tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210650922024-03-07T06:19:50.557+00:00Wildlife Conservation from the Heart of the Levels in Somerset UKMy personal views on wildlife conservation and the work of the Heart of the Levels Group of the Somerset Wildlife TrustDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14467750639635312472noreply@blogger.comBlogger642125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-14653319529042976592023-11-19T17:39:00.002+00:002023-11-19T17:40:39.928+00:00SWT AGM<p>I recently attended the AGM of the Somerset Wildlife Trust.</p><p>the meeting was well attended and we managed to meet up with a number of old . </p><p>I was motivated to restart my blog and this is the first entry for a long time.</p><p>I hope to be able to continue so see you again soon.</p><p><br /></p>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14467750639635312472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-16478445541154890852023-05-05T15:28:00.000+01:002023-05-05T15:28:46.726+01:00<header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(38, 38, 38); color: #262626; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2rem; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Here is a great story to add to my blog which I must update! |Apologies to George Monbiot for the tremendous work he achieves in protecting our planet and not to overlook the Guardian newspaper for publishing his letters!</h1><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2rem; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><br /></h1><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2rem; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Wealth of Nature</h1><p class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.875rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;"><span class="posted-on" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="screen-reader-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: inset(50%); clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; white-space: nowrap; width: 1px;">Posted on</span><time class="entry-date published updated" datetime="2023-05-01T11:46:28+01:00" style="box-sizing: border-box;">1st May 2023</time></span></p></header><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox" data-description="How has Costa Rica managed to restore its natural wonders, while big, rich nations fail? By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 21st April 2023 One of the world’s greatest environmental heroes doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. Though he has done more to protect the living planet than almost anyone alive, his name is…" data-title="Wealth of Nature" data-url="https://www.monbiot.com/2023/05/01/wealth-of-nature/" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="at-share-tbx-element at-share-tbx-native addthis_default_style addthis_20x20_style addthis-smartlayers addthis-animated at4-show" id="atstbx" style="animation-duration: 0.3s; animation-fill-mode: both; animation-timing-function: ease-out; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a class="addthis_button_facebook_like at_native_button at300b" fb:like:layout="button_count" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; cursor: pointer; float: left; padding: 0px 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><div class="fb-like fb_iframe_widget" data-action="like" data-font="arial" data-height="25" data-href="https://www.monbiot.com/2023/05/01/wealth-of-nature/" data-layout="button_count" data-send="false" data-share="false" data-show_faces="false" data-width="90" fb-iframe-plugin-query="action=like&app_id=172525162793917&container_width=0&font=arial&height=25&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.monbiot.com%2F2023%2F05%2F01%2Fwealth-of-nature%2F&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&send=false&share=false&show_faces=false&width=90" fb-xfbml-state="rendered" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #333333; display: block; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; transition: none; width: 34px;" target="_blank" title="More">30</a><div class="atclear" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: white;"></div></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">How has Costa Rica managed to restore its natural wonders, while big, rich nations fail?</p><span id="more-6678" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626;"></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 21<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12.75px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">st</span> April 2023</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">One of the world’s greatest environmental heroes doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. Though he has done more to protect the living planet than almost anyone alive, his name is scarcely known. It’s partly because he’s quiet and self-effacing and partly because of a general ignorance about Central America that so few of us have heard of <a href="https://www.goldmanprize.org/people/alvaro-umana/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">Alvaro Umaña</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">This might be about to change. He stars in a fascinating film, now released in the Netherlands and negotiating global sales, called <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17593994/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">Paved Paradise</a></em> (disclosure: I was also interviewed). It’s the first feature-length documentary I’ve watched that engages intelligently with the most critical environmental issue: land use. By contrast with <a href="https://www.monbiot.com/2023/03/17/meatwashing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">popular but misguided</a> films such as <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Kiss the Ground</em> or <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Biggest Little Farm</em>, it recognises that sprawling extractive land uses are a lethal threat to the living world. It makes the case that, unless we count the hectares and decide together how best they should be used, we will lose the struggle to defend the habitable planet.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Paved Paradise</em> tells the story of the most remarkable ecological turnaround on Earth: the transformation of Costa Rica. From 1986 to 1990, Umaña was environment minister in Óscar Arias’s government. Arias received the Nobel peace prize for his regional diplomacy. But the equally astonishing environmental shift Umaña catalysed is less well known.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">Until the Arias government took power, Costa Rica suffered one of the world’s worst deforestation rates: on one scientific assessment, its forest cover <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2020.580724/full" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">fell</a> to just 24.4% of the country.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">Today, forests occupy 57%, which, Umaña tells me, is close to the maximum: some parts were never forested, while others are now occupied by productive farms and cities. While a small amount of illegal timber felling continues, Costa Rica is the only tropical country to have more or less <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/costarica/overview" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">stopped and then reversed</a> deforestation. It now has one of the world’s highest percentages of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0124480" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">protected areas</a>. How did it happen?</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">Umaña persuaded Arias to let him run a new department (energy and environment) with responsibility for protected areas. He saw that the key task was to change financial incentives. Though cattle ranching was unproductive, as the land could support just one cow per hectare, it was marginally more lucrative than allowing the forest to stand.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">His department calculated the opportunity cost of forgoing a cow at $64 a year, so this was the money it offered for protecting or restoring a hectare of forest. He began by reaching out to small farmers and their representatives, in those regions where people were most sympathetic to the idea. The smallest landholders were offered grants, slightly larger ones were offered soft loans, with the promise that if their forest was still standing after five years, it could serve as the loan’s guarantee. The plan was astonishingly successful: 97% of those who received loans protected or restored the trees on their land. As landholders everywhere saw the scheme made financial sense, it became massively oversubscribed.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">Needing more money, in 1988 Umaña agreed a <a href="https://dialogochino.net/en/article/47862-explainer-what-is-debt-for-nature-swap/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">debt-for-nature swap</a> with the Dutch government. It would cancel part of the foreign debt if the money Costa Rica would otherwise have spent on servicing it were used instead for forest conservation.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">Following a change of government, Umaña became the country’s climate ambassador. He helped <a href="https://dialogochino.net/en/climate-energy/how-costa-rica-deforestation-millions-for-conservation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">introduce</a> a special tax of 3.5% on fossil fuels to help pay for forest conservation.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">Soon the tree protectors began to supplement their income. Tourists are now the country’s second-biggest source of revenue: government figures show that 65% of them <a href="https://ict.go.cr/en/documents/estad%C3%ADsticas/cifras-tur%C3%ADsticas/actividades-realizadas/1404-principales-actividades/file.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">list</a>ecotourism as a principal reason for visiting. They come to see toucans, green macaws, howler monkeys, jaguars, caimans, poison dart frogs and other resurgent natural wonders. Landholders can also apply for a licence selectively to fell a small number of their trees, some of which are very valuable.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">One reason for the programme’s success is its <a href="https://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/system/files/documents/costa_rica_final_bsp-february_2022.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">sharing</a> of financial benefits, especially through its world-leading <a href="https://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/sites/fcp/files/documents/gender/costa-rica/Costa%20Rica%20Gender%20Action%20Plan_Eng.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">gender action plan</a>. Another is cultural change. In building a new identity around “<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">la pura vida</em>” (the simple life), the government showed that, in combination with economic incentives, national pride can help bring long-established practices such as forest clearance for cattle ranching to an end.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">Costa Rica helped to inspire the <a href="https://www.bonnchallenge.org/about" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">Bonn Challenge</a>, a global programme to restore degraded and deforested land. It launched the international <a href="https://www.campaignfornature.org/costa-rica-calls-for-a-global-coalition-to-protect-nature" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">plan</a> to protect 30% of the planet by 2030, and was one of the two founder members, <a href="https://beyondoilandgasalliance.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">in 2021</a>, of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (though it has since <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/11/03/costa-rica-cop27-oil-gas-phase-out-coalition/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">stood back</a>, following a change of government). These are astonishing achievements for a tiny country.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">Compare this record with policy in the UK, which, 37 years after Umaña set to work, is still pissing about with half-solutions and non-solutions, held to ransom by rich and powerful property owners and entirely incapable of making strategic environmental decisions, especially on <a href="https://www.endsreport.com/article/1812251/current-policy-risks-uk-land-overpromised-competing-uses-research-finds" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">land use</a>. While Costa Rica’s wildlife is booming, ours is in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/13/uk-bird-populations-continue-to-crash-as-government-poised-to-break-own-targets" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">freefall</a>. The government seems determined, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/16/ministers-ignored-own-adviser-over-weak-targets-for-restoring-english-nature" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">against all advice</a>, to allow this disastrous trend to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/31/species-recovery-targets-england-damaging-illogical-scientists-warn" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">continue</a> for the rest of the decade.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">As for the fuel taxes that could have been used, like Costa Rica’s, to fund ecological repair, the UK government has now <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-fuel-duty-freezes-have-increased-uk-co2-emissions-by-up-to-7/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">forgone</a> a cumulative £80bn in revenue by both abandoning Labour’s fuel duty escalator and giving motorists a special rebate. As a result, our carbon emissions are up to 7% higher than they would otherwise have been.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">So why does a rich, powerful nation fail, while a small, much poorer one succeeds? Talking to Umaña and researching the history of this transformation suggests a simple answer: quality of government. When governments are committed, decisive and consistent, things happen. When they are beholden to lobby groups, cronyism and corruption, and delegate responsibility to an abstraction called “the market”, they spend decades flapping their hands while chaos reigns.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">Our self-hating state, which parades its can’t-do culture as a source of pride, insisting that government cannot and should not solve our problems, is constitutionally destined to founder. Why can’t we follow Costa Rica’s example? Because a small but powerful contingent insists on failure.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">www.monbiot.com</p></div><footer class="entry-footer" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(38, 38, 38); color: #262626; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><p class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.875rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;"><span class="cat-links" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.8125rem; letter-spacing: 0.04em; text-transform: uppercase;">POSTED IN <a href="https://www.monbiot.com/category/environment/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;">ENVIRONMENT AND THE NATURAL WORLD</a></span></p></footer>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-13230736420471230842022-05-29T16:59:00.000+01:002022-05-29T16:59:05.344+01:00Local wildlife sightings.<p>We encourage local residents to let us know of wildlife sightings.</p><p>We have been told that in the last few days Nightingales have been heard and seen in the area surrounding East Field!</p><p>Two reports are for sightings of the Painted Lady butterfly.</p><p>Pyramidal Orchids are fairly common in gardens and fields in the village and these are now showing where mowing in lawns is watched closely. Probably flowering in June.</p><p>We would like to encourage more gardeners to look out for them before the mower gets too close!</p><p>Bumble bees are very busy too. Identification is needed.</p><p>We are lucky that our local farmer keeps wide wild margins round his fields which must help wildlife a great deal.</p><p>We hope to receive more sightings over the next few weeks.</p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-90239428773783582462022-05-28T18:33:00.010+01:002022-05-29T16:25:27.053+01:00"Curry Woods Conservation Trust." A community initiative to create a new woodland ! Curry Rivel, Somerset<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><img class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://static.s123-cdn-static-d.com/uploads/5671820/2000_626bca842bd1e.png" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; float: none; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; vertical-align: top; width: 300px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: #f7f9f8; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><strong style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Friday June 3rd (Bank Holiday for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee)</strong><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: #f7f9f8; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">You will be familiar with the Burton Pynsent monument, situated above the village and looking over the Somerset Levels to the west- but probably not the view from the top as the monument is only opened occasionally, under supervision, as it is potentially dangerous for people to climb it alone. Tim Schroder, of Burton House, has very kindly agreed to open it on June 3rd this year, the weekend of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, with the request that people taking advantage of this chance of an exciting climb make a donation to the CWCT at the time. The monument will be open from</span><strong style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> 1 to 6pm</strong><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: #f7f9f8; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> on </span><strong style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">3rd</strong><strong style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> June </strong><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: #f7f9f8; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and we hope to see you there! Peter's blog for May tells you more about the story of the monument.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: #f7f9f8; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Peters Blog link for more information.</span></p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-77239916397464498232022-05-27T08:59:00.001+01:002022-05-29T16:28:43.756+01:00As we slowly get our Heart of the Levels Group back to life after what seems like a life time with no parties to help us!! You might find this post of interest?<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="templateContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; max-width: 600px; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td id="templateHeader" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 9px;" valign="top">See more at: https://mailchi.mp/11beba108d4c/ahead-of-cop26-help-us-to-map-natures-recovery-742322?e=78a7d4ba50<br /><br /><br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnImageBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody class="mcnImageBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnImageBlockInner" style="padding: 9px;" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnImageContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnImageContent" style="padding: 0px 9px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><img align="center" alt="The Wildlife Trusts logo" class="mcnImage" src="https://mcusercontent.com/589cf5d7d1ba1571a10c79d77/images/0b2c5854-2fdf-1178-4929-d9ac380014c8.png" style="border: 0px; display: inline; height: auto; max-width: 1200px; outline: none; padding-bottom: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="219.96" /></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td id="templateBody" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 234, 234); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-top-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-top: 0px;" valign="top"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnTextBlockInner" style="padding-top: 9px;" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnTextContent" style="color: #202020; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px 18px 9px; word-break: break-word;" valign="top"><h1 style="font-size: 26px; line-height: 32.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </h1>Hi David, <br /><br /><strong>Take part in the UK's biggest nature challenge 🌳🦔</strong><br /><br />Every June, hundreds of thousands of people take part in 30 Days Wild - our popular annual event when we challenge everyone to complete a wild activity every day for a whole month! You might be having breakfast with the birds on Monday, baking hedgehog cupcakes on Tuesday, and meditating outdoors on Wednesday.<br /><br /><br />Posted by Nicky Williams for the Wildlife Trusts:<br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnTextBlockInner" style="padding-top: 9px;" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnTextContent" style="color: #202020; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px 18px 9px; word-break: break-word;" valign="top"><strong>Find out more about the projects, watch our wonderful short films, and find out how you can be a part of Nextdoor Nature.</strong></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnButtonBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody class="mcnButtonBlockOuter"><tr><td align="center" class="mcnButtonBlockInner" style="padding: 0px 18px 18px;" valign="top"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnButtonContentContainer" style="background-color: #058293; border-bottom-left-radius: 50px; border-bottom-right-radius: 50px; border-top-left-radius: 50px; border-top-right-radius: 50px;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="mcnButtonContent" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; padding: 18px;" valign="middle"><a class="mcnButton " href="https://wildlifetrusts.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?u=589cf5d7d1ba1571a10c79d77&id=647a98240b&e=78a7d4ba50" style="color: white; display: block; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Be a part of Nextdoor Nature">Be a part of Nextdoor Nature</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnDividerBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; table-layout: fixed !important; width: 100%px;"><tbody class="mcnDividerBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnDividerBlockInner" style="min-width: 100%; padding: 18px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnDividerContent" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-top-color: rgb(234, 234, 234); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnTextBlockInner" style="padding-top: 9px;" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnTextContent" style="color: #202020; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px 18px 9px; word-break: break-word;" valign="top">Thank you so much for your continued support,<br /><br />Nikki Williams<br />Director: Campaigning and Communities<br /><strong>The Wildlife Trusts</strong></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-54863199079000103392022-05-22T19:32:00.000+01:002022-05-22T19:32:36.757+01:00New announcement affecting my local wildlife trust.<p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px;">National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">Declaration of National Nature Reserve</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">Districts of Somerset West and Taunton, South Somerset, Sedgemoor and Mendip</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">County of Somerset</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">Notice is hereby given that:</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">In pursuance of section 19(1) of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and section 35(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and all other powers enabling them in that behalf Natural England has, by the Somerset Wetlands National Nature Reserve No.01 Declaration made on the 4th day of May 2022, declared that the Bridgwater Bay, Ham Wall, Huntspill River, Shapwick Heath, Somerset Levels and Westhay Moor National Nature Reserves are extended and collectively are to be known henceforth as the Somerset Wetlands National Nature Reserve.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">In accordance with section 19(3) of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 (as amended), and all other powers enabling them in that behalf, Natural England has declared that the land having a total area of 78.15 hectares or thereabouts shown cross-hatched and shaded yellow on the map no.7 attached to the said Declaration, situated in the Districts of Mendip and Sedgemoor in the County of Somerset, (which land was included in the Ham Wall No.01 Declaration made by The Nature Conservancy Council for England on the 19th day of July 1995) has ceased to be held by Natural England and is now held and managed as a nature reserve by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">The extension land having a total area of 2274.16 hectares or thereabouts shown single hatched or cross hatched and shaded yellow on the maps attached to the said Declaration, situated in the Districts of Somerset West and Taunton, South Somerset, Sedgemoor and Mendip in the County of Somerset, has been acquired and is held by Natural England or is held by the Environment Agency, Hawk and Owl Trust, National Trust, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Somerset Wildlife Trust, and Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, bodies approved by Natural England to hold and manage National Nature Reserves.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">The said land now having a total area of 6138.92 hectares or thereabouts is being managed as a nature reserve, and Natural England is satisfied that the land is of national importance.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">And in accordance with section 19(3) of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 (as amended), and all other powers enabling them in that behalf, Natural England has declared that the land having a total area of 1.24 hectares or thereabouts shown cross-hatched and un-shaded on the map no.7 attached to the said Declaration, situated in the District of Mendip in the County of Somerset, (which land was included in the Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve No.05 Declaration made by English Nature on the 29th day of September 2006) has ceased to be held and managed by Natural England as a nature reserve.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">The declaration and associated maps may be viewed on Natural England’s website at: <a class="govuk-link" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-nature-reserves-formal-notice-of-new-or-extended-sites" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #4c2c92; text-decoration-thickness: max(1px, 0.0625rem); text-underline-offset: 0.1em;">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-nature-reserves-formal-notice-of-new-or-extended-sites</a></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.3157894737; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">Rachel Williams, Area Manager for Wessex,<br />on behalf of Natural England.</p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-58481217527920936912022-05-02T16:16:00.006+01:002022-05-02T16:21:50.804+01:00Natural England Blog post. Catch up!<header><h1 class="govuk-heading-xl" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 3rem; line-height: 1.0416666667; margin-bottom: 50px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Greener farming advice during the agricultural transition period</h1><div class="govuk-body-s" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.25; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="govuk-visually-hidden" style="border: 0px !important; clip-path: inset(50%) !important; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px) !important; height: 1px !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; white-space: nowrap !important; width: 1px !important;">Posted by: </span><a class="author url fn" href="https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/author/rob-cooke/" rel="author" style="color: #4c2c92;" title="Posts by Rob Cooke">Rob Cooke</a>, <span class="govuk-visually-hidden" style="border: 0px !important; clip-path: inset(50%) !important; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px) !important; height: 1px !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; white-space: nowrap !important; width: 1px !important;">Posted on: </span><time class="updated" datetime="2022-02-02T09:22:48+00:00" pubdate="" style="color: #505a5f;">2 February 2022</time> - <span class="govuk-visually-hidden" style="border: 0px !important; clip-path: inset(50%) !important; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px) !important; height: 1px !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; white-space: nowrap !important; width: 1px !important;">Categories: </span><a href="https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/category/farming/" rel="category tag" style="color: #4c2c92;">Farming</a></div></header><div class="entry-content" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><p style="caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">I’m fortunate to be the Director of the Greener Farming and Fisheries Programme in Natural England. There’s a wide remit under the greener farming umbrella but one area that I want to focus on here is Natural England’s role in delivering advice to farmers and landowners for nature’s recovery.</p><p style="caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">January 2021 saw the start of the seven-year transition away from EU rules and the end of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The Government has set out how Basic Payment Scheme direct payments will be phased out over the period to 2027-28 and delinked from the need to farm in 2024. Evidence shows that agricultural businesses rely heavily on these payments to remain profitable. Instead of these direct payments, incentives will be introduced to encourage more environmentally friendly practices based on public money for public goods.</p><p style="caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Farming activity covers 70% of England’s land - all our natural and semi-natural habitat (at least 2m hectares including 39% of Sites of Scientific Interest) is either managed or affected by the way it is farmed. In turn, this directly links to the quality of our landscapes, the health of our ecosystems and the benefits they bring to society.</p><p style="caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">As part of the biggest change to English agricultural policy in decades, by 2024, Defra will have fully introduced <a href="https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2022/01/06/get-ready-for-our-3-new-environmental-land-management-schemes/" style="color: #4c2c92;">three new environmental land management schemes</a> that will be open for applications:</p><p style="caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">• the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)<br />• Local Nature Recovery (LNR)<br />• Landscape Recovery (LR).</p><p></p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14467750639635312472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-65638150349601507582022-01-09T17:48:00.000+00:002022-01-09T17:48:19.658+00:00Curry Woods Conservation Trust located in Curry Rivel , Somerset , UK<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">We will finalise plans for the second phase of tree </span><span style="font-size: small;">planting for our new woodland!</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Volunteers to help with tree planting welcome.</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Agenda for the Trustee 2022 meeting to be held in Curry Rivel <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">on Friday 14<sup>th</sup> January at 7.30pm<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0cm;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1. </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span> </span>Apologies for absence<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0cm;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2. </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span> </span>Approval of minutes of previous meeting held on November30th 2021</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; margin-left: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0cm;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3. </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Matters arising.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0cm;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4. </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span> </span>Collection of trees 17/18 January 9, 2022<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0cm;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5. </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span> </span>Planting on 19<sup>th</sup> January<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 24.25pt; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">- attendees<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 24.25pt; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">- start time<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 24.25pt; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-equipment<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0cm;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6. </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span> </span>Woodland management plan - CM<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0cm;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7. </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span> </span>Insurance <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0cm;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8. </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span> </span>Update on finance- AC<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">9. </span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> AOB<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Web site:cwctrust@aol.com</span></p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-47013870784058941932022-01-07T15:52:00.000+00:002022-01-07T15:52:26.317+00:00Photo by Chris Chappell. member of Heart of the Levels Group of the Somerset Wildlife Trust<p><img alt="May be an image of bird and nature" class="i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 datstx6m pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4 k4urcfbm bixrwtb6" height="366" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://scontent.fbrs4-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/271496288_1095509391225511_3976080227608697051_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=Wh7LMeWXaCAAX95Gq9W&_nc_ht=scontent.fbrs4-2.fna&oh=00_AT8KIGOSysb8SHRko4hiD-QvqYwo2mvdUbeNb_oJWWUzfw&oe=61DE146A" width="546" /></p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-248959722058415712022-01-05T15:35:00.000+00:002022-01-05T15:35:07.462+00:00Somerset County Council announcement on climate change!<p> <a href="https://somersetnewsroom.com/" rel="Home" style="background-color: white; color: #4f7183; font-family: Raleway, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;" title="Somerset County Council Newsroom"><img height="140" id="header-image" scale="0" src="https://somersetnewsroom.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/newsroom-new.png" style="border: 0px; clear: both; height: auto; margin-top: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="940" /></a></p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Raleway, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><div id="header" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Raleway, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; width: 940px;"><div class="menu-container" id="menu-primary" style="float: right; font-size: 1em; margin: 30px 0px 12px; position: relative; width: 705px; z-index: 99;"></div></div><div id="main" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Raleway, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; width: 940px;"><div id="content" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 30px; min-height: 180px; width: 640px;"><div class="hfeed"><div class="post-16246 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-climate-change category-cllr-david-fothergill category-cllr-david-hall category-environment category-latest-information category-low-carbon category-press-releases" id="post-16246" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; float: left; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; position: relative; width: 640px;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: none; color: #4f7183; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 5px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 2px; word-wrap: break-word;">Make a pledge to ‘cut the carbon’ in 2022 </h1><div class="byline" style="color: #aaaaaa; font-family: Overpass, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8461538461538461em; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.692307em; margin: 0px; visibility: hidden; word-spacing: 2px;"><abbr class="published" style="border: none; cursor: help; font-style: normal; visibility: visible;" title="5 January 2022 10:34 am">5 January 2022</abbr><span class="author vcard" style="font-style: normal;"><a href="https://somersetnewsroom.com/author/sxsaltersomersetgovuk/" rel="author" style="color: #aaaaaa; text-decoration: none;" title="Posts by sxsaltersomersetgovuk"></a></span><a href="https://somersetnewsroom.com/category/climate-change/" rel="category tag" style="color: #aaaaaa; text-decoration: none;"></a><a href="https://somersetnewsroom.com/category/cllr-david-fothergill/" rel="category tag" style="color: #aaaaaa; text-decoration: none;"></a><a href="https://somersetnewsroom.com/category/cllr-david-hall/" rel="category tag" style="color: #aaaaaa; text-decoration: none;"></a><a href="https://somersetnewsroom.com/category/environment/" rel="category tag" style="color: #aaaaaa; text-decoration: none;"></a><a href="https://somersetnewsroom.com/category/latest-information/" rel="category tag" style="color: #aaaaaa; text-decoration: none;"></a><a href="https://somersetnewsroom.com/category/low-carbon/" rel="category tag" style="color: #aaaaaa; text-decoration: none;"></a><a href="https://somersetnewsroom.com/category/press-releases/" rel="category tag" style="color: #aaaaaa; text-decoration: none;"></a><span class="edit" style="font-style: normal;"></span></div><div class="entry-content"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Somerset County Council is calling on residents to join the county’s fight against climate change by ‘cutting the carbon’ in 2022.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">The County Council and the four district councils have all declared a climate emergency and set ambitious goals for Somerset to become a carbon neutral county by 2030.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Now, as a new year begins, Somerset County Council is urging everyone to make their own new year pledge to reduce their carbon footprint for 2022.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Council Leader David Fothergill said: “Many of us kick off the new year with a diet – how about for 2022 we commit to cutting carbon as well as carbs?</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">“We know that climate change is a big priority for the people of Somerset. We’ve made the pledge to lead from the front – we’ve invested millions of pounds in our council buildings to drastically reduce our own carbon footprint and we’ve also made £1.5m available for community projects in every corner of Somerset. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">“There’s more to do and we can all play our part. Whether it’s making our own homes more energy efficient, recycling more, reducing car travel, shopping locally, growing our own food – let’s make the pledge to make a difference in 2022.” </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Throughout January, Somerset County Council will be premiering a series of short films showcasing communities already doing amazing things to cut the carbon in Somerset. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Case studies range from the green-minded village of Wedmore to modern thinking from the 850-year-old Wells Cathedral; from community energy in Avalon to growing local veg in Porlock, from retrofitting homes in Bruton to e-scooters in Taunton and the success of the Recycle More programme. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Cllr David Hall, Somerset County Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change, said: “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing us today and it can sometimes feel overwhelming. But small steps really do make a difference and we can all be part of the solution. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">“It’s fantastic to see so many communities setting an example right here in Somerset and I’m sure that by showcasing their efforts it will inspire others to step up. If you’re doing something in your home or community, please get in touch – we’d love to share your story too.” </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; overflow-wrap: break-word;">The first film featuring Wedmore will be premiered on Friday 7 January at 8pm at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/353230972807272/" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="color: #4f7183; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/events/353230972807272/</a>. Further new films will be aired throughout January every Tuesday and Friday at 8pm at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/SomersetCountyCouncil" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="color: #4f7183; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.facebook.com/SomersetCountyCouncil</a> – or you can find them afterwards on the <a href="https://www.somerset.gov.uk/climate-emergency/" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="color: #4f7183; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Climate Emergency webpage</a>. </p></div></div></div></div></div>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-77762090316877483372022-01-03T15:52:00.000+00:002022-01-03T15:52:38.465+00:00Curry Woods Conservation Trust <p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Extract from the notice for our first AGM.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Curry Woods Conservation Trust.</span> </p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Website: <a href="https://currywoodsconservationtrust.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #307672; text-decoration: none; transition: opacity 0.35s;">currywoodsconservationtrust.com</a></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING.</span>The Trust will hold its first Annual General meeting on the 7<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12.375px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span>December in the Old School Room starting at 1830. The meeting will be proceeded by a talk about the work of the Re-imagining the Levels Group in tackling the problem of flooding in Somerset by finding areas on the hills above the levels where trees can be planted. This is also the aim of the “Trees for Water” scheme funded by the Somerset Rivers Authority and our Trust has worked “hand in glove” with these two organisations to plant up the Curry Woods area. Much, much more land on the Somerset hills must be used to plant trees if if there is any hope of preventing the levels like West Sedgemoor in our Parish from permanent flooding in future warmer years.So please come along and hear about our efforts to help you combat climate change.There will be a General report on the last eighteen months’ work to buy the land and plant the trees. A financial report will be presented on fund raising and fully examined accounts will be available for scrutiny. These have been submitted to the Charity Commission in their required format. There will be a report on setting up the Charity and the website and how to access the latter. As we are all going to have to change how we are live our lives now that the new warmer world is with us it will be a time to celebrate our Community’s response to combat flooding and increase biodiversity by conserving and improving our great natural assets in Curry Woods. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Funding: </span>Our participation in the Aviva Community and Climate Change funding programme that I described last month was very fruitful. A week after the programme opened on Crowdfunder we had reached our target and so a “stretch target” was put in place as the fund will be open until the third of December. We also are very grateful for a grant from the Curry Rivel News to help with hedgerow management on the Trust’s land. Once the next round of planting is done we will move on to developing a management plan for the existing woodland, managing our hedges to maximise insect and bird life and marking the boundaries in the wood. The footpath in the wood will also be renovated and information boards built. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">And finally…</span>…Just a reminder that we will have another 400 trees to plant in early December and any help will be much appreciated For dates and details watch the website . In the meantime, thanks for all your support in the last year and, at the end of a very warm November, the team at the Trust wish you a Happy Christmas, hopefully with our families this year, and the best of everything you could wish for next year. </p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-41396920753953529422021-12-13T17:02:00.002+00:002022-01-03T16:01:40.403+00:00Natural England,s Green Infrastructure Framework : hope you find it interesting!<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#0b0c0c" height="53" width="100%"><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; max-width: 580px; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#0b0c0c" valign="middle" width="70"><a href="https://www.gov.uk/" style="text-decoration: none;" title="Go to the GOV.UK homepage"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><td style="padding-left: 10px;"><img alt="" border="0" height="32" src="https://static.notifications.service.gov.uk/images/gov.uk_logotype_crown.png" style="margin-top: 4px;" /></td><td style="font-size: 28px; line-height: 1.315789474; margin-top: 4px; padding-left: 10px;"><span style="color: white; display: inline-block; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: top;">GOV.UK</span></td></tr></tbody></table></a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="content" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; max-width: 580px; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td height="10" valign="middle" width="10"></td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#1D70B8" height="10" width="100%"></td></tr></tbody></table></td><td height="10" valign="middle" width="10"></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="content" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; max-width: 580px; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td height="30"><br /></td></tr><tr><td valign="middle" width="10"><br /></td><td style="font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.315789474; max-width: 560px;"><p style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">A new post, “How Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework can help create better places to live” has just been published on the Natural England blog. </p><p style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The pandemic showed how important nature is to our health and wellbeing, but also how many people do not have access to high quality green space close to home. The Green Infrastructure Framework released today will help us achieve this …</p><p style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Read the new post: <a href="https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2021/12/07/how-natural-englands-green-infrastructure-framework-can-help-create-better-places-to-live/" style="color: #1d70b8; word-wrap: break-word;"></a></p><p style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><br /></p><p style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">You’re getting this email because you subscribed to updates from the Natural England blog.</p><p style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><a href="https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/subscribe/?subscriber=davidgerman555%40gmail.com" style="color: #1d70b8; word-wrap: break-word;">Unsubscribe from the Natural England blog</a>.</p></td></tr></tbody></table>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-31933219791514477332021-11-06T18:50:00.000+00:002021-11-06T18:50:19.147+00:00Wildlife Conservation from the Heart of the Levels in Somerset UK: Holiday photo/ Sulphurous Jewel beetle<div><br /></div><div>Took this photo a couple of ago whilst visiting our daughter who was working in Abu Dhabi and thought it worth revisiting. Selfish reason really.</div><div><br /></div><a href="https://heartofthelevels.blogspot.com/2017/05/holiday-photo-sulphurous-jewel-beetle.html?spref=bl">Wildlife Conservation from the Heart of the Levels in Somerset UK: Holiday photo/ Sulphurous Jewel beetle</a>: http://www.arkive.org/sulphurous-jewel-beetle/julodis-euphratica/ Found this beetle which you can see on this link. In AbuDhabi! Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-82517013928413895472021-11-01T11:45:00.001+00:002021-11-01T12:01:10.638+00:00Curry Woods Conservation Trust- latest news<p class="cf-text cf-text--body cf-text--thin cf-text--spacer1" style="background-color: #fefefe; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "Source Sans Pro", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 600;">Hi. It's me in that hole. I've just had my 75th birthday, so what am I doing standing in a hole wearing a swim suit and wellies in October? <i>(UTube</i></span><i> video not included here yet)</i> Trying to catch your attention, that's what! Your attention to the effects of climate change, which will be so important, particularly for my children and grandchildren's generation . We can all do our bit to try to alleviate the effects, particularly ones we can already see. I live in Somerset, one of the areas most likely to be severely affected . Our project concerns the Somerset Levels, a large part of the county generally at or below sea level. You probably remember the pictures on the news a few years back when the Levels were flooded and whole communities had to leave their homes. Animals got stranded, roads had to be closed -it was a real disaster. Our local village school has been flooded twice in the recent past. This is predicted to become a more common event from now on due to climate change. Somerset has less tree cover than most counties in England; In the past a lot of the trees have been removed from the hills surrounding the Levels to make room for farmland. Trees hold rainwater and release it slowly over time so replanting trees above the Levels will help to reduce flooding. Trees also capture and store carbon dioxide and this also combats climate change. Our small local charity was formed when 9 acres of farmland and mature woodland came up for sale on a ridge above the Levels. <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 600;">During 2020, in spite of the pandemic, we raised £60K ,</span> mainly from the local community, to buy the land. Our willing volunteers, including the top two classes from our local school, have already planted 500 trees and shrubs on the farmland and the local community has enjoyed the wildflower meadow that has developed alongside them. This winter we have obtained another grant for a further 400 trees and shrubs, with guards and stakes, , to plant later in the season.</p><p class="cf-text cf-text--body cf-text--thin cf-text--spacer1" style="background-color: #fefefe; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "Source Sans Pro", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 600;">The weather was kind to us and our trees this summer</span> as the early rain allowed them to establish their roots and we didn't need to water. Very few trees didn't grow. However, next year may not be so obliging, so for minimal outlay we have constructed a rainwater capture apparatus. We now have 3.5m3 water in large tanks. However,<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 600;"> we need a means to get it from the tanks to the trees.</span> Various ideas are being considered, but they will all cost money. Our <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 600;">boundaries in the woodland </span> are currently not marked, though we have identified where they are from our documents. We need to mark them clearly and to protect saplings growing in the wood from being browsed by deer. As the woodland is on the steep slope to the Levels on the north this will not be easy!</p><p class="cf-text cf-text--body cf-text--thin cf-text--spacer1" style="background-color: #fefefe; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "Source Sans Pro", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 600;">We have no income other than that obtained by fundraising </span>so that is why we are very much hoping you will support us now! <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 600;">Thank you</span> for your attention</p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-29781222763086011752021-10-27T17:49:00.000+01:002021-10-27T17:49:54.364+01:00Latest news from Natural England<p> Interesting in light of the pending Climate Conference in Glasgow</p><p style="caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">A new post, “Rewilding the Marches Mosses – Britain’s third largest raised bog” has just been published on the Natural England blog. </p><p style="caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">By Dr. Joan Daniels, MBE, Natural England’s Marches Mosses BogLIFE Project Officer, at Fenn’s, Whixall & Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve. For 30 years, I have been lucky enough to lead Natural England/Natural Resources Wales rewilding of the centre of …</p><p style="caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Read the new post: <a href="https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2021/10/25/rewilding-the-marches-mosses-britains-third-largest-raised-bog/" style="color: #1d70b8; word-wrap: break-word;">https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2021/10/25/rewilding-the-marches-mosses-britains-third-largest-raised-bog/</a></p><p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-35364532269191211802021-10-14T10:51:00.002+01:002021-10-14T11:01:41.863+01:00Somerset local action to cope with Climate Change.<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>We are getting somewhat overwhelmed by initiatives to cope with Climate Change. About time too you might think. I have been watching the series of programmes on TV called " Earth Shot" and it took me some time to find out what it was all about. ( https://earthshotprize.org ) I found out eventually that it was an initiative started a year ago to find new ways of responding to all aspects of the damage we are collectively causing to the Earth. The BBC web site is currently giving a good introduction to it I eventually found!</p><p>All this made me repeat much of an earlier post about our local situation which is no bad thing!</p><p>However this post is just looking at Somerset responses to probably our biggest climate change threat namely flooding.Where we live is about 50 metres above sea level and there are predictions of future sea levels which would put us on the new coast line!</p><p>This possibility has led to serious efforts to respond. You can see how seriously by visiting the web site set up to focus our local attention to the potential consequences: </p><p>https://www.adaptingthelevels.com/about</p><p>I hope you will see why I have gone to the trouble to tell you all about it!</p><p><br /></p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-71620341889262131842021-10-01T17:11:00.001+01:002021-10-01T17:11:31.025+01:00Rewilding Europe. Seen from the UK<div class="halfContent_full top" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(92, 90, 88); color: #5c5a58; font-family: TheSans, Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: 887px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 1665px; z-index: 0;"><div class="halfContent_fullCol halfContent_fullCol-right halfContent_col-right" data-mh="halfContent_full" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: none; height: 887px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; right: 0px; width: 832.5px;"><span class="halfContent_creditImage" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; position: relative; width: 832.5px;"><img class="halfContent_image" src="https://rewildingeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/SWD-2014-05-18-160638-2-1024x977.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 832.5px;" /><div class="halfContent_credit" style="bottom: 2px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-size: 0.75em; position: absolute; right: 6px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7) 1px 1px 6px; text-transform: uppercase;">STAFFAN WIDSTRAND / REWILDING EUROPE</div></span></div></div><div class="container container-noPadding" data-mh="halfContent_full" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(92, 90, 88); color: #5c5a58; font-family: TheSans, Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: 887px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 1290px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; width: 1290px;"><div class="halfContent_row" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 887px;"><div class="halfContent_col halfContent_col-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; height: 887px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 645px;"></div><div class="halfContent_col " style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; height: 887px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 645px;"><div class="halfContent_content halfContent_content-left" style="-webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; height: 887px; padding: 3em; position: relative; text-align: right; z-index: 100;"><div class="editorContent" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; width: 549px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #848484; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">History</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Rewilding Europe was formally established on 28 June 2011 as an independent, <a href="http://rewildingeurope.com/public-disclosures/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #9a0167; text-decoration-skip: objects; text-decoration: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.2s; word-wrap: break-word;">non-for-profit foundation (ANBI status) registered in the Netherlands</a>. The four co-founders of Rewilding Europe are Frans Schepers, Staffan Widstrand, Neil Birnie and Wouter Helmer. Rewilding Europe currently incorporates two limited liability companies, the Rewilding European Capital B.V. and the Rewilding Europe B.V..</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">As an independent organisation, Rewilding Europe has established itself as a pan-European initiative, operating at the frontline of rewilding at a European scale. We work together with numerous partners, both at a European, national and local level. A Supervisory Board, with now five members from five different countries, was established in September 2012. The <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/rewilding-europe-circle/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #9a0167; text-decoration-skip: objects; text-decoration: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.2s; word-wrap: break-word;">Rewilding Europe Circle</a>, an assembly of ambassadors and advisors, was established in 2015.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">After more than nine years of committed work, Rewilding Europe is now well underway and has made considerable progress, as can be seen in our <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/publications/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #9a0167; text-decoration-skip: objects; text-decoration: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.2s; word-wrap: break-word;">Annual Reviews and regular reports</a>. The rewilding process in Europe has achieved significant momentum. As it takes this new conservation movement forward across the continent, Rewilding Europe will continue to act as a pioneer and frontrunner.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">By mid 2020, Rewilding Europe is working in eight large <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/areas/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #9a0167; text-decoration-skip: objects; text-decoration: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.2s; word-wrap: break-word;">rewilding areas</a>across Europe, with staff- and board members, ambassadors and volunteers from 18 European countries. Our lean-and-mean <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/our-team/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #9a0167; text-decoration-skip: objects; text-decoration: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.2s; word-wrap: break-word;">central team</a> currently represents 7 lead positions with some 16 staff in total. Rewilding Europe is based in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Read more about Rewilding Europe in the <a href="http://rewildingeurope.com/public-disclosures/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #9a0167; text-decoration-skip: objects; text-decoration: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.2s; word-wrap: break-word;">public disclosures.</a></p></div></div></div></div></div>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-10487278470229738512021-09-30T13:03:00.001+01:002021-10-14T10:53:54.871+01:00Climate Change and Adaption! Local action<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I attended the recent AGM of the Sedgemoor Gardening Club and listened to a very good presentation on the subject of the increasing risk of river flooding on the Levels and related issues. As a follow up to the meeting I met up with Gina Beauchamp who chairs the Curry Rivel Britain in Bloom group, CRIB, and Peter Goodenough who is Chairman of the Gardening Club and the main initiator of the Curry Woods Conservation Trust with the tree planting on the ridge.which I also support. </span></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The three of us all agreed that we had a common interest in supporting County wide activities to cope with anticipated effects of climate change and could make a useful contribution to future discussions and proposals.</span></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I hope to get support from our local group of the Wildlife Trust whilst CRIB has in previous years made reference to Batty Piece and Eastfield as examples of community support for our wild flower meadows. </span></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What we would like to do next is to welcome village residents to join us in an informal group to discus and share information about future changes and action to protect and promote the wildlife in our Parish. We would write about this initiative in the Curry Rivel News . CRIB and the Curry Rivel Woodland Trust would be named and I would like to include reference to other local activities.You can see more on the whole story about Climate Change adaptation in Somerset on their web site at: <a href="http://www.adaptingthelevels.co.uk/">www.adaptingthelevels.co.uk</a>,</span></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><br /></div>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-54630829864820197402021-09-29T13:08:00.001+01:002021-09-29T13:08:37.429+01:00New thinking on how to control development -Biodiversity Net Gain<p class="govuk-body media-heading" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.25; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="author" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.1875rem; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3157894737;">Read about all this on Natural EnglandBlog at:</span></p><p class="govuk-body media-heading" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.25; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="author" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.1875rem; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3157894737;">naturalenglandblog.gov.uk</span></p><p class="govuk-body media-heading" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.25; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 19px;"><b>************************************************************************</b></span></p><p class="govuk-body media-heading" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.25; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="author" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.1875rem; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3157894737;"><u><i>Comment posted by</i></u> Professor Ian Rotherham</span> <span class="govuk-visually-hidden" style="border: 0px !important; clip-path: inset(50%) !important; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px) !important; height: 1px !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; white-space: nowrap !important; width: 1px !important;">posted on</span><time datetime="2021-09-21T13:01:57+01:00" style="color: #505a5f;">on 21 September 2021</time></p><div class="comment-body" style="caret-color: rgb(11, 12, 12); color: #0b0c0c; font-family: "GDS Transport", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 15px;">A big problem is the idea that catastrophic losses can be offset - which often they cannot. Whilst there are great opportunities to get developers and business to reinvest in biodiversity this should not be an excuse for irreparable damage. Landscape heritage is also not replaceable or capable of being 'offset' - so ancient woods, ancient hedges, veteran trees, traditional unimproved grasslands etc cannot be compensated for. The other real worry with this is the incentive for consultants to offer (for a good-sized fee) offset solutions which are essentially pie-in-the-sky and incapable of realistic delivery and not transparent in terms of their long-term outcomes. This appeals to developers, to politicians, and to planning inspectors since it justifies damaging developments but with a clear conscience - greenwash. We need to engage business and others in genuine commitment to sustainable ecological and heritage solutions. Finally, losses at a particular locale cannot be genuinely offset by actions displaced to another site - ecological systems & local communities simply do not operate in that way. We require more genuinely visionary and pragmatic solutions.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><i>Comments welcome!</i></p></div>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-57262079169785783542021-09-19T18:10:00.005+01:002021-09-19T18:10:50.183+01:00Silent Earth by Dave Goulson<p>I'm half way through my birthday book called Silent Earth written by Dave Goulson and it made me think immediately of Rachel Carson and her book Silent Spring which had made a big impression on me a few years ago! </p><p>He introduces the book with a dramatic sub title "Averting the Insect Apocalypse "</p><p>Chapter 2 starts with a quote from EO Wilson American Biologist "If all mankind were to disappear the world would regenerate back to the rich state that existed 10,000 years ago. If insects were to vanish the environment would collapse into chaos"</p><p>Chapter 6 quotes Wilson again " Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal " </p><div class="aem-GridColumn aem-GridColumn--tablet--6 aem-GridColumn--offset--desktop--1 aem-GridColumn--desktop--6 aem-GridColumn--desktop-wide--5 bookDetailPage__content" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: none; float: left; margin-top: 0px; width: 374px;"><div class="bookDetailPage__header" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0.9375em; position: relative;"><h1 class="pageTitle" itemprop="name" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px; max-width: 45em; min-height: 1.25em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">am now on chapter 7 The poisoned Land, which builds on the work of Carson with the latest research on the dangers of pesticides and herbicides.!</span></span></h1><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Of local interest for me is the management of our local wild flower meadow which buzzes with insect life all summer and we have just had a hay cut! Perhaps we should leave it uncut!? I should add that we dont use any </span></span>herbicides or pesticides!</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Back to Silent Earth now. </span></span></div><div class="component formatSelector component--sub" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: AvenirNextLTW01-Regular, "avenir next", avenir, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-top: 0.9375em; position: relative; width: 374px;"><div class="component formatSelector__dropdown" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: column nowrap; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; position: relative; width: 374px;"><div class="component__item formatSelector__dropdown__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin-top: 0.9375em; padding-right: 1.25em; width: 374px;"><div class="dropdown dropdown--withTheme formatSelector__dropdown__item__button" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 354px;"><label class="dropdown__label" for="dropdownDropdownShops" style="-webkit-box-align: stretch; align-items: stretch; background-color: #fa6400; border-bottom-left-radius: 0.25em; border-bottom-right-radius: 0.25em; border-top-left-radius: 0.25em; border-top-right-radius: 0.25em; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-wrap: nowrap; font-family: "ITC Avant Garde Gothic W01 Md", "Avant Garde", Avantgarde, "Century Gothic", CenturyGothic, AppleGothic, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1; max-width: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase; transition: background-color 0.2s; width: 354px;"><img alt="Buy from - arrow icon" class="dropdown__label__icon dropdown__label__icon--white" src="https://www.penguin.co.uk/apps/settings/wcm/designs/prh/images/icons/dropdown-icon_white.svg" style="-webkit-box-flex: 0; -webkit-user-select: none; border-left-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left-width: 0.0625em; border-style: none none none solid; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; flex: 0 0 auto; font-size: 1em; height: 49.96875px; line-height: 1; max-height: 100%; max-width: none; padding: 1.04016em 1.15574em; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-transform: none; top: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; width: auto;" /></label></div></div></div></div></div><section class="component readMore component--sub" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: AvenirNextLTW01-Regular, "avenir next", avenir, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-top: 0.9375em; position: relative; width: 374px;"><div class="component__item pageBody readMore__text" itemprop="about" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1; margin-top: 0px; max-width: none; padding-right: 1.25em; width: 374px;"><p style="-webkit-box-orient: unset; -webkit-line-clamp: unset; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.0625em; line-height: 1.64706; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-height: none; max-width: none; min-height: 1.64706em; text-overflow: clip; transform: none; word-wrap: normal;"><br /></p></div></section></div>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-46354373243719523632021-08-31T16:25:00.001+01:002021-08-31T16:34:01.574+01:00Meadows and grasslands<p><span style="background-color: #0a650c; caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: white; font-family: Spartan, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">Protecting and restoring meadows and grasslands is essential to the fight against climate change. Grasslands sequester carbon, enhance biodiversity and contribute hugely to the beauty of our natural environment. Tell the UK government to make meadows a priority at the COP26 climate conference.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(48, 62, 72); color: #303e48; font-family: Spartan, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 800px;">In November of this year, world leaders will meet at COP26 in Glasgow to discuss the single most pressing issue facing the planet - climate change. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(48, 62, 72); color: #303e48; font-family: Spartan, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 800px;">Species-rich grasslands offer ways of reducing the impact of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Protecting and enhancing grasslands, savannahs, plains, heaths, steppes and meadows must be part of both the discussions and the outcomes of COP26.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(48, 62, 72); color: #303e48; font-family: Spartan, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 800px;">Despite their crucial importance, in the last 100 years, the UK alone has lost 97% of its meadows and other species-rich grasslands. Grassland maintenance and restoration are critical to delivering the Government’s commitments to net zero emissions, nature’s recovery and sustainable food production. Farmers and other land managers are amongst the key stakeholders to unlocking this solution, to benefit all, but they need support to do so. There is a huge leadership opportunity here.</p><h1 class="welcome__title" style="caret-color: rgb(44, 62, 80); color: #2c3e50; font-family: lola, serif; margin: 0px 0px 30px;"><img alt="We Are Plantlife" class="" src="https://www.plantlife.org.uk/application/themes/rawnet/app/images/interface/we-are-plantlife.svg" style="display: block; max-width: 100%;" /></h1><div class="wysiwyg" style="caret-color: rgb(44, 62, 80); color: #2c3e50; font-family: lola, serif;"><p style="font-size: 17px;">Wild flowers , plants and fungi are the life support for all our wildlife and their colour and character light up our landscapes. But without our help , this priceless natural heritage is in danger of being lost.</p><p style="font-size: 17px;">From the open spaces of our nature reserves to the corridors of government , we work nationally and internationally to raise their profile, celebrate their beauty, and to protect their future.</p><p style="font-size: 17px;">****************************************</p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">I fully support this campaign by Plantlife.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Close to where we live in Somerset there are two meadows designated as Local Wildlife Sites and they both qualify as priceless natural heritage but are vulnerable to housing development!!!</span></b></p></div>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-39861633039904115312021-08-26T13:43:00.001+01:002021-08-26T16:12:50.984+01:00The. latest email from the Green Party! I need to teach myself to understand what it is all about!!<br /><br />Questions!<div>What is Doughnut Economics?</div><div>What does "biggering " mean?</div><div>What is the Lorax?</div><div>What did Dr Seuss ,writer of books for children, say about all this?</div><div>I have already used the good old internet to look for answers so I'll try to answer my own questions soon!<br /><br /><div style="border-collapse: collapse; display: table; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: inherit; width: 600px;"><div class="u-col u-col-100" style="display: table-cell; line-height: inherit; max-width: 320px; min-width: 600px; vertical-align: top; width: 600px;"><div style="line-height: inherit; width: 600px;"><div style="border: 0px solid transparent; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top; width: 100%px;"><tbody style="line-height: inherit;"><tr style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top;"><td align="left" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px; vertical-align: top; word-break: break-word;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: black; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top; width: 100%px;"><tbody style="line-height: inherit;"><tr style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top;"><td align="center" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><img align="center" alt="Image" border="0" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/can2-unlayer/1629898239188-2_9_21+Wellbeing+AN.png" style="border: none; clear: both; display: inline-block; float: none; height: auto; line-height: inherit; max-width: 580px; outline: none; width: 580px;" title="Image" width="580" /></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top; width: 100%px;"><tbody style="line-height: inherit;"><tr style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top;"><td align="left" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px; vertical-align: top; word-break: break-word;"><div style="line-height: 16.799999237060547px; word-wrap: break-word;"><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;">Hi David,</span></p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" style="border: 0px; color: #232333; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Caroline Lucas MP and Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics, are teaming up for <a href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/ss/c/mRNLFKyANPYkYXuUTzk_S5xoyNsNh-XkPh8z7sutEzfMuL_2yARqJtlH4DIoolSodDAzY1hV7wESdGUd7xUwip7uW_Pl3azF6bZsL1G9htkpshMFfVveDA3VI5c4dIQkrAIIaQi6zIbioXRkMGfEUrfhWzVmv-WrShx5lBW85ZH7TEX-StRO-Vg0WYyDp8MuQLHIVCEVmi1EeCraBicIJD8J3dAkgBrAKupuOCYTAdwaa_AUdj4W2um6vuTUvlFsQVEaX3XdlHlcA17rQj4XWW3yF-nyTZhrLMnU15fc-D5rhYg4SYzsQPaWX3cK6igT2P3f6h-YGXUX43QtaOAY9mdxNlijnnpzSAN1iVhPuNI/3er/nTrBhCgJR8mJ3wLahzq5dA/h0/ghzi6AZecMFcXHwt5EvcLC-OBvldOPkJ-G44zkb-dQo" rel="noopener" style="color: #0000ee; line-height: inherit;" target="_blank">an online event next week <strong style="line-height: inherit;">Thursday 2 September</strong></a> <span style="color: black; line-height: 22.4px;">to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Lorax. They will be joined by Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, to explore how our obsession with economic growth (biggering) is destroying nature - and what we can do about it. </span></span></p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We'll be asking:</span></p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">🌎What does the economy have to do with saving nature and restoring biodiversity?</span></p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">🌎What does The Lorax teach us about how we run our economy and what needs to change?</span></p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">🌎Where does nature fit into Doughnut Economics?</span></p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And there'll be time for you to ask your questions and contribute ideas during the event too!</span></p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As Greta Thunberg told world leaders in 2019: “We are in the beginning of mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth”. Now is the time for governments to act.</span></p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; line-height: 22.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Are you coming?</span></p></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top; width: 100%px;"><tbody style="line-height: inherit;"><tr style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top;"><td align="left" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px; vertical-align: top; word-break: break-word;"><div align="center" style="line-height: inherit;"><a href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/ss/c/mRNLFKyANPYkYXuUTzk_S5xoyNsNh-XkPh8z7sutEzfMuL_2yARqJtlH4DIoolSodDAzY1hV7wESdGUd7xUwip7uW_Pl3azF6bZsL1G9htkpshMFfVveDA3VI5c4dIQkHSOXwCvmOO80f1i05h5yRuVjh5ZkbkSEkrikz4CcvhuHyljtK1zmA4eASAgR9E-b56imymEDwESMO3wqpNtuAWm7LJF4hnUriF1Eq8nUHpYF8ldHjmAPfIIJk295EhneS_NUsoVb5gMcA1sYnkA-tuuaXZma9Wnq1hvNHUNwCVsU-RZ94T4dSQqB_QWpoEgChnxTXHVMOgw48a82L6MC7IPYEuZl9h3KyqN22e0jm9c/3er/nTrBhCgJR8mJ3wLahzq5dA/h1/7GoUDHWW5ZPIdq2P0q8vZt8YgexgRfY6caZZzE1aNuU" style="background-color: black; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #fefefe; display: inline-block; line-height: inherit; max-width: 100%; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; width: 580px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><span style="display: block; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; padding: 10px 20px;"><strong style="line-height: inherit;"><span face="helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;">SIGN UP TO ATTEND THE EVENT</span></strong></span></a></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top; width: 100%px;"><tbody style="line-height: inherit;"><tr style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top;"><td align="left" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px; vertical-align: top; word-break: break-word;"><div style="line-height: 16.799999237060547px; word-wrap: break-word;"><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;">As Greens we know that the endless pursuit of economic growth is destroying our planet and accelerating rampant inequality. That's why we are asking you to <a href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/ss/c/nIATlT34azO8Uq6tATWtxLUuBR-vv7HETN-IF6rHujYJ89fdSny6pFYTjNYp_APYbhYpIXGpmj7Vl33hWgTAOgfPe17eEP0xco9QdcS6SfDWYzNhBLcHYDWOybwa9CHDDDqU0pOYzpgumOQDZ8L0YaYZFYcXa-GclXYRFPpVfUYYvBvjqcbwFNQHM_OzVmiaVq64hn0nQlt1FJNpQME_CJccM6ugD__JxqhZ7mWQmWI3jYQ4UZ8RWebpdOvtXTqo4gB9Oa8ApwN-aERgxuNAomTHc3oEwVBrxlkyDYvPsBRhEQWgP3O_7hJpkd49suZhBtSULC_9TSbn2TJuPn1H3Q/3er/nTrBhCgJR8mJ3wLahzq5dA/h2/kAinHsKZqdoEVbbYcbjbah2KqrcAKcu_WcQT1zx_ay4" rel="noopener" style="color: #0000ee; line-height: inherit;" target="_blank">sign a petition demanding that the government moves towards a Wellbeing Economy</a>, putting people and planet first. <strong style="line-height: inherit;">We need 100,000 signatures for it to be debated in Parliament -- can you put your name down?</strong></span></p></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top; width: 100%px;"><tbody style="line-height: inherit;"><tr style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top;"><td align="left" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px; vertical-align: top; word-break: break-word;"><div align="center" style="line-height: inherit;"><a href="https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/ss/c/1XQbiUZqIgkFRQxQopJGKZ2NgrBQV9P7ODiIgFpxyyJjD5UdScHAWlb5hydvKIAq0KGSUBXsWGkexJgTQ_wwR1iCAqSmxs7K_-tisbJ5XruUy7uGF_FkwtsHKvnXRV9e3ASh-movmUNoUHaGbFiJgLfwf9MfvZtPk_ZNCzi4YxD9v_rCEHhiMGZkzhf50G2lmGaZUFp0VJvAQqb92VGmfr1jtjTQbG3ANVvbL6nw-X3MQrqm4_e3s66yhV9l1HcOkpUUj06-FvoDcSjv781_Bq09IqkmbjNAMoucMySECODp_JjBRKBFNbZqOq50_MaK/3er/nTrBhCgJR8mJ3wLahzq5dA/h3/0bO_fcb0lP3uk4Tgq-D3VVcupfwcGo6vTJ56BYSR9xc" style="background-color: black; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #fefefe; display: inline-block; line-height: inherit; max-width: 100%; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; width: 580px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><span style="display: block; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; padding: 10px 20px;"><span face="helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;"><strong style="line-height: inherit;">SIGN THE PETITION</strong></span></span></a></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top; width: 100%px;"><tbody style="line-height: inherit;"><tr style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top;"><td align="left" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px; vertical-align: top; word-break: break-word;"><div style="line-height: 16.799999237060547px; word-wrap: break-word;"><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"><span face="helvetica, sans-serif" style="line-height: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;">See you there!</span></span></p><p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px; margin: 0px;"> </p><h2><span face="helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;">-- Green Team 💚</span></h2></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div></div>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-13224866266666659632021-08-09T13:23:00.002+01:002021-08-09T13:23:19.488+01:00Curry Woods Conservation Trust.<p>I visited the wood this morning to check its progress. </p><p>Probably 90% of the new trees planted earlier this year are growing in their plastic guards, based on a quick survey. some are growing well and out of their guards others are looking alive but not showing much growth and a few are looking dead.</p><p>I counted several Ragwort plants growing well and some thistles too. So maybe we need to control those. Of course as the new trees grow they will do the controlling for us. But in the area left as grass for perhaps hay making there will be a concern.</p><p>I'll add some photos soon.</p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-14557917085170966852021-08-09T13:09:00.001+01:002021-08-09T19:27:23.506+01:00IPCC report on Climate Change<p>The news reports are full of comments and summaries of the content of the IPCC report on climate change.</p><p>You can find the IPCC report on this link:</p><p>https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/</p><p>We all have to make our own minds up and then consider what we can do and that will be difficult!</p><p>Comment from the BBC today!</p><div class="ssrcss-vk3nhx-ComponentWrapper e1xue1i810" data-component="image-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1.5rem 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><figure class="ssrcss-md0xev-StyledFigure e34k3c23" style="border: 0px; font-size: 0.875rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.125rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-ab5fd8-StyledFigureContainer e34k3c21" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="fires" class="ssrcss-1drmwog-Image ee0ct7c0" height="549" loading="lazy" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/AC82/production/_119826144_hi048899716.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/AC82/production/_119826144_hi048899716.jpg 240w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/AC82/production/_119826144_hi048899716.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/AC82/production/_119826144_hi048899716.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/AC82/production/_119826144_hi048899716.jpg 624w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/AC82/production/_119826144_hi048899716.jpg 800w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/AC82/production/_119826144_hi048899716.jpg 976w" style="-webkit-box-align: center; -webkit-box-pack: center; align-items: center; border: 0px; display: flex; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; height: 450px; inset: 0px; justify-content: center; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; object-fit: cover; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; width: 800px;" width="976" /><span class="ssrcss-1ecljvk-StyledFigureCopyright e34k3c20" style="background-color: #3f3f42; border: 0px; bottom: 0px; color: #eeeeee; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0.25rem 0.5rem; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ssrcss-1f39n02-VisuallyHidden e1y6uwnp0" style="border: 0px; clip-path: inset(100%); clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; height: 1px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap; width: 1px;">IMAGE SOURCE</span>EPA</span></div></figure></div><div class="ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87" data-component="text-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px; max-width: 36.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways, a major UN scientific report has said.</b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87" data-component="text-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px; max-width: 36.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The landmark study warns of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87" data-component="text-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px; max-width: 36.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The report "is a code red for humanity", says the UN chief.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87" data-component="text-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px; max-width: 36.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But scientists say a catastrophe can be avoided if the world acts fast.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87" data-component="text-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px; max-width: 36.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There is hope that deep cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases could stabilise rising temperatures. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87" data-component="text-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px; max-width: 36.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Echoing the scientists' findings, UN Secretary General António Guterres said: "If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But, as today's report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses. I count on government leaders and all stakeholders to ensure COP26 is a success." </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87" data-component="text-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px; max-width: 36.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The sober assessment from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of scientists whose work is endorsed by the world's governments.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87" data-component="text-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px; max-width: 36.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It leads a series of reports that will be published over coming months and is the first major review of the science of climate change since 2013. Its release comes less than three months before a key climate summit in Glasgow known as COP26.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87" data-component="unordered-list-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px; max-width: 36.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-1pzprxn-BulletListContainer e5tfeyi0" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><ul role="list" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="ssrcss-9nsdc6-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58124129" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: dimgrey; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-color: rgb(186, 186, 186); text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; text-decoration: none; text-underline-offset: 0.25em; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass evacuations as wildfires spread across Greece</a></li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="ssrcss-9nsdc6-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58132939" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: dimgrey; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-color: rgb(186, 186, 186); text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; text-decoration: none; text-underline-offset: 0.25em; vertical-align: baseline;">Time nearly up to stop climate catastrophe - Sharma</a></li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="ssrcss-9nsdc6-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58087479" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: dimgrey; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-color: rgb(186, 186, 186); text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; text-decoration: none; text-underline-offset: 0.25em; vertical-align: baseline;">Research shows millions more at risk of flooding</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i87" data-component="text-block" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); color: #3f3f42; font-family: ReithSans, Helvetica, Arial, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1rem 0px; max-width: 36.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In strong, confident tones, the IPCC's document says "it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans and land".</p></div></div>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21065092.post-48965800149028847802021-08-04T22:14:00.001+01:002021-08-04T22:14:22.138+01:00Curry Woods Conservation Trust<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Photos of trees have been lost! Will try again!</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><b>Peter Goodenough - Curry Woods Conservation Trust </b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">Comments on the progress of our newly planted wood</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">Oak showing Lammas growth </span></i><o:p></o:p></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">Some trees will busily grow all summer and in most seasons keep on producing fresh leaves and shoots. Others such as oak and horse chestnut tend to produce a first flush of leaves and then, around June, stop growing. Their fresh shoots produce sugars that are stored for the winter, but if the weather is dryish no further new growth is made. However, if the weather is wet the trees suddenly start into new growth again, giving a spring like fresh green hue to the oak woods. This traditionally occurred around late July and early August and was known as Lammas Growth because it was close to Lammas Day. This day - 1st August - was a traditional day of celebration dating back many centuries when blessings were sought for the harvest. The word Lammas was derived from the Anglo Saxon Hlafmaesse which roughly translated means leaf mass. The very first ripe cereal grains were collected and bread baked from them, then crumbs from the loaf were sprinkled in the corner of barns to bring luck for the coming season. In our rather dry area Lammas Growth is rare but this year they could not wait for Lammas Day, they burst into new growth in early July - so they only briefly paused in their growth. This is good news for the Curry Woods as the newly planted oaks will not only produce plentiful new shoots and leaves but below ground the roots will be expanding through the damp soil much more easily than if it had been a dry summer. As roots push their way through the soil using hydrostatic pressure, dry weather baulks their progress in two ways, firstly hard dry soil is much more resistant to small roots and secondly the roots cannot take on board enough water to grow and expand. All root growth depends on the simple physics principle that liquids cannot be compressed - so hydrostatic pressure is very powerful in pushing through solids and gases, both of which compress. That is why roots are like JCB earth moving machines (other makes are available) as both rely on hydrostatic pressure to move solid material like soil. Roots grow by their cells dividing and the new cells filling with water and pushing aside the soil. This is so much easier when the soil is wet and roots grow fast as they experience little resistance. This opens up many tiny channels in the soil and in the winter much more rain is absorbed by the soil than without trees - which is why our trees will play an important part in the future in retaining flood water that would otherwise run off towards the village! <span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><i>Rowan, grows throughout the season </i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Somerset Wildlifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562665700919174246noreply@blogger.com0