A wildlife Quiz with Stephen Moss organised by Somerset Wildlife Trust

Held by Zoom this evening with over 100 teams taking part. 

Our Heart of the Levels Group entered a team with pleasing results. 

pushing our familiarity with technology to the limit.

Hope to gather more information from our team of 5 taking part

News from the new Curry Woods Conservation Trust! Work in Progress!

"This is a story of a wet December day when there dawned a new hope. On the 19th December a group of intrepid local volunteers gathered together to heed the call for a new beginning. This was not done from an armchair on the internet but in the old -fashioned way. We worked in the wet and mud to plant 200 trees and shrubs on the land adjoining Curry Woods. Why would a group of otherwise sane people do this?

I like to think of this planet on which we are so fortunate to live in the same way as described by the great James Lovelock, he of the Gaia theory. This described the way in which the combined living mass on the planet operates as an indivisible system. If one bit is damaged the whole system has to react to repair the damage. As life is defined by science as the ability to breathe, then the planet as a whole is a giant lung and always has been since life (as we know it Jim) evolved. Breathing involves the taking in of oxygen and the use of its oxidative powers to drive all other reactions in the body using the energy produced, with the release of water and carbon dioxide. This has happened for at least 3 billion years - that’s a lot of oxygen. Where did it all come from? Well, youknow the answer, don’t you? Take a moment to hold a green leaf in your hand (don’t pick it if you can avoid doing so), and think about what it’s doing. In front of you it is performing such complex chemical reactions that we humans cannot master and reproduce them; in the biggest and noisiest chemical factories we cannot do one hundredth of that which the leaf you are holding in your hand is doing. That leaf represents the reason you are here and are alive. Only green plants can take carbon dioxide and water from the environment and use the sun’s radiative energy to make them into molecules we can eat and, most importantly, also produce oxygen. Not just some oxygen but all the oxygen. All the oxygen for the last 3 billion years. That’s why the group of villagers were out that Saturday in the mud and rain to plant 200 trees. (By the by, your lungs are made of millions of alveoli and they are where gas exchange occurs.)

We were planning more planting in January and were particularly looking forward to a group of children from the school, led by teacher Emily Langford, coming to plant with us. It is so important to get their generation involved and we are very sad that the lock down has prevented it for the time being. However, individuals or families can still plant - we have another 200 trees waiting to be planted."

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This is an extract from the monthly edition of Curry Rivel News which is normally delivered by hand to all residents but because of the lock down can only be seen on the Community Web site. Link here

 https://www.curryrivel.org.uk

More news soon!

Curry Woods Conservation Trust

contact us at cwctrust@aol.com

Lock down - again!

Unfortunately plans for a second major planting session have had to be put on hold. We were particularly looking forward to a group of 30 from the school, led by Outdoors Coordinator Emily Langford, coming to plant on January 14 th. However, if the school is back at half term there will still be time for them to get involved.

Meantime the next 200 trees will arrive on 14th and will be available for people to plant by themselves if they would like to.Their positions are marked out and full instructions will be sent to anyone contacting cwctrust@ aol.com. We'd be thrilled to hear from you!

There is a map of the site on our web site. If you are not sure where the CWCT land is!  Starting from in front of the church, walk away from the green and turn sharp left up Butt Lane. At the top, where Butt Lane meets Dyers Road, carry on straight over into the unnamed lane going north. (It is actually Hellards Hill Lane but isn't marked.)  Follow the lane round two bends, first to right and next to left. Carry on on the next bend to the right, but don't turn, instead walk straight ahead into the CWCT land. You can't miss it now as the 200 trees already planted are very obvious in their green guards! It's a nice walk from the green ,taking 15-20 minutes and can be made into a circular walk if you carry on down the lane and take the footpath to your right before the house at the end of the lane. That brings you out to Dyers Road, cross over and keep straight on back to the green!

 

Registered charity number 1190031

 

 

If you would like to become a member of the Trust and be able to attend meetings and have your say please contact the Secretary at 07903030533 or email cwctrust@aol.com.

At last we are owners of the land and have secured a grant for 400 trees, with protective guards and stakes - many thanks to Reimagining the Levels and the Somerset Rivers Authority Trees for Water campaign for these.

The lockdown has scuppered our plans for planting at the moment,and we want as many people as possible to volunteer to get involved. Watch this space and the Curry Rivel website for dates and more information.

Our garden visitors 2020

Following my last post:

Butterflies seen at home.  The numbers vary from year to year as do the numbers seen. Some seen rarely!

In no particular order. 

Identification reference "Butterflies of the British Isles" ,published by Hamlyn in 1988, By J A Thomas and all listed below.

Basic list from Simon Barnes book : "Rewild Yourself " and seen here:

Painted Ladies

Red Admiral

Peacock

Small Tortoiseshell

Large White 

Small White

Also seen by me in our garden:

Small Skipper 

Large Skipper

Brimstone

Green Veined White

Orange Tip

Small Copper

Holly Blue

Comma

Speckled Wood

Marbled White

Gate Keeper

Meadow Brown

Ringlet.

What will be interesting is to record what we can see in 2021!

Christmas books!

 I usually get one or two books as a Christmas gift and this year I want to mention a book by Simon Barnes, called" Rewild Yourself". First published in 2018  but now in paperback. Chris Packham says "Such a good idea" and it is a really clever way of writing about nature especially how he introduces every chapter! Chapter one he calls "The Magic Tree" and I am already thinking of how I can use this intriguing tile to restart this new year. Butterflies are always in our garden and every year we admire them and I try to keep a count of the different species we see and it's a surprising number. Starting with Simon's " Magic Tree" which attracts butterflies and his starter list of six common butterflies I have added others which we have seen in our garden and I can add a further dozen and I'll list them in my next post!! 

CWCT .we will be meeting by Zoom.

 CWCT.we will be meeting by Zoom this evening to talk over how to make progress despite our shut down . It might prove very difficult!

😊.happy new year.hope to publish some latest wildlife news from a foggy,frosty and very cold Somerset soon!

 A new nature reserve in Curry Rivel Somerset UK. Read the story.

You can find our project on Crowdfunding at:

:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/curry-woods-conservation-trust-2

Latest development:

New stretch target

Once the land belongs to the Trust we will need to invest in trees,  fencing, materials to use on path improvement and on information boards

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Many, many thanks to all those who have helped us reach the initial target that enables us to buy the land. Thanks also to those who have expressed an interest in helping in other ways - we will be in contact once we have your addresses.

In the meantime we are now hoping to raise more money towards the next costs as shown above

The nine and a half acres of land at Curry Woods has come back into Somerset County Council's hands after a long period of being tenanted. The Curry Woods Conservation Trust was formed in 2019 with the aim of buying the land and then maintaining the ancient woodland, planting more trees on the part of the land that has been intensively farmed and also using some land to grow crops to provide food for some of the many species of birds that overwinter in the area. SCC have agreed to sell the land to the Trust for £60,000 and we have so far raised over £ 46000 locally, with another grant for £12500 on the cards - so £1000  would see us over the line!

 Why is this land special? So many reasons! For a start most of the woodland is known to be ancient, which means there has probably been woodland on this site since the 1600s. It is therefore the habitat for a wide range of plant and animal species, and forms part of a wildlife corridor of along a ridge above the Somerset Levels. Surprisingly Somerset has relatively little woodland (7%) compared to the national average of 9%)  so we need to conserve what is currently present. Secondly, the land is at a high point on the ridge and in winters water runs off from it in two directions - to the Levels on one side and to the village of Curry Rivel on the other. It floods down the aptly named Water Street to the heart of the village, where it has flooded the village school on at least two occasions in the last decade. Tree roots are known to hold up the the flow of water and prevent soil erosion so planting more trees will aid water retention .

The local community has already become involved in fund raising and collecting sapling trees and we intend to hold guided walks in the autumn, led by one of the trustees who is an experienced naturalist.  the community will be involved in tree planting  and the maintenance of the land. There is a (disused) footpath across the field and through the woodland down to the Levels and we anticipate volunteers will help to reinstate the path and provide information boards on flora and fauna to look for while walking down the path. 

Thus the planned woodland management and expansion will help to deliver the benefits of biodiversity, heritage, carbon capture and storage and water retention essential to the long term well-being of our population and our planet. 

Curry Rivel in Bloom 2020

 We won a gold medal this year! RHS suggestions for next year!

Help others to grow in 2020

You’ve told us that growing with others is what makes Bloom special, that’s why we’re calling on all groups to Grow Social in 2020. We’d love to see you making new connections in your community through plants; reaching beyond ‘the garden gate’ to bring people together. Grow Social will be the Bloom theme in 2020, but all community groups and schools will also be able to join in. We’re developing packs with inspiration and tools to help get you started, which you will be able to request by post or digitally download from January. We realise many of you have been eagerly awaiting news of the Bloom theme to help with your planning, but please rest assured that as community gardeners who bring people together by nature, you’ll be halfway there already! That’s why we want to hear your own innovative ideas. If you’ve worked to bring different parts of the community together through gardening, or reached out to those that might otherwise feel cut-off, please tell us more.

Wiki

I do use Wiki from time to time and have once before made a donation to keep it going and did so again recently.Its a great source of information on wildlife. This is the reply I received and hope it might encourage others to do so. In this age of electronic data flow I recently came across a new word : doxing! I used Wiki to find out more and it is scary and related to the current discussions about electoral interference and false information. A good example of the use of Wiki I think.

Dear David,

I feel so lucky to get to be the person to thank you for your  gift, on behalf of a world of people seeking free knowledge.

I used to try to guess what motivated you to give, but the longer I do this work, the more I realize I can’t put your curiosity in a box. There is no one singular experience of Wikipedia. Curiosity is as diverse as we all are, and it looks a little different for each of us.

When you use Wikipedia next, I hope you feel that it belongs to you. Because without you, and without the millions of people who come back to us every day, we would be nothing.

Thank you for giving Wikipedia shape, and purpose, and momentum. Thank you for fitting us into your life.

With immense gratitude,

Katherine

Katherine Maher, Executive Director
Wikimedia Foundation

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