Jubilee fireworks in Wallingford postponed following wildlife concerns

Fireworks were due to take place on Sunday, June 5 by the River Thames in Wallingford after an illuminated flotilla of decorated boats sailed from the Ring Road Bridge down the river to Wallingford Bridge.

However, residents raised concerned about the impact of the firework show, which was due to last a total of five minutes, on any “nesting and young wildlife”.

READ MORE: What is going on in Wallingford to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee?

Immersion Fireworks were due to hold the show

A statement from the town council, released today (27), said: “We started planning the Jubilee events earlier this year and had not taken into consideration the impact and affect it may have on our nesting and young wildlife by having fireworks.

“We do not want to cause any disturbance to any nesting or young wildlife and we thank our residents’ views along with the professional and expert views that we have sought and have decided to postpone the fireworks at this time.

“There is an annual swan upping census taken on the River Thames in July and we hope they are able to add the young cygnets that we currently have on the River in Wallingford to the Queen’s annual swan census.

“In regards to the flotilla event, we have taken onboard the concerns and advice regarding holding this during such an important time when wildlife are nesting and have their young.

READ MORE: Huge Jubilee festival planned for airfield despite chaos on fireworks night

“Alongside health and safety issues we have decided to postpone the flotilla until later in the year so that it takes place at a suitable time.

Residents were concerned about the impact on wildlife

“We want the flotilla event to become a significant annual event in Wallingford which celebrates our town on the river and all things that are great about Wallingford.”

Marcus Harris, the mayor of Wallingford, added: “I’m really sad that we are having to postpone one of our flag ship Jubilee events.

“The flotilla and fireworks evening is a great idea and a lot of hard work has gone into making it happen.

“This is why we want to move, not cancel, the event to early Autumn when the impact on wildlife is greatly diminished.

“I hope that by doing this we can produce an even bigger river-based festival that can become one of the many regular events that Wallingford is famous for.

READ MORE: Wildlife groups giving away bird boxes to celebrate joining forces

“My sincere apologies to all of the team who have worked so hard to make it happen and to the members of the public that were looking forward to this stunning climax to our Jubilee celebrations.”

-

Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland, she joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here.