by David Feather
This is not a slogan to free a political prisoner; it is just information that a few of the apples in the Community Orchard next to the allotments are ripe for picking.
Continue reading “Free Apples”Free Apples
A Big Thank You
A message of thanks from Sarah and Alan, our litter pickers, pictured here at work in yesterday’s unremitting rain.
Continue reading “A Big Thank You”Become a citizen scientist
The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom. It has planted over 55 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”
A walk in the park
by Ian Bushell
Just some thoughts and pictures on a pleasant Sunday afternoon walk in the reserve.
Continue readingSilver washed fritillary
Mail from Max S to FoSCP – Fri 21/07/2023
Hi.
Saw this Silver-washed fritillary yesterday 20/07/23 at the country park.
Max
Tidying up Studley Bridge
The new bridge between Studley Close and the far end of Lambrok Meadow has been renamed, Studley Bridge, and given a thorough tidying by Wednesday’s workparty. Thanks guys!
On Thursday, travellers broke the locks on our gates and set up camp in Simpson’s Field. Wiltshire Council and the police acted swiftly and the group left on Friday night for a more appropriate site. But there are reports of human faeces in the hedges and edges of Simpson’s Field and in the little triangular field at the top of the hill. We will do our best to clean up after our uninvited visitors but if you are walking dogs or children, please take extra care in these areas.
Butterflies
Three butterflies photographed in the reserve this weekend: a female orange tip by Sarah Gould, a speckled wood sent in by Clive Knight and the header picture, a peacock by Mike.
We love to get your photographs of the reserve, please send them in to friendsofscp@outlook.com. If you are using a camera phone, make sure that the pictures are not automatically reduced in size when you share them; we need all the pixels we can get.
Fencing water vole habitat
Next week, work will begin on fencing part of the tributary stream that runs at the bottom of Village Green.
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Here’s a Good News Story…
..among all the doom and disaster we seem to have inflicted on our home planet.
Continue readingBird flu
Bird flu, like any other flu, comes in different strains, most of which cause few or no symptoms in infected birds. But since October 2021 a very virulent strain of H5N1 has swept around the world causing serious disease and many, many fatalities among both farmed and wild bird populations.
Continue reading “Bird flu”No Mow May
Have you joined Plantlife’s No Mow May Movement yet?
Continue reading “No Mow May”
Puddle Corner
by Clive Knight
Phil, Frank, Peter White and I have started to clear the grass that has overgrown the edges of the path that cuts out the flooded bit by Puddle Corner. We were surprised to see how far the grass has encroached onto the path. We estimated that clearing both sides has opened up the path by around 80-90cm. We haven’t reached half way but hope to finish next week.
Continue readingLyrids meteor shower
You should be able to see the Lyrids meteor shower between now and Saturday April 29th. It will reach its peak at the weekend on April 22nd and 23rd, and your chance of seeing shooting stars then will be high if there are no clouds because the new moon falls on April 20th and the sky will be at its darkest.
Take a nighttime walk in the reserve and go hunting shooting stars.
We’re on the BBC!
Mail from Ian Bushell to @bbc.co.uk: April 12 2023
Continue reading “We’re on the BBC!”
Dogs and the wetland scrapes
When we planted up the wetland scrapes in Lambrok Meadow, a reader asked why we try to persuade people to keep their dogs out of the scrapes and how dogs can damage biodiversity.
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Send in your snow pictures, please.
© Ian Bushell
Chain Saw Gang
Pictures and a message from the Friends at work on Wednesday:
Continue reading “Chain Saw Gang”Woodland camp
There is always a gang of children, sometimes junior schoolers, sometimes older, playing somewhere in Village Green woods. The personnel changes as one by one gang members lose interest in sitting round a damp campfire, drinking mix-up or smoking what somebody sold them as top quality weed. But new arrivals come to fill the empty places and the gang continues.
What have they been up to?Planning Applications Results
Planning applications 18/10035/OUT for site H2.4, and 20/09659/FUL for site H2.5 have been accepted, while application 20/00379/OUT for site H2.6 has been rejected. The livestream is still available on Wiltshire Council’s website.
Planning applications
On Wednesday, February 22nd, three planning applications for land adjacent to the reserve will be decided by Wiltshire Council’s Strategic Planning Committee. The meeting will be held in the Council Chamber at County Hall, Trowbridge, BA14 8JN and it will begin at 10.30am.
Continue reading “Planning applications”Sheep worrying
Is your dog a sheep worrier?
On several occasions in the past ten days, dogs have escaped the reserve through the hedge at the northern boundary of Village Green and chased sheep in the fields beyond.
Continue reading “Sheep worrying”Walk in the woods
After the traumas of COVID-19 and months of lockdown, the NHS has been at pains to tell us how beneficial a walk in the woods is for our mental health. But there are benefits, too, for our physical wellbeing; here, in no particular order, are some of them.
Continue reading “Walk in the woods”Drains and consequences
Last week, Frank Lamerton and Pete White, both FoSCP volunteers and parkrunners, dug channels to clear the floodwater from the central path between the decorated bridge and the big pond, the first area to flood every winter and the last to drain.
Continue reading “Drains and consequences”
Too many dogs spoil the…
by David Feather
Recently, a commercial dog-walker in Surrey was killed by the dogs she was walking. According to The Times, she had eight dogs, including a Leonberger (a large and heavy breed originating from Germany). The story appears to be that one of the large dogs attacked another walker’s small dog. The lady owner picked her dog up and was bitten by the attacker. It looks as though the dog walker tried to control the situation but the large dog went for her and then the other dogs joined in. The details are still emerging.
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Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 