Scientist are beginning to understand that light pollution is a very significant factor in the recent rapid decline of insect populations.
Continue reading “Light pollution”Light pollution
Intensive farming
Scientists from across Europe have concluded that the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy should be urgently reviewed to stop the intensification of farming practices that are leading to a catastrophic decline in wildlife.
Continue reading “Intensive farming”Stop the decline of insects
Bird populations in the park
Defra’s recent report, Wild Bird Populations in England, 1970 to 2018, ends with a very disturbing Annex called Trends in bird species, by habitat group, in England.
Continue reading “Bird populations in the park”Bird populations in crisis
Last week the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published a report called Wild Bird Populations in the UK, 1970 to 2018
Continue reading “Bird populations in crisis”Community priorities 2019
Wiltshire Council is conducting a survey. They want to make it easy for everyone in Wiltshire to influence decisions that will affect their local areas. They are asking you to choose your five priorities from a long list of local issues. Wildlife and biodiversity is half way down the list.
Continue reading “Community priorities 2019”Percentages
96% of the mammals on Earth are either humans or their livestock.
Cats
Usually we would welcome predators into the park; they are a sign of a healthy ecology. We have resident stoats and weasels, foxes and badgers and are happy to know that the park can support them. Domestic cats, like this one that DKG photographed early in the morning in the woods in Village Green, are very different.
Continue reading “Cats”What is the Country Park worth?
by David Feather
As a reader of this website, you value the Country Park but can you put a financial value on it? I would have thought that it was almost impossible, but the Government’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) believes it can.
Continue reading “What is the Country Park worth?”big butterfly count
Every year since 2010, Butterfly Conservation has conducted a survey of the country’s butterflies using thousands of volunteer citizen scientists. Last year over 100,000 volunteers took part.
Continue reading “big butterfly count”Growing trees
The climate scientists are finally persuaded that Southwick Country Park’s solution to global warming is the right way to go. They should have asked us sooner.
Continue reading “Growing trees”National Meadows Day
It’s National Meadows Day today, an annual celebration of wildflower meadows across the UK. The event takes place on the first Saturday of July each year.
Continue reading “National Meadows Day”Fantastic Mrs Fox
No, we haven’t seen an arctic fox in the park; that would be silly. Instead, here is the irresistible story of a record-breaking journey undertaken by an arctic fox, which demonstrates the resilience and adaptability of all the vulpine species, our common red fox included. It also raises questions, pertinent to everybody, about the effects of the frighteningly rapid loss of arctic ice.
Citizen science
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s hedgehog citizen science campaign begins today. They are asking volunteer citizen scientists to record and report hedgehog sightings and to monitor their behaviour and activity.
Continue reading “Citizen science”Global assessment
At the beginning of this week, the UN’s Global Assessment has highlighted the impact that we are having on the natural world.
Continue reading “Global assessment”Conservation status
Regular readers may have noticed the addition of grey boxes titled Conservation Status at the end of posts about our flora and fauna and beneath the pictures on the sidebar.
Continue reading “Conservation status”Phantom Ditch Digger update
Somebody is STILL trying to drain our boggy patch in Lambrok Meadow. If you know who the Phantom Ditch Digger is, or if you see them in action, PLEASE will you ask them to stop or at least ask them to explain to us why they are doing it; our contact details are here.
Continue reading “Phantom Ditch Digger update”
Notes from the past
A letter from local ornithologist, David C.
I must say DKG’s Tawny Owl & Kingfisher photos are really good. Tawny Owls seem to be doing okay in Wiltshire and Kingfishers are also widely distributed. They seem very inefficient breeders with only about half the chicks surviving their first Winter from more than one brood each Spring!
Continue reading “Notes from the past”Habitat loss
Here is the second in our occasional series attempting to de-mystify the jargon surrounding conservation.
Continue reading “Habitat loss”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
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 