Last weekend, we stirred up a hornets’ nest with two posts (here and here) about out-of-control dogs in the reserve. There have been so many comments, messages and mails from park-goers and dog owners, all of them pertinent, that we feel we should summarise the situation.
Continue reading “Summary”
In response to Simon Knight’s account, yesterday, of being attacked by an out-of-control dog, Sarah Gould left this long and heartfelt comment on our Facebook page. It reflected so many of our readers’ concerns that we have decided to publish it in full.
Read on for Sarah’s comment
We have received from Simon Knight, our wildlife photographer, a very disturbing report of what we can only describe as an attack by an out of control dog.
Read on for Simon’s report
by David Feather
On Wednesday mornings in the Nature Reserve you might be hearing some new sounds. The Friends of Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve have moved fully into the 21st century by purchasing battery powered hedge cutters and a brush cutter. We have managed to do this with financial help from Wiltshire Council Central Area Board and some thoughtful and generous donations. On Wednesday of last week, we had the opportunity to meet and thank the local couple who have paid for the training of five volunteers in the use of our new power tools.
Continue reading “Buzz”
by David Feather
On Wednesday, we were reminded about the importance of private gardens for the well-being of our wildlife. However, there is an aspect of private gardens which needs and deserves a lot more public discussion.
Continue reading “Right to Nature”
There have been three named storms in a week, Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, and the reserve has taken a battering. Here are some of the pictures we have been sent.
Mail from friendsofscp@outlook.com to Ian Bushell 19.02.2022:
Good morning,
Julie Newblé has sent me pictures of a conifer blown down near the main entrance on the Lambrok Meadow side. She says that’s the only damage on the main path. Over to you!
There have been reports of motorbikes being ridden in the reserve’s fields. The tyre tracks are mostly in Corn Field and Village Green and seem to show that the bikes enter and leave by the bridge into Lambrok Close. The only motorised vehicles allowed in the park are those maintenance vehicles authorised by Wiltshire Council, and mobility vehicles.
Continue reading “Please: no motorbikes”
by Ian Bushell
On February 1st, Clive, Simon, Frank, Phil and I attended a LANTRA Hand Held Hedge Trimmer training course at Motcombe. Our instructor was Roland Heming of Forest and Arb Ltd.
Continue reading “Training day”
by Ian Bushell
The original intention was to do the work on the Iris Pond on Friday 21st January, but the Water Team’s Connor Goddard contacted me on the Tuesday afternoon to say that they were ahead of schedule and could begin on Wednesday 19th. I let the digger in through the Allotment gate right away so that it would be there and ready to start work by 8.30am the next morning. The work would be carried out by Max and James of Ecolibrium Environmental Contracting based at Melksham.
Continue reading “Great Crested Newt Pond”
September 08 2021: Mail from Ian Bushell to the Water Team at water@wiltshirewildlife.org
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The first full moon of the year is called the Wolf Moon, apparently after the howling of hungry wolves in midwinter. The name seems to be common to both old European and North American cultures, perhaps an indication of how shared fears of the cold and the dark have shaped otherwise disparate human societies.
This year’s Wolf Moon will be tonight at just past a quarter to midnight and, if the misty weather we have been promised by the Met Office permits, should be spectacular as the temperature falls toward zero.
We can’t find nine ladies dancing. Come spring, we will have daffodils fluttering and dancing in the breeze, as per Wordsworth, but feel that the link is tenuous. We will also have ladies’ smocks flowering in the meadows but we used them up yesterday by calling them eight milkmaids.
Continue reading “On the ninth day”
by David Feather
Did you realise that by taking walks through our lovely semi-wild nature reserve, you were saving the Country money? I didn’t and I bet you didn’t, unless you read an article in the Guardian last week.
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A lot of people buy artificial Christmas trees in the belief that it benefits the environment, but environmentalists and energy analysts disagree. We need only look at a single element of the hundreds of thousands of artificial trees that will be put up and decorated this Christmas: they are all made of plastic.
Continue reading “Real or fake?”
David Feather’s post yesterday highlighted the problems that planning application 20/00379/OUT will create for Lambrok Stream. The access road for the planned development will have to cross the stream and, no matter how many changes are made to the design of the bridge, we do not see how that can be done without damage to the Lambrok’s biodiversity.
Here are some relevant numbers:
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by David Feather
Get your children creative with their favourite teddy or other toy character.
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Over the weekend, the main notice board at the entrance has been damaged and somebody appears to have held a firework party somewhere in the park.
Continue reading “Bonfire Night damage”
The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom. It has planted over 43 million trees since 1972, owns over 1,000 sites covering over 26,000 hectares and guarantees public access to its woods.
Continue reading “Become a citizen scientist”
Simon Tesler’s video of an otter hunting in the moat at Southwick Court is powerful evidence not only of Lambrok Stream’s biodiversity, but its importance as a wildlife corridor that runs from the River Biss right up through and beyond Southwick village.
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At the beginning of the year the UK Treasury commissioned and published for the very first time a full assessment of the economic importance of nature. Professor Dasgupta, the Cambridge University economist who carried out the assessment, concluded that our prosperity has come at “devastating cost” to the ecosystems that support us. “Nature is our home,” he said, “good economics demands we manage it better.”
Continue reading ““Nature is our home””
There is a new bench by the pond, dedicated to the memory of Christopher Kinsey, the son of Rich and Rosie Kinsey. The bench of seasoned English oak was designed, made and carved by Christopher’s brother, Steve; he and Rich installed it themselves last week.
Our condolences go to the Kinsey family with our thanks for this beautiful new seat and its simple message in these troubled times: Hope.
Wiltshire Council has published a draft Climate Strategy which will help them to shape the next five years of their action on climate change. You are invited to contribute by taking an online survey.
At the same time they are consulting on a document called the Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy for Wiltshire. You are invited to contribute to this consultation by taking another online survey here.
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by David Feather
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve has an orchard which has a wide variety of local heritage apple trees. They are now about 10 years old and starting to bear fruit. However, the crop has been very variable this year.
Continue reading “Apples Galore”
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 