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.
Three storms
Storm damage cleared
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!
Please: no motorbikes
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”Training day
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”Great Crested Newt Pond
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”
Great Crested Newt
September 08 2021: Mail from Ian Bushell to the Water Team at water@wiltshirewildlife.org
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Wolf Moon
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.
On the ninth day
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”
What value is your walk?
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.
Continue readingReal or fake?
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?”
Lambrok Stream by numbers
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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Toy Story in the Park
by David Feather
Get your children creative with their favourite teddy or other toy character.
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Bonfire Night damage
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”Become a citizen scientist
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”
More about the otters in Lambrok Stream
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.
Continue reading“Nature is our home”
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””
Christopher’s bench
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.
Continue readingApples Galore
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.
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Connecting with nature
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.
Continue readingThe case for reed beds
These are the flowers of Typha latifolia, the common bulrush, growing vigorously along Lambrok Stream.
Read on:
Highs and Lows
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.
Continue readingNibble, nibble!
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!”Message from Ian
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.
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 