Volunteering

I've copied this from an email and its lost some format but I'll leave it here and see if I can do something about it!

Some extracts from our SWT e letter 

September News
Liz Francis - Volunteering Administrator, Somerset Wildlife Trust			It's been a busy couple of months! Thanks to all those of you who have supported the Trust's surveys and events over the summer.  Despite the weather's best efforts at sabotage our volunteers have yet again shown they won't be beaten! Those of you who fulfil key volunteer roles for SWT will be receiving a letter from us in the next couple of months with a key volunteer agreement to sign and return.  If you have any questions about this please speak to your main contact at SWT or contact Janet Keeble, Community and Volunteering Manager, who we have recently welcomed back from maternity leave: Janet.Keeble@somersetwildlife.org.   In this edition of the volunteer e-newsletter we've got some great updates from various volunteer groups throughout the county.  If you are thinking of getting involved with a group but haven't yet taken the first step we've got a number of ways you can start.  What are you waiting for? Liz liz.francis@somersetwildlife.org Help us protect important habitats within Somerset  The Sedgemoor Conservation Volunteers are an established group who  carry out practical tasks on a wide range of nature reserves. They have a couple of dates coming up on SWT reserves; Sunday 23rd September at Great Breach Wood where they will be clearing glades of cut grass, and Sunday 7th October at Westhay Moor where they will be removing scrub.   Details of how to get involved are here.      The Sedgemoor Conservation Volunteers The East Poldens Conservation Volunteers are a small friendly group who are keen to expand and welcome new faces No experience needed, just enthusiasm and a desire to help SWT on their nature reserves. For more information and to book please contact Mark: mark.green@somersetwildlife.org or 01823 652408.   You can view details of all the Conservation Volunteer Groups here Mark Green, Reserve Manager

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.

Biodiversity

The Somerset Wildlife Trust has announced the publication of a new strategy document for Somerset.
The full document can be viewed and downloaded from the Wildlife Trusts web site, link here, or the County Councils web site. Link here.

Its quite a long 37 page document which seems very relevant to our local groups aims and objectives concerning wildlife particularly strategy Objective 8. Some highlights are shown below.

(From page 19)
Objective 8:
Enable community engagement with the natural environment and
biodiversity conservation
Current Challenges:
The relationship between the people of Somerset and our wildlife needs to be strengthened
if the natural environment and conservation are to become a part of everyday life for far more
people.

( From page 20)


Where we want to be in 2018:
For more people to have connected with wildlife, to have discovered the benefits that it can offer
and the ways in which they can help conserve it.
Key Actions:
8.1 Encourage all landowners to take biodiversity into account when managing their land.
8.2 Encourage landowners to take up access and educational visits option under the Higher Level
Stewardship scheme.
8.3 Declare suitable sites as Local Nature Reserves. Create and implement management plans
that focus on improving biodiversity value and sustainability, wildlife interpretation and
accessibility for all.
8.4 Explore the opportunities for disseminating local wildlife information. For example: Setting up
a dedicated Wildlife Information Service to provide expert responses to biodiversity enquiries;
organising road shows and practical activities in which people can participate and creating a
popular guide to exploring Somerset’s wildlife.
8.5 Facilitate and enable voluntary community biodiversity conservation projects and provide
support for local biodiversity champions. Develop the role of volunteers in the protection and
management of local sites.
8.6 Adopt Natural England’s Accessible Natural Green Space Standards - and ideally also the
Woodland Trust’s Access standards - as the minimum standard of accessible natural green
space to be achieved.
8.7 Include Local Biodiversity Action Plans within Sustainable Community Strategies.

This post is just a first reaction to the issue of this document which is supported by a long list of voluntary and local government organisations. It may provide an excellent basis from which to ask questions of our local councils to find out how they see themselves putting this thinking into practice.

Conservation on nature reserves

I've been discussing with one or two members why we in our local group of the Wildlife Trust find it difficult to find volunteers for the many ways in which they can easily help both our local group and also the work on the nature reserves. One way may be to use our summer visit programme , see our diary blog, to get people out and to explain what jobs are there to be done.
The Trust has developed its web site quite well over the last year or so and now has a diary showing where help is required out on the reserves. Here is a copy of the current web page. You can see it and more on the SWT web site. ( see link on this blog):

PRACTICAL CONSERVATION AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES Date Time Who Where What March Sun 30 10.30am SCV Greylake ST 399 348 40,000 reed seedlings to plant. Please bring garden trowels or hand forks. Wellies advised. Meet at main gate on A361. April Thu 10 10am TCV SWT. Fyne Court. Path and step repairs and surfacing. Meet car park GR 222321. Contacts: Jim & Jean Ayling 01823 337462. Sun 13 10.30am SCV Catcott Heath ST 406 413 Cutting internal paths, internal ditch clearance and flap-valve repair. Meet at end of Higher Ropes Drove. Thu 24 10am TCV NT. Wellington Monument. Step building and access work. Meet car park GR143167. Contacts: Jim & Jean Ayling 01823 337462. Sun 27 10.30am SCV Chilton Moor Reserve ST 377 430 Lowering gutter ends, gate and fence repairs . Meet at end of Plain Heath Drove. May Sun 11 10.30am SCV Street Heath Reserve ST 465 392 Bracken control, path cutting, fence repair. Meet on approach drove beyond Rose Cottage. Sun 25 10.30am SCV Sharpham Moor ST 465 389 Erect new stile, handrail and sleeper bridge, fence repairs and bramble cutting. Meet at reserve gate, reached from drove at Avalon Farm-Durston's Peat. **This will be led by Mark Blake (07795 147910) June Sun 8 10.30am SCV Westhay Moor ST 453 436 Bracken control and removal, fencing works in the old mire. Meet at main car park. Sun 22 10.30am SCV West Sedgemoor ST 381 264 Clearing ragwort to allow graziers a hay cut to maintain the fantastic diversity of these meadows. Meet at Dewlands Farm. July Sun 6 10.30am SCV Street Heath ST 465 392 Bracken control, path cutting, maintenance of rare sedge pits, fence repair. Meet at approach drove beyond Rose Cottage. Sun 20 10.30am SCV Stoke Camp ST 483 513 Helping Chalkhill Blues by removing thistle, nettle and ragwort. Meet at Draycott Sleights entrance, some 600m up New Lane between Old Chapel and Red Lion pub in Draycott. August Sun 31 10.30am SCV Catcott Heath ST 406 413 Clearance around decoy pond to open flight path for birds and to minimise leaf litter silting pond. A few trees to be felled. Meet at end of Higher Ropes Drove. Contact details: SCV: Sedgemoor Conservation Volunteers:Anne & Norman Lees 01278 641521 P&SCV: Polden Hills and Somerton Conservation Volunteers: Emma Daniel c/o SWT 01823 652400 TCV: Taunton Mid-Week Conservation Volunteers: Margaret Palmer 01823 337570 WSCV: West Somerset Conservation Volunteers: John Dixon 01643 703654 PMCV:Peat Moors Conservation Volunteers: Alan Brown 01458 223067 Swains Lane Residents Group: John Morton 01823 661996 BTCV Somerset : Tel 01935 415255; email: p.sherriff@btcv.org.uk NP: Neroche Project: Sam Winzer:

Clearly there is a great deal that can be done and its obviously a good idea to ask other groups how they go about finding people. We really need a volunteer to volunteer to make a project of researching the problem!!