Annual report to members of the Heart of the Levels Group of the Somerset Wildlife Trust

This post shows my report to our local members. We gave ourselves 15 minutes for this annual report which was followed by a talk by James Williams on Otters. There was an audience of about 45 people who were I'm sure more interested in Otters than my report!

Just to start with some photos of local wildlife The Brimstone is by Steve Dyer. The others were seen in my garden.



Heart of the Levels Group of the Somerset Wildlife Trust.
Chairman’s report
13.09.07

Welcome from the Heart of the Levels Group.
In this brief reporting session I will:

1. Highlight some of the successful events of the last year or so.
2. Talk a little about the work of the committee and its members.
3. Explain how we relate to our parent Somerset Wildlife Trust
4. Report on our finances.
5. Look forward over the next 12 months.

1) May 19th 2006 was our inaugural meeting.
Since then we have had a range of open meetings like this one and in addition we have organised guided visits to local nature reserves. We are pleased with the response from members who have supported all these events.

There have been many highlights but standing out must be:

23.07.06 Butterfly Group guided walk in MOD area in Breach Wood, High Ham.

28.09.06 Talk by Bill Butcher from SERC on climate change.

22.10.06 Fungi Foray in Beer Wood to find and identify over 100 varieties.

9.11.06 Talk by Dr Mike Parr on Dragonflies (followed in 2007 by a guided walk at Muchelney Lakes).

14.04.07 Guided visit to West Sedgemoor RSPB reserve.

7.06.07 Garden Party held in Curry Rivel for social occasion.

23.06.07 Guided visit to Green Down to see Large Blue butterfly on the wing and laying eggs on Thyme plants.

14.07 07 Open meeting with MP David Heath as part of Somerton Festival.

11.08/07 National Moth Night to find and identify moths in the MOD woods at High Ham. The nights catch being inspected next morning at start of Butterfly walk.

Anyone wanting to read more about our activities will find a lot of information on our web site.


2) The committee, without whom we would not be here tonight, has given their support and active involvement which is most appreciated. We have all being getting involved in things for the first time and learning as we go and that will continue into 2008. A special word of thanks to Margaret Chambers who is moving back into teaching full time and has had to stand down from the committee. Margaret has taken on the job of arranging talks and events for the last 18 months. Teaching and our young people will benefit greatly from her dedication and enthusiasm. Margaret Murray has got to grips with looking after our finances and is doing a good job in keeping us in order. Margaret Somerville had to stand down earlier in the year due to family commitments.
So the running of this group for the benefit of local members will be much easier if we can attract 2 or 3 new committee members. We tend to have committee meetings every 2 months to agree on future activities within our resources.


3) A brief word about our relationship with SWT. We are one of 9 such local groups. We are largely left to do our own thing but guided by a document produced a year or so ago by the Trustees of the Trust which outlines matters such as reporting our finances each year to the Trust.
It seems to work quite well and is designed to ensure we all support the overall aims and objectives of the Trust and assist them in meeting their obligations to the Charity Commission.

4) Finances are not complex for our small group and Margaret Murray, our Treasurer, has produced a statement which is available for your inspection. It shows how we reported to the Trust in March this year. We started with a grant from the Trust in 2006 of £100 and we have now a balance in our account of £467.86. This has been raised through sponsored walks, a garden party and various donations given for instance at meetings. There is also a statement available of the petty cash account for your inspection. If anyone has any questions about our finances I would appreciate dealing with it over coffee later so as not to delay our guest speaker.

5) The future.
Keeping it simple.

• We hope to be still functioning and reporting back to you again in 12 months time. Our basic aim for the next 12 months will I hope be to organise 6 meetings in 2008
• In Feb, March and April and then in Sept, Oct and Nov, with additional visits to reserves during the summer months.
• I see our priorities as a local group to be getting better at communicating with local members so as to make sure we are putting on talks and events which you find interesting.
• Getting to know our local reserves and letting people know what they can expect to see if they make a visit. I think the BBC Breathing Spaces programmes and Spring Watch are very informative and hopefully help to stimulate interest in local wildlife.
• Finally we should be ready to respond to wildlife related matters put to us by members and we welcome everyone’s involvement in that respect.

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Contact detail.

Committee: David German Chairman, Margaret Murray Treasurer, Eve Kerswill PR, Terry Foster Minutes Secretary, Bill Murray, Hilary Howell. We have vacancies!

We are also fortunate in having a local council member of the Somerset Wildlife Trust in our area, Dudley Cheesman, who also is Chairman of Butterfly Conservation,a UK national charity, who attends our committee meetings from time to time and is able to give us good advice.

Telephone: David German : email: levelswildlife@btinternet.com
Web site (also known as a blog): http:// heartofthelevels.blogspot.com

Details of the SWT and other specialist groups are in the Trusts magazine.

Nightingale still singing every night.

The earliest local report this year of hearing a Nightingale singing at night here in Curry Rivel was Thursday 16th April. Maybe a single bird but it has been heard every night since and once in the morning in daylight. Just been listening from home at 2300 hrs.
As a summer visitor I am hoping to find out more about where it may have come from?
In its migration does it fly at night?
Now it's here why does it sing at night as well as in daylight?
Is it likely to be a male bird hoping to attract a female?

The planned walk being organised by our local Heart of the Levels Wildlife Area Group has had to be cancelled so maybe I can help out!

Our friendly wildlife group has two important events lined up for July and August.

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 Thursday July 7th at 7.30 pm in the United Reformed Church in Somerton.

Wildlife on the Shores of Somerset ( yes we do have an extensive coastline!)

 An illustrated talk by Nigel Phillips.  

By way of introduction Nigel has written a book on the subject.  This is a stunning book which describes the huge diversity of landscapes and wildlife found along this wonderful coast. It is packed with photographs of coastal habitats and the wildlife that can be found. It has maps and appendices helping to point out what might be seen, and where and when things occur. It includes lists of all the plants, seaweeds, birds, marine creatures, butterflies, grasshoppers and crickets and dragonflies you might find along the shore and on the cliffs and cliff tops.

This is a 120 - page softback flexibound book in full colour.
Move your mouse over the text "Look inside this book!" on the book image (left) to view the contents. For a more detailed look, one extract has been included here - click here to view!

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The price is £19.50 plus £3.50 post and packing (within the UK). Books can be picked up from Nether Stowey, Somerset by arrangement. Natural Time Out publications 37 Castle Street Nether Stowey, Somerset Somerset TA5 1LN.

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Saturday August 17 th at 8 pm,

 at Playses Orchard Farm , Hambridge, TA10 0AP

A Bat Walk and Talk led by the SWT Bat Group.

Somerset Bat Group was formed in 1985 to help protect bats in Somerset
We are affiliated to the Bat Conservation Trust (the national organisation for bat protection) and Somerset Wildlife Trust

Somerset has 15 of the 16 species of British Bats and we still haven’t given up on the 16th. Some species are more common than others and some are endangered. The Bat Group is actively engaged in varied activities to help preserve these fascinating creatures.

Several of our members run Bat Walks in the Summer. We give talks to local groups, install and check bat boxes and during the Winter hold workshops and courses in Bat Care, Analysing Bat Sound, and Bat Identification.

If you are interested in joining us the please contact secretary Adel Avery, 
phone 01749 840240, or send £5 subs to Adel at The Cottage, Nettlebridge, Oakhill, Bath BA3 5AA.

May apple blossom in Somerset!!

Event Details

Watch Event: Orchard Trail

Saturday 25 May 13:00

Orchard Family Social Event at Playses Orchard Farm. Fun activities with prizes to take part in, including an ORCHARD TRAIL
Bring along your own picnic, sit amongst the apple trees and enjoy the delights of an orchard in full blossom.
This is a joint fundraising event with the Heart of the Levels and the Chard and Ilminster Area Groups. Free entry for regular Heart of the Levels Watch Club members. BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND HAVE SOME FUN! Open 1pm

If you are interested in joining our group please contact Rosemary on 07724 892079 or email wildwatch28@gmail.com.

Neighbourhood Planning in Somerset

As a member of the Heart of the Levels Wildlife Group of Somerset Wildlife Trust I hope that as many of our local members as possible will join us in helping in this new approach to planning.

Here is a comment from the Somerset Wildlife Trust which is a good starting point in getting to know more about this change.

You can see more of this article by visiting the SWT web site.

Neighbourhood Planning
If you’ve ever been frustrated that the planning system doesn’t do enough to protect nature now is your chance to change things! The new Localism Act aims gives people a say in planning the future growth of their community. Neighbourhood Planning will allow people via their Parish Council to create a Neighbourhood Plan ­ a set of locally decided objectives and policies to guide development and deliver a shared vision for the place you live. Here at Somerset Wildlife Trust we’re excited about the possibilities for nature that Neighbourhood Planning could bring. As well as making decisions about new built development, communities will also be able to plan for natural developments: from wild play and wild greenspaces to meadows, wetlands and woodlands, people can decide what the nature network, or “green infrastructure” should look like in their patch, and write the policies to make it a reality. Our Living Landscapes approach to revitalising nature aims to create spaces for wildlife in every corner of the county. If every parish were to plan spaces and corridors for nature, think what Somerset might look like in 10 years time. We hope that as many people as possible will choose to take part in the Neighbourhood Planning initiative, so that more nature-rich areas can be created and connected up across Somerset’s landscape, allowing people and wildlife to thrive. If this article has aroused your interest and you want more information, a good place to start is Department for Communities and Local Government website. SWT will be holding a number of informal public open evenings to discuss Neighbourhood Planning, and we’ll be advertising them on the website. If your Parish is already thinking about Neighbourhood Planning, SWT can come and talk to you about making the most of opportunities for nature. To discuss Neighbourhood Planning events and talks please contact Michelle Osbourn on neighbourhood@somersetwildlife.org.  We look forward to hearing about your plans for nature near you soon!

Great Crane Project

Last Wednesday  our group organised a talk to hear all about this great new project on our local moors. On Friday two of us went on a visit to a secret location organised by the RSPB to see the new flock of cranes in the wild. Here is my write up.

Summary report on HLG public meeting on the Great Crane Project. 22.02.12

Another very good meeting. There were 28 members in the audience for an excellent presentation by Roger Lucken. Roger is a volunteer with the RSPB who has been involved with the project for some time.

The talk included a general description of the project and the history of Cranes in the UK and world wide. Roger explained details of the implementation of the project and the latest news about progress in establishing a new population of Cranes on the Somerset Levels.

Good slides and excellent photographs enlivened the one and half hour talk. We learnt a great deal about these fascinating birds.

Cranes first appeared on Earth around 40 million years ago and were last seen in the wild in the UK around 400 years ago. Loss of habitat due to drainage of the wetlands and their attraction as a source of food for human consumption were to blame.

The reintroduction of the birds in Somerset followed a detail assessment of the available wetland areas.

The project was developed with several partners bringing together experience of rearing animals in captivity so that they do not become humanised was an important requirement. The WWT at Slimbridge were vital for the initial rearing of chicks from eggs imported from Germany.

Looking after the young chicks after they were brought to Somerset involved dressing up in clothing which loosely resembled adult cranes and walking around with a stick with an imitation Cranes head.

The whole talk was filled with such detail and it was very appropriate that two of our committee were able to visit the Aller Moors on Friday 24^th Feb to see the young flock for real.

The photo attached was taken during the visit. Further information can be found at the Project web site shown here.

www.thegreatcraneproject.org.uk

Photo by D. German

South Somerset Climate Action Group

A lot is happening in the world of Somerset Wildlife Trust!
The trust has announced a new management structure to help in these difficult times, we had one of our regular meetings of all our local area volunteer groups at Frome on Monday, I was pleased to be part of our first field session for our Botany Study Group on Tuesday ( more soon on that) and last night I attended a discussion meeting in Ilminster.  Here are some initial comments on that:

South Somerset Climate Action Group.

Presentation with question and answer session.

Topics covered: New economic thinking, business as usual pursuit of GDP and growth,Tim Jackson, secure renewable energy supplies, 2050 European target for carbon reduction and many others.

Speakers:

Stewart Wallis, NEF  ( New Economic Forum)      


Sir Graham Watson MEP

A brief history of the meeting!

A revelation, inspiring, ( which is why I'm writing this now), eye opening, plain speaking and understandable talk by two very well qualified speakers.

The SSCA must be thinking this was a milestone in their short history. I've followed the groups since coming to live in Somerset and applaud the work it does.

Giving a few facts and figures doesn’t convey the impact of the important messages being presented.

I'm very impressed by the NEF ( New Economic Forum) and by the MEP's work in Europe.

I hope to see a copy of Stewarts presentation soon and will post more information then.

In the meantime here is an extract from the NEF web site:

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New Economic Forum

"Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist" - Kenneth Boulding

There is nothing ‘natural’ about our current economic arrangements. They have been consciously designed to achieve a simple objective: growth. But growth is not making us happier, it is creating dysfunctional and unequal societies, and if it continues will make large parts of the planet unfit for human habitation.  

We need to do things differently, and soon. 

This means starting from first principles and building a new model for how the economy functions. Right now every one of us is dependent on growth. The way our economy is structured means that unless there is growth people lose their jobs, the tax base shrinks and politicians struggle to fund the public services we all rely on every day.

For NEF web site click here. http://neweconomics.org/projects/new-economic-model

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Sir Graham Watson had a tougher job following on from Stewart. It was really eye opening to hear about European thinking on the need for a high voltage DC electricity grid system across Europe. Capable of bringing electricity from solar power stations in north Africa.

( we have had such a link in operation for many years bringing electricity from French nuclear power stations to Kent via DC cables across the Channel )

Here is a relevant quote from Sir Graham's web site, click here:

Tue, 07 Feb 2012

Liberal Democrat MEP and ELDR President Sir Graham Watson, who is Chairman of a global network of MPs and MEPs from all mainstream political parties working to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy called the Climate Parliament has today said that the switch to green energy has now become just as much an energy security issue as an environmental imperative.

Commenting on the ongoing crisis where Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Germany have experienced reductions of up to 30% in Russian gas supplies from Gazprom over the last few days, Sir Graham said:

"The freezing conditions across Europe highlight yet again the dangers of being so overly-reliant on Russia for a quarter of our gas. Gazprom has - understandably - diverted its supplies to keep Russian homes warm, leaving many European countries short and prices on the rise."




There were many questions from an audience of over 100!

Orchid - night flowering

Our local orchids

Having a photo of a common pyramidal orchid on the header for my Blog I was very interested to see a news report on BBC about a new variety of orchid which normally only flowers at night. It was discovered in Papua New Guinea in an area authorised for logging!
Click here to go to the BBC web page. On the page is another link to  " videos, news and facts " about orchids both in the UK and world wide.
We have two species on our local meadow, Bee and Pyramidal.
On our local Wildlife Trust reserves we can find around half a dozen species. We are planning to organise a visit to all 15 or so reserves next summer and will record what we can find.

Local news

I think I should Blog about some of the small stuff going on in my small part of Somerset. We're getting on with our programme of public meetings. Talks so far on Beavers and then on Rattle Snakes I missed the first which whilst an important conservation subject only attracted a small attendance. Snakes were a more popular subject. We need a certain number paying our very reasonable charges just to cover the cost of the speaker and the hire of the hall.
Last Sundays walk in the Beer Wood was excellent and discovered a rare species for this part of Europe. That was a bit special for the group and a good addition to the record. We must look again next year to see if it will reappear.
Here is a picture of the moment of discovery! Identified as Battarrea phalloides or also  known as a Sandy Stiltball. Followed by the Group gathering round to see what all the fuss was about.I should add that the specimen was well into the cycle of dispersal of spores but the specimen was left in place as a sensible practice. 

I came across an old small booklet recently on the subject of hedges. Their  history is very much tied up in social history going back to the Enclosure Laws which allowed land owners to make it impossible for the general public to have access. It included articles on methods of dating hedges based on a survey of the numbers of species of shrubs and trees that had appeared over time. I've made contact with a local History Society to see if they can help in any way with identifying local ancient hedges.

  This photo is of our newly planted hedge three years ago which contains seven species of hedge plants. According to the theory if you found a hedge with such a number of species it would be several hundreds of years old. That might be confusing at some time in the future! Here is a picture of a worthy volunteer doing the planting by fitting canes and  plastic guards to stop the rabbits from eating the young  plants..

Last Monday I attended a regular meeting of Chairs of Local Area Groups and had a very stimulating discussion about how we all function and how we relate to the parent body , the Somerset Wildlife Trust. Amongst many points raised was the need to review and update a 5 year old document which laid down rules and guidelines for the work we all do as volunteers. On the basis of the old rule that anyone who speaks out on such items gets asked to be involved in the job of doing the revision. So I've got a nice little project for the next 2 or 3 months.

Meanwhile of course our own small committee has its next meeting in a weeks time when we will need to review our future programe and work out what our priorities are. We are very limited in volunteer resources and need to attract more help.

SOMERSET WILDLIFE TRUST - FUNGI FORAY - YouTube

Just received the Autumnwatch newsletter from Somerset Wildlife Trust and was pleased to see a link to a short video with local fungi expert Michael Jordan on site in our local Great Breach Wood just up the road from Somerton. We  have a a fungi foray arranged for October 30th in Beer Wood close to High Ham and this video is a good introduction to our event during which we expect  to find a large number of species of fungi. We usually get a good selection.We start the day with an hour or two in Beer Wood followed by a sandwich lunch in the local village hall and a display of our findings with identification provided by local experts.

Autumwatch in Somerset   Watch our fungi film Autumwatch kicks off on Friday, Nov 7 so tune in to BBC2 8.30pm Fridays. To wet your appetite for all things autumnal take a look at our new fungi foray video with nationally renowned expert Michael Jordan as he explores our Great Breach Wood nature reserve.

SOMERSET WILDLIFE TRUST - FUNGI FORAY - YouTube

Conservation of meadows

We held a Wildlife Trust site visit on Sunday 10th July which was a great success. The weather was warm and dry and 16 members arrived to explore the plants and insect life. No sooner had I said that I knew that the Great Green Bush Cricket was usually found in the field and one appeared on cue for photographs.

The photographs shown here are a common sights in our meadow: Marbled White butterfly, Common Ragwort and Bee Orchid , this latter now finished flowering and hence difficult to spot. Examples were found showing the seed pods well developed hopefully to provide a good population next year.


Two groups were led around the paths kept mown to reduce the impact of random walking except for occasional inspections of particular plants. Dr Anne Bebbington led the exploration to identify flowering plants and John Bebbington FRPS led a group looking for insects of which there were many. Including day flying moths.Almost every time we do such an inspection we find new species.
Well over 100 plant species, large and small have been found in the 4 acres including 15 grasses.

Following the visit we agreed that the site was worthy of an annual visit by our Botany Group to carry out a formal transect survey probly each June. This would use a fixed and permanent line on the long axis of the field with a half metre square  examind at fixed locations along the line. The records would be kept for comparison from year to year.  A long term project!

Because the Bee Orchid photo is out of focus here are two Pyramidal orchids of which there are many still in flower in the meadow.

Photography of wild flowers

Last Sunday we held a very successful and enjoyable walk in Beer Wood to check out the spring flowers.

To follow that we have organised a one day workshop on May 1st to help people improve their photography of plants.
The details are all on our Heart of the Levels Diary Blog.  Link here

We have a limit of 20 people for the workshop and now have 15 paid up attendees. So hurry if you're interested. Below is a John Bebbington photograph of the Yellow Archangel flower. ( Lamiastrum galeobdolen )

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Old Mans Beard. Clematis vitalba

A local walk took us past a patch of Old Mans Beard rambling over a hedge. The afternoon winter sunshine created a memorable display in January.

As part of efforts to prepare a local guide to nearby Wildlife Trust nature reserves we drove to near Stoke St Mary to find the Thurlbeer Wood reserve. Approaching along narrow country lanes we found extensive displays of Old Mans Beard in the hedge rows.

 These two photos were taken at the entrance to the Trusts Thurlbeer Wood reserve.

 At the northern entrance to the wood is the display board.

It seems to have been an exceptional year for this clematis with views like these in many locations at least in South Somerset.
As you walk into the wood you find clearings such as the one in the photo below where the Hazel and other small trees have been cleared to make an open space

 This reserve is an important and well managed entry in our reserves leaflet.

Somerset Wildlife Trust, Area Group public meeting

Somerset Wildlife Trust  works closely with the Area Groups of volunteers who organise amongst other things, local  public meetings on natural history and conservation  subjects as well as carrying out  fund raising. The Groups provide an important feedback from all parts of the County. Hundreds of hours of volunteer labour in many forms is quite priceless. However, I'm sure I've said before that organising public meetings is always a fairly stressful activity. Mainly because we never know if anyone is going to turn up! So when the event is a new venture like last Thursday's quiz evening it was even more uncertain. But as it turned out it can be claimed a success but a number of aspects need reviewing and our organisation needs sharpening up.
What went well was that a sufficient number of members and some non members did come along, the questions went done well, we did meet up with around 20 people who don't usually come to talks and we collected enough money to cover costs. And of course most importantly everyone said they had enjoyed the evening including the committee.

With 10 sections of questions only two were natural history  ( because we didn't want to put people off) and they were challenging enough. We did intend taking a photo to prove it happened but forgot all about that in the rush and after a few glasses of wine.Should we do it again , well the committee will need to talk it over and we will see how everyone judged the event. I would say yes but with a number of important details which need to be more carefully organised.

 Identifying this butterfly was one of the questions , not too difficult but do you know its latin name?

 Photographed in our local meadow.

Some of the committee in action last year.

Natural Environment White Paper comments. No 8 URGENT

Happy new year everyone!  Take your eye off the ball for a moment and new demands appear out of nowhere.

I was updating my contribution to our local community web site and that took me to the SWT website set up to deal with the recent DEFRA consultation. Having sent off my comments I relaxed and was  taken aback to see that we are now being invited to participate in " grassroots" discussion on the new paper.  Deadline 31st Jan.  I hope our local group can contribute some thoughts. If you want to join us let us know.

Here is an extract from the DEFRA web page taken today. Hope the links work.
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Grass roots engagement

We want all interested parties to have a say in shaping the development of the White Paper.
To do this we encourage organisations who already have a relationship with local groups, societies, consumers or individuals, to engage them. For example, NGOs who have local groups or large memberships, civil society organisations who are in touch with local civic groups, and any businesses who wish to engage their consumers on White Paper issues.
Organisations such as these may wish to disseminate the discussion document electronically to encourage grass-roots responses back to their national organisation or direct to naturalenvironment@defra.gsi.gov.uk with the subject heading “Grass roots engagement”.
We have now published some resources to help your organisation facilitate grassroots engagement.  You will find attached a Guide for Facilitators, a Briefing Note for Participants, and a Feedback Form.  The deadline for returning the feedback forms from any grassroots engagement is 31 January 2011.

Background

The White Paper on the natural environment will be a bold and ambitious statement outlining the government’s vision for the natural environment, backed up with practical action to deliver that ambition. It represents an opportunity to change the way we think about and manage the natural environment, seeing it as a system and valuing the services it gives us.
We have made significant progress in tackling environmental degradation in the past 20 years, significantly reducing levels of environmental pollution in our air and water and providing protection for our most precious wildlife sites.
However, changing and increasing pressures on our environment continue to cause degradation (which in turn has social and economic impacts) and managing these pressures is becoming more challenging.
A more systematic, strategic approach is needed that brings together a wider range of players, provides new options to tackle these challenges efficiently and effectively. This requires, and will encourage, a wider understanding of the value of the natural environment to society and the economy.
In order to achieve this, the process of developing the White Paper will be accompanied by a wide-ranging process of stakeholder engagement. This Big Society approach to policy development will allow individuals and communities to contribute innovative ideas on how their local environment can be protected and enhanced.

Panel of environmental experts

Richard Benyon has established a panel of environmental experts to advise him in the development of the White Paper.

• Members of the Natural Environment White Paper Ministerial Advisory Panel (PDF 150 KB)

Further information

If you require more information on the Natural Environment White Paper, please contact the Natural Environment White Paper team at: naturalenvironment@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Beer and Aller Wood

This is one of our best local SWT nature reserve. In recent years we have always had a Fungi Foray here led by Peter Baker. Peter moved away last year and we must find a replacement to lead next years event
This year we organised a spring flower walk with Anne Bebbington as leader. There is always something different to see here from season to season and year to year.
To give you a feel for the woods I'm including a video clip made by SWT and showing on the web site for their nature reserves where you can see others.

Latest Sightings

The photograph shows John with the rare moth during the field visit. See note below.


Click on this link to go to the Moth Group web site     Latest Sightings

This is a link to the Somerset Moth Group web site where they show a quite rare moth which was found and photographed by John Bebbington on a visit to Fivehead Arable Fields nature reserve. Its called a Celypha rosaceana. The same species ( perhaps even the same moth!!) was found in the field again yesterday during out Group vist to look at the arable "weeds".

Wildlife in Somerset

You will see from this brief report which I have just submitted for publication in the Trusts magazine that we have been quite busy. My Blog has been neglected as a consequence. Life of course continues to make its demands regardless of wildlife or blogging!
I hope to include a photo or two from some of these events eventually.

Heart of the Levels summer highlights.

 “International Year of Biodiversity  2010”

Now in our 5^th year our Group has staged some rewarding wildlife events. We enjoyed a great spring flower walk with a new leader in Beer Wood. Anne Bebbington opened our eyes to its wonderful woodland flora.

Our new Wildlife Watch Club opened in Hambridge.  Children will gain an enthusiastic introduction to wildlife through practical and fun activities.

On June 27 our third and most rewarding Arts and Wildlife Workshop so far engrossed 16 members for a day in Isle Abbotts. A walk along the River Isle for observation and ideas generated creative nature writing, stunning photographic images, painting and sketching.

Our Botany Study Group committed itself to continue for another year to develop our understanding of the structure and characteristics of wild flowers.

Anne and John Bebbington gave us a treat on 11th July by leading our visit to the Fivehead Arable Fields to find 22 special flowering plants many of which are becoming rare or even facing extinction.  It was very satisfying to know that we and the Ilminster Group had joined with many others to support the  management of this  important SSSI reserve.

Wildlife Watch Club

Our new Watch Group  could do worse than admiring  beautiful wild flowers like the ones I photographed in my garden yesterday. Although they are similar I am fairly sure the first is Rough Hawbit and the second is Goats Beard which I had to catch in the morning before the flower closes up at noon! Hence its old name of Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon.

Now for a happy announcement.

A new Wildlife Watch Club will be launched on May 30th. Described by the Somerset Wildlife Trust as a fantastic club for nature lovers and their families to explore the wonderful world of wildlife.
Our Heart of the Levels Area volunteer Group is proud to be supporting this new venture. We have long wanted to boost our educational involvement in South Somerset and this is our big opportunity. We wish the club's leaders every success.Plese contact me through this Blog if you would like to find out more about this initiative.

Bumble Bees

It was clear from comments from the audience that Bumble Bees are out and about now in early March in Somerset. A packed hall with standing room only was given a very full and interesting talk by Michael Edwards, writer of the book Field Guide to the Bumblebees of GB and Ireland. Anne Bebbington had an appreciative response to her hand painted cards on sale to raise funds for our Group. Anne is currently promoting a new course to teach  botanical drawing and would welcome any enquiries. You can contact her through this Blog by using the comments or by email . The address is shown in the header above.  John Bebbington contributed  by providing the giant size projector screen for Mike's excellent photographs. As if that wasn't enough we had invited a Young Enterprise Group from Richard Huish College in Taunton to join us to present their books for children based on the life of the honey bee.  The first photo shows Mike Edwards with some of the Young Enterprise students and the second gives an idea of the venue without showing the standing room only at the rear of the hall. Anne Bebbington's card display is at the right of the screen.

All in all a very satisfactory evening with many friends and members of the Wildlife Trust and and possibly a few non members.