early release scheme, which starts in October in a bid to tackle prison overcrowding.
Mr Burnham said earlier this week he had “pushed to the very limits of what is possible to do without risking the prison system reaching capacity and collapsing” by excluding sentences for “rape, serious child sex offences and other grooming offences” from eligibility.
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Some 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes, down from 6,000 after the exemptions announced as part of an urgent review of the scheme.
But under current plans, Cole and Bowers remain eligible to be freed halfway through their 13-year sentences after they were convicted of manslaughter in 2020 following Pc Harper’s death in 2019.
Downing Street has been contacted for comment about Mr Burnham reportedly weighing up options to block their release.
PC Harper was 28 when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
He died after getting caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and dragged down a country road as three teenage suspects fled the scene of the burglary.
The driver of the vehicle, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence and would not be eligible for release.
Dame Mary Berry has lived in Henley‑on‑Thames, Oxfordshire, with her husband Paul Hunnings since 2019.
She joined the BBC show as a judge alongside Paul Hollywood when it launched back in 2010 and stayed until 2016, before the programme moved to Channel 4.
Now, the 91‑year‑old food writer and presenter has been discussing work on the garden at her Henley home during an appearance on the Grow, Cook, Eat, Arrange podcast.
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Dame Mary explained that she and Mr Hunnings had decided to buy larger yew trees rather than wait years for smaller plants to grow.
The former Great British Bake Off judge said: “Evergreens, a yew is, we put hedges in a yew. And obviously you should buy evergreens like a yew. I suppose about two foot high and wait.”
Dame Mary then made clear why waiting was not a realistic option for her.
“Well, I’ll be in heaven then, so we had to buy them fairly big, I suppose they were about four foot because we needed them to get to the top of the tennis court netting,” she said.
The TV star and her husband moved to Henley to be closer to family after downsizing from their former home in Buckinghamshire.
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In a previous interview, Dame Mary said of her decision to move: “We didn’t want to move too far from our friends, and Henley is only a 35-minute drive.”
She added: “The town is beautiful. It has the river, and there are lots of interesting walks to do. As the years go, we will be able to walk into the town, and it will be nice to not have to get the car out.”
Dame Mary remains a familiar face on television and has continued to share her love of gardening as well as cooking.
Speaking at the Hay Festival earlier this year, she encouraged young people to “work hard and follow your dreams”.
Her garden in Henley includes a greenhouse, pond, beds and roses, while she has said she grows produce including red onions, lettuce and carrots.
Fire services were dispatched to Cowley Road just before 6pm yesterday evening to tackle the blaze.
Photos show the fire behind residential gardens, with black smoke billowing high.
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At least two fire engines were dispatched to the scene with multiple firefighters working to put out the blaze.
Photos sent to this newspaper show fire engines moving into position and the blaze itself seen from behind a garden.
It’s currently not known how the fire started or its exact location.
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has been contacted for more information.
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