As this meadow is cut for hay at the end of June or early July (depending on the weather) this might be one to visit earlier rather than later when doing your 30-day challenge. On a hot June afternoon you may hear the grasshoppers and other insects. For more information about grasshoppers, the sounds they make and how they make them go click here.

For more information about visiting Long Meadow click here.

The Histon and Impington Community Orchard Project (HICOP) began back in 2011. The orchard is located between the Guided Busway and Manor Park, accessible via footpaths from Somerset Road or Saffron Road.

If you go to the Community Orchard on Saturday 1st July you can do something with nature and have a tasty snack as well! This is the Orchard Brunch Event that opens the Histon & Impington Feast Week. Not only will you be able to learn about the traditional apple varieties planted in the orchard but there will be other stalls on site for the event all with a nature theme.

The wood is located beside the Guided Busway close to the Community Orchard, accessible from the busway or via footpaths from Somerset Road or Saffron Road. If you look on a published map you may find the name Histon Wood but it is known in the village as the ‘WI Wood’ as it was planted by the local WI.

The wood was planted with a selected range of deciduous and a few evergreen trees and is starting to feel like a mature wood. There are two information display boards. The information on the board beside the Histon to Girton footpath gives a detailed history of the railway at Histon – so it relates to the making of the busway along the old railway. The other board in the middle of the wood is more about nature and what can be seen at the site.

The Green is a good place to start looking at and identifying birds. The most obvious birds, the ducks, will come looking for you! They associate people, especially families with small children, with food and will come and check whether you have anything to offer. If you do want to feed them REMEMBER that you should buy special packs of duck food at the Histon Post Office. You should never feed bread and scraps from home on The Green.

The ducks are almost all Mallard, but you might see one very big black Muscovy duck and a few white farmyard ducks. Like most ducks Mallard males and females look different. The females are quite plain brown with a small square of bright blue on each wing. The males have a colourful plumage for most of the year.

You might also spot the rather secretive Moorhen close to or in The Brook – they will never come to you like the ducks.

Start at Homefield Park and spend an hour enjoying the green spaces as you follow this short walk where you can see the work of three artists on permanent display. Two of the artists were specially commissioned to prepare public art in keeping with the place where it is now displayed. The three works by Tony Hillier were all moved from his garden on the Cottenham Road and placed on public display.

Homefield Park entrance gates: artist Tim Ward of Circling the Square worked with the community and local schools on the design which has a nature theme.

Homefield Park: Tony Hillier’s ‘Man with dog’ is now displayed just behind the gate under magnificent plane trees.

Clay Close Pocket Park: Tony Hillier’s ‘Andy Capp’ is now the central feature of this small green space.

Merrington Place: The developer commissioned Matthew Lane Sanderson to provide art and street furniture linked to the historical use of the site as Unwin’s seed trial grounds. All the works relate to seeds such as the hollyhock seed at the junction with New Road are thus linked to Unwins.

The Green: Tony Hillier’s ‘Spider’ used to grace his chimney but now is clambering up one of the large horse chestnuts beside the bridge over the brook.

At the centre of the Vision Park business park is a small lake with attractive surrounding planting, a strange grassy mound (hiding the pump system etc), and a café with terrace seating. It has resident moorhen and mallard, and grey heron and sparrowhawk are occasionally glimpsed.

If you are lucky enough to be looking at the lake at the right moment you may spot one of the fish coming up to the surface for a quick gulp of air.

Vision Park is located off Station Road. You can enter by Chivers Way or by taking the footpath near The Firs surgery.

The swift is a summer visitor to the village. From the first week in May to the end of July we have ‘our swifts’ with us. It is right to proudly call them ‘ours’ because they are site faithful returning each year to the same houses where they bred the year before.

You can find out more about the amazing migration of this aerial specialist here:

Try downloading the SwiftMapper app on your phone or laptop and you can see where other people have seen screaming parties of swifts around the village. And of course you can be a citizen scientist and add your own sightings to the app so that others can see them.

The Library in the High Street is a fantastic place to learn more about nature – especially if the weather is wet and you want to be indoors. They have wildlife books for all ages so you can be sure of finding something of interest.

Details of Library services and opening times.

This walk takes in arable farmland, pasture, hedges, woodland and a watercourse – it offers a wide range of habitats and a diverse mix of wildlife. You can walk in either direction, start at any point to suit yourself, do the whole thing or only a part – it is up to you! We assume that you are starting on Manor Field beside the Community Orchard. You can download a map of the route here.

Walk from the Orchard entrance to the busway. Cross the busway into the WI Wood. Go straight across the wood to a footbridge over a drain. Turn right and follow the drain westwards with a grass paddock on your left. When you reach the corner of the paddock turn left and follow the wide track across the field between the two fenced paddocks – sometimes there are sheep in the western paddock. On the far side of the field the path goes right towards Girton Wood – this wood like the WI Wood was planted around the millennium.

Enter Girton Wood and shortly branch right following the route of a power line. This part of the wood is quite open and is good for flowers. The wood closes in more and the path goes to the right. After a short distance you will see a small footbridge on your left. Take this left turn over the footbridge and out into arable fields. Stop here for a moment and listen for skylarks and meadow pipits.

Turn left and follow the track between the fields as far as the Manor Farm buildings. There are some older trees and tall hedges at this point. Continue on to the tarmac side road past Gretton School car park and then to the Girton to Oakington road. Turn right along the pavement until you reach the Beck Brook. There is a Public Bridleway sign to Histon. Follow this bridleway alongside the brook looking out for dragonflies and butterflies among the taller vegetation. After the brook turns west there is a tall old hedge, home to robins and dunnocks, with plenty of hawthorn berries for winter flocks of thrushes. As you get close to Histon there is a large horse paddock with very short grass. Here you may see swallows which breed in the barn every year. The bridleway takes you to the busway.