Disturbing News
There has been further vandalism in the reserve.
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What a difference a day makes!
After sending yesterday’s pictures of the wetland scrapes in Lambrok Meadow, our in-house photographer Simon Knight went back to the reserve to find all its water features, scrapes, ponds, ditches and streams, full to overflowing. Go carefully out there.
Continue readingSCP-LNR
SOUTHWICK COUNTRY PARK LOCAL NATURE RESERVE
PROJECTS PROGRAMME SUMMARY UPDATE – FOR 2022
Background.
The following programme of actions was taken as an outcome of the review of the park on 27th January 2013 by the Wiltshire Countryside Team and Friends of Southwick Country Park (FoSCP). It is intended that this is a living document: a record of previous projects and tasks conducted and an update of works carried out during 2022, a review of the reserve in general, and suggestions for possible future progress.
Floodwater
The Lambrok is full to overflowing – nice to see after all those weeks of drought but go carefully.
All images taken in the reserve 20.12.2022 by Clive Knight
Bag it and bin it
To make it easier for you to access the reserve’s litter bins, we have laid flagstones through the muddy approaches that inevitably grow around the bins once the wet winter weather has set in.
Dog faeces on the reserve’s paths are unpleasant and unsightly; in the fields they are a source of infection for the animals that will eat next summer’s hay; everywhere and anywhere, they are a danger to the health of our visitors, their children and their pets. Bag it and bin it, please.
Thank you
World population
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs tells us that some time today the world’s human population will reach 8 billion, double that of 1970.
Continue reading “World population”COP27
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP27, begins today in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Continue reading “COP27”International cooperation!
by Ian Bushell
At the beginning of October, at the Amateur Entomological Exhibition at Kempton Park, I was introduced to Dr R.L.Brown from New Zealand, who was doing research into potential biological control of wasps.
Continue reading “International cooperation!”Bird Flu
by David Feather
Sadly, here in North Bradley, we had a letter from Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) today informing us that Bird Flu was in the area and special precautions were needed. Yesterday, I discovered a dead blackbird in our garden and didn’t think anything of it. Today my view was changed by the letter and I shall be looking out for others.
Continue reading “Bird Flu”
NEW SIGNS!
Our Local Nature Reserve status is being celebrated with new signs.
Pictures by Ian Bushell
The results are in
This year’s Big Butterfly Count recorded fewer butterflies than in any previous year.
Continue reading “The results are in”
Backwater
Scrapes 2 and 3 of Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s ABBA project will be backwaters lying alongside Lambrok Stream. A backwater is essentially a shallow pond connected to a waterway, providing still-water habitat away from the flow and turbulence of the main stream.
Continue readingA new pool
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s ABBA project is creating three wetland scrapes in Lambrok Meadow.
Continue reading “A new pool”ABBA
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is undertaking a 5 year project of “practical action, innovative community and business engagement and high-level strategic planning across the River Biss and its tributaries”. The project is called ABBA: A Better Biss Approach.
Continue reading “ABBA”
Recovery
Clive Knight’s weekend picture of the heritage orchard shows how quickly it is recovering from the grass fire of August 20th.
Continue readingRSPB Visit
Thursday September 15th, the RSPB will be visiting the reserve. There will be a stand next to the path, somewhere near the main car park, manned by an RSPB representative, there to answer questions, discuss the organisation’s work and recruit members.
The RSPB stand set up somewhere near the sea.
The RSPB is leading a nation-wide effort to monitor and protect our birds in the face of the present climate emergency. Drop in for a chat, consider joining them: our birdlife needs all the help it can get.
Header image: immature robin photographed in the reserve by Cheryl Cronnie
Southwick Show
Volunteers from the team of conservationists who care for the upkeep of the Park had a stand at Southwick Show on Bank Holiday Monday August 29th. To the relief of the volunteers, the weather was lovely and the visitors were very supportive.
Thanks to all the contributors, we had an excellent selection of goods for people to buy – which they did and we raised £200 for the purchase of additional plants for the Park.
Joan Jones (Chairman FoSCP)
Winter Garden: 1
It’s September: time to think about helping your garden’s wildlife through the rigours of the coming winter. This is the first in a series of posts that we hope might help.
Continue reading “Winter Garden: 1”
Killers
Yesterday morning, two dogs described as brown greyhound types caught and killed a tabby and white cat in the ditch that runs along between Lambrok Meadow and the blackthorn tunnel. If your dog is a hunter with a highly developed prey drive, please, please don’t let it run off-lead in our nature reserve, to hunt and kill our wildlife and the neighbourhood’s cats.
Continue readingGrass fire
Email from Ian Bushell:
Phil R reported that there was a small fire that affected part of the heritage orchard late Saturday afternoon. The Fire Services attended. Some trees singed but they should be recover. The fire appeared to start near the bench and then spread into the orchard.
Continue reading “Grass fire”
This record-breaking drought is drying up the reserve’s ponds and streams. Please help us maintain the quality of what little water is left by keeping your dogs out of the pond for the time being. Thank you
RSPB Visit
On Wednesday August 10th, and on Wednesday September 14th, the RSPB will be in the reserve. There will be a stand next to the path, somewhere near the main car park, manned by an RSPB representative, there to answer questions, discuss the organisation’s work and recruit members.
The RSPB stand set up somewhere near the sea.
The RSPB is leading a nation-wide effort to monitor and protect our birds in the face of the present climate emergency. Drop in for a chat, consider joining them: our birdlife needs all the help it can get.
Header image: immature robin photographed in the reserve by Cheryl Cronnie
Summary
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”More about dogs
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 commentWas this your dog?
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
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 