First, pick your sloes; there are plenty in the park. Some recipes insist that you shouldn’t do this until after the first frost which is believed to sweeten the sloes but we don’t think it’s essential.
Continue reading “Sloe Gin”Sloe Gin
DON’T FORGET THAT THERE WILL BE FARM MACHINERY WORKING IN THE PARK TODAY; STAY SAFE.
Part three
Mail from Clive to Ian:
“ On my afternoon walk, I spotted these two butterflies in Village Green. I thought the first one is a Painted Lady and the second Holly Blue but I leave it to your better knowledge.“
Mail from Ian to Clive:
“ Yes, I’ll go along with both of those – Painted Lady and a Holly Blue.”
Ragged robin
Ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) growing next to the little tributary stream, between the Decorated Bridge and the Dog Pond.
Continue reading “Ragged robin”Scientific names
As well as local names for the species that live in and visit the park, we use scientific names. It looks a bit geeky but there is a reason.
Continue reading “Scientific names” A message from a park user:
” Hi, I was walking back Friday evening when I saw the teenagers that were doing it. There was a group of mixed aged teenagers 2 boys were destroying the one side and another 2 trying to jump on the south side. They had a cable tied to the panels and tried pulling them off with their push bike. They stopped when I started to approach them. I rang 101 and the police came straight out and went to inspect. The police saw them and they ran off. I gave a statement that night but unfortunately no body was caught.”
Thanks; our community police will probably know who they are. Lets hope we can put a stop to this.
WHSAP hearings finished
Tuesday 16th April was the date of the final session of public hearings on the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation Plan Examination; it was held at the Civic Centre in Trowbridge.
Continue reading “WHSAP hearings finished”First flowerings
Pictures from Ian Bushell of the snake’s head fritillaries in The Race and the wood anemones in the copse at the bottom of Sheepfield.
Yesterday, somebody clicked a button somewhere on the website and became our 700th follower. Welcome, whoever you are.
Sarah’s report to Southwick Village News
By Sarah Marsh
elder in flower
dog rose
crab apple blossom
hawthorn blossom
There has been a suggestion that the Phantom Ditch Digger of Lambrok Meadow is, in fact, a colony of water voles. There are water vole holes in the Lambrok’s banks opposite the place where the Digger’s drain empties into the stream and there are small grazed areas in the boggy patch, just like the grazed areas a grazing water vole might leave. We are taking expert advice; watch this space.
WHSAP Examination Hearings
The WHSAP public hearings will begin on April 2nd. FoSCP have submitted additional written representation and have asked permission to speak at the hearing to be held on the morning of April 4th, when the biodiversity at sites at H2.4, H2.5 and H2.6 will be discussed.
Here is our second submission to the WHSAP Examination.
Our first submission can be found on the main menu under the heading WHSAP. All our posts about Wiltshire’s Housing Site Allocation Plan are tagged WHSAP and our posts about the planning application at Church Lane are tagged Church Lane.
Bluetit factoid 2
The bluetit (Parus caeruleus) has been classified as sexually monochromatic, which means that male and female are the same colour. This classification is based, though, on human colour perception, not on bluetit colour perception.
Continue reading “Bluetit factoid 2”Robins
Photographs by DKG
There seem to be lots of robins in the park this year. In fact, there are lots of robins everywhere in Trowbridge. We know that their population in Britain has grown almost 50% since the 1970s but population growth is measured in means and averages, not in sudden seasonal spikes. There could be several reasons for this spike, not all of them necessarily good news for the park.
The kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) that DKG photographed at the weekend is a female. The male bird has an all black beak while the female’s lower mandible is orange with a black tip.
Kingfishers are highly territorial; they pair up in the winter but keep separate territories until the following spring. It is probable, therefore, that our female has already paired up with a nearby male.
A kingfisher’s territory covers, on average, a kilometre of waterway; our female will be looking for a nesting site either very close to, or in the park. The Lambrok’s steep clay banks may well be perfect.
