Wiltshire Council has agreed with us that parking fees at Southwick Country Park are unworkable; the proposal has been withdrawn.
Listen to the robin’s song.
Robins sing all year round but their spring song is louder and more confident.
Picture by DKG
Litter Picking
by Sarah Marsh
One of the perennial jobs around the Park is collecting litter. Most weeks sees one of the Friends with litter picker and rubbish sack in hand. All sorts of rubbish is found especially during the winter months when the foliage dies back and it is easier to spot.
Predation……
Last spring DKG, our in-house photographer, found a bluetit’s nest in a hole in one of our veteran oaks. A couple of days later, he set up a hide, hoping to photograph the parent birds bringing food to their young.
He found no bluetits.. . . . . . .
Hope Nature Centre
Our tearooms, are open from 8.30am until 4.30pm with delicious hot food served from 8.30 until 3.30pm
We have a busy, fun volunteer/events schedule, to help run our charity; which includes Work Wednesdays, where volunteers can turn up and help out with a variety of tasks around the animal park.
Our May Fete is on 20th May and is always lots of fun. If you would like to help run one of our stalls or run your own stall please contact the centre. We also have Mother’s Day Lunch and Afternoon Teas and Easter Egg Hunts to look forward to. Lots going on and lots to get involved with. We look forward to meeting you soon, from all of us at Hope Nature Centre.
Call Anya 01225 759075 for more info.”
Seed Eaters
Goldfinches eat seeds almost exclusively. Even this late in the winter, they come to the park to find seeds in the dried heads of composite flowers like teasel and burdock.
Our snowdrops are in flower…..
Photograph by DKG
Car Parking News
FROM DAVID FEATHER: –
A big thank you to all of you who signed the petition last weekend against charging for car parking in the Country Park. We presented it to the Council on Monday.
Parking Fees Recommended
In December, we posted an item about Wiltshire’s plans to extend car-parking charges to Southwick Country Park. Last week the Environment Select Committee produced a report making its recommendations to Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet, which will meet on 30th January 2018.
Continue reading “Parking Fees Recommended”Pollarding Willows
Recently you may have seen that the overhanging willows on either side of the path leading from the pond to Lambrok Meadow have been either removed or pollarded, opening up the whole area.
Continue reading “Pollarding Willows”Hazel Catkins
The hazel bushes in the park are flowering early this year. The catkins are already yellow with pollen; a sunny detail on a wet day.
Slow Worms
In the spring of 2013, some 500 slow worms were translocated from a development site in Holbrook Lane, Trowbridge, to three sites in Southwick Country Park. Leo Wirtz, the then-leader of the Countryside Team, and his deputy Ali Rasey, set up the move with Windrush Ecology, who were the environmental consultants at the Holbrook Lane site.
Harlequin Ladybirds
Harlequin ladybirds are hibernating in substantial numbers inside the notice board at the park’s main entrance.
Continue reading “Harlequin Ladybirds”Parking Fees for the Park?
Wiltshire Council has consulted on charges for car parks across the county, including the car park at Southwick Country Park. The proposed rate at Southwick is: £0.80 for an hour, £1.30 for two and £2.70 for three.
European Hornets
There were European Hornets (Vespa crabro) hunting in the Lone Oak in October. They are still quite rare in this country, but changing temperatures have extended their range as far north as Nottingham.
Continue reading “European Hornets”
Planting Native Daffodils
Southwick Flower Show made a very generous donation of £150 to the Park’s cause, for which we thank them. We used their gift for the purchase of a thousand native daffodil bulbs (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) which we planted, in October, around the edge of the woodland surrounding Village Green.
Continue reading “Planting Native Daffodils”
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 