Have your say…

Several readers on our Facebook page have said that they are having trouble finding the right place to voice their objections to Planning Application 18/10035/OUT; this is the plan for up to 65 houses on the field between Church Lane and Southwick Country Park.


Here is a link directly to the right page.

The comments box can be enlarged from the tag in its bottom right hand corner and you get 32,000 characters (about 5,000 words) to have your say. You can copy and paste into the box from most document formats but we haven’t been able to make it upload photographs yet.

The request for personal information looks more intrusive than it is; you need only fill in the boxes marked with a red asterisk. Don’t forget to press the submit button.

Wiltshire Council’s website is a dreadful place; there is always somebody digging up the pipes or knocking holes in the walls. There are whole days when it speaks only in code. For the sake of the park, be brave; find  the right page and have your say.

Continue reading “Have your say…” →

Protecting the Lambrok

In May of 2017, water voles (Arvicola amphibius) were identified by Wiltshire’s Countryside Team as resident in Lambrok Stream. Water voles are fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. They are protected against:

. . .intentional killing, capture or injury and intentional or reckless disturbance, obstruction, damage or destruction of their burrows.

Continue reading “Protecting the Lambrok” →

Apology

Our web host, in its geeky wisdom, has updated us with a new editing suite, parts of which are still under development. Please bear with us; everything is taking twice as long as usual but we have been assured that the result will be worth it.

FoSCP

Tomorrow is the second Wednesday of the month: a work party day. Come and join us; we meet at 9.30am in the main car park and we work until midday. Bring thornproof gloves, sturdy footwear and a coffee mug. Looking forward to meeting you.

Carbon Capture

We need to take carbon out of our atmosphere and hide it where it can’t contribute, as carbon dioxide, to global warming; the process is called carbon capture and sequestration. Above is the power industry’s solution to the problem; on the next page is FoSCP’s solution:

Click here

Simon Handley has reported a brown and white magpie in the park, at the top of the Arboretum; this is a rare genetic fault called leucism. Please don’t forget your camera next time you visit; we would love a photograph of it.

WHSAP – report submitted

Today, FoSCP submitted the report of their objections to the Schedule of Changes to the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation plan. The plan proposes that land at Church Lane, Upper Studley and Southwick Court should be made available for development; we believe that development  at these sites will damage the ecology of Lambrok Stream and subsequently the ecology of the park.

Read on for the details:

Tuesday work party

Tomorrow (Tuesday 30th October) is a regular work party day. Please come and join us; we meet in the car park at 9.30am and work until midday with a pause for coffee; there will be biscuits.

You will need sturdy footwear and thorn proof-gloves; the tools will be provided. The Met Office says it will be very cold.
 

gardening-tools

The Lone Oak is showing its age;  it has dead and dying branches and parts of the trunk are being hollowed out by fungus. We have decided that it should  be allowed to get on with being several hundred years old, providing habitat for a whole new spectrum of species; we are not going to interfere. Instead,  we have fenced around the tree to keep our park users safe.

The alternative would be to chop bits of it off, in order to protect the picnicking public from falling branches. This summer it became quite the thing to picnic under the Lone Oak, a tribute to its elder status.

The tree will live a long time yet; the fence will mellow, warp, acquire its own little ecology,  rot away and be replaced long before the tree is done. An ageing oak tree is a wonderful resource of nesting holes, rotting wood for beetle larvae and a hundred species of fungi, a prop for climbing plants, a garden of mosses and ferns.

With luck, the Lone Oak will stand in Cornfield for centuries to come.

.o.

Fence around the Lone Oak by DKG

Pictures by DKG

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