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”
by David Feather
I wonder how many problems get solved, as visitors to the park have the chance to think more clearly, away from the pressures of modern life. Even if we do not solve problems, there is a growing body of research that has proven without a doubt that connecting with nature can improve our mental health.
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These are the flowers of Typha latifolia, the common bulrush, growing vigorously along Lambrok Stream.
Read on:
The past couple of weeks in the park have brought me some wonderful highs and unfortunately, some truly depressing lows. I will get the lows out of the way first, as I want to end on a positive note.
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by David Feather
Planning Application PL/2021/03655
Squirrels are not the only things wanting to nibble away in Southwick Country Park Local Nature Reserve. Wiltshire Council want to do so, or at least the Education Department of the Council wants to.
Continue reading “Nibble, nibble!”
This morning, I found this floating just downstream of the footbridge into Village Green, obviously the origin of the fishing line used to make the trap in the copse. At 18lb breaking strain it would have been difficult to snap and would have caused a lot of damage to anything running into it.
Let’s look after our wildlife.
Mail from FoSCP to Ian Bushell, Clive Knight, Simon Knight. Fri 30/07/2021 16:58
Subject: URGENT
Julie Newblé has sent a message: “Fishing line has been strung up in the trees in the far corner of village green. It could be very dangerous to people and wildlife. I have nothing to cut the line with and I won’t be able to come back. I have to meet the children.“
It’s in the clearing where the ash poles were burned last year. Can anybody respond?
Last year, Prime Minister Johnson, standing behind a banner that read BUILD BUILD BUILD, condemned all our efforts to protect the biodiversity of the Lambrok corridor as newt-counting. This was just the first move in what is beginning to look like a long-term campaign to benefit developers at the cost of our rapidly deteriorating environment. The latest move, hidden in the shadows of an obscure website, proposes restricting the reach of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Continue reading “Calling all newt-counters”
One of our early-risers has sent us a picture of a small red tent pitched just inside the main entrance, right next to the noticeboard on which the NO CAMPING sign is displayed. It may or may not contain the person/people who lit a fire in the picnic place last night.
Sign Up with the Wildlife Trusts to do at least one wild thing every day throughout the whole month of June.
Wiltshire Police’s Rural Crime Team have asked us to remind you to keep your dog under control when there is livestock nearby. Letting your dog chase or attack livestock is a criminal offence.
You will know that the Park has an orchard that was planted a few years ago. Some of you might have helped to plant it. It was created as a Community Garden and to maintain expertise we keep in contact with the Orchard Project, a national organisation for such orchard managers. This article is from their latest newsletter, which I feel will interest many park users.
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There have been several incidents of dogs worrying livestock in and around Southwick over the past month.
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January marked the beginning of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The science says that these next ten years are humanity’s last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change, to prevent the destruction of the complex ecosystems we all depend on.
Continue reading “Ecosystem restoration”
Planning application 20/00379/OUT
by Graham Hill
Things are still rumbling on for all three of the H2 sites between Trowbridge and Southwick.
Continue reading “Make your voice heard”
Of the 18 species of bats native to Britain, 13 have been identified in Southwick Country Park, in Southwick Court, and in the green fields between Trowbridge and Southwick. The thirteen includes the rare and endangered lesser horseshoe bat, a Priority Species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, and the internationally protected Bechstein’s bat, one of the rarest mammals in the UK.
Read on to see how proposed development will harm the bats’ habitat
Mail from Simon Tesler, on the full extent of the H2 sites.
Continue reading “H2 development sites”
by David Feather
Unfortunately, what is clear about the proposed development at H2.6 and the other two proposed housing sites (here and here) in the South of Trowbridge Community Area is that the original studies done for the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation Plan (WHSAP) proposals were woefully inadequate. Now Wiltshire Council is involved in a poorly evidenced defence of the selection of this site and others in the area, and the developers are taking full advantage of this fact.
Continue reading “Lambrok at Risk”
By Ian Bushell
News of Southwick Country Park achieving Local Nature Reserve Status reverberated in high places!
Continue reading “SCP on the Beeb!”
As you will have seen, revised plans have been submitted by developers for the proposed 180-house estate on the land between Southwick Court and Trowbridge’s southern edge (known as H2.6).
Continue reading “Mail from Southwick Court”
Planning application 20/00379/OUT for site H2.6 at Southwick Court has been resubmitted. There will be a further period of public consultation and comments are invited until Sunday 14th March 2021.
Continue reading “Southwick Court development”
