AS more and more people reduce their meat consumption and explore vegetarian and vegan food, the Bath Vegan Festival on Saturday 3rd June provides a great opportunity to learn about what is available, not only in food and drink, but skincare, homewares, crafts, clothing and a healthy lifestyle. The event, at Bath Pavilion, will feature…
PLANS to create an Avalon Agroecological Area, within a five-mile radius of Glastonbury, bringing together farmers, growers, conservationists and local councils will be launched at Glastonbury Town Hall on 19th March. The aim of the project, called 5FF (5 miles farming and food), is to support local farmers and food growers to embrace more nature-…
THE national conservation charity, the Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT), is planting fast-growing willows (osiers) on Bere Marsh Farm near Shillingstone in Dorset and is appealing for public donations to help protect the young trees. Deer cause catastrophic damage to trees by stripping the shoots, foliage and flowering buds. The fence will protect the recently planted willow…
FLO, one of the 2021 Salisbury Cathedral peregrine falcon fledglings, has set up home in the centre of Hertford, 90 miles from home as the crow (or the falcon) flies. British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) ringer, Nigel Jones contacted the Cathedral peregrine team to let them know that Flo (named for Florence Nightingale to mark…
A NEW reserve at the Countryside Regeneration Trust’s Bere Marsh Farm, near Shillingstone, has been opened in memory of the pioneering farmer and conservationist Angela Hughes, who died in 2009. Angela was a dairy farmer who championed wildlife-friendly farming and was committed to protecting and conserving the natural world. She owned East Farm at Hammoon,…
THE four peregrine chicks that have been hatched at Salisbury Cathedral have been ringed, reading for their imminent fledging. The chicks, that hatched in the nestbox on the South Tower balcony, were ringed by Nigel Jones from the British Trust for Ornithology, assisted by Phil Sheldrake, the Cathedral’s nature conservation adviser. The two females and…
THERE was a double boost for Dorset Museum on Thursday 7th April with wins in both the South West Tourism Awards and the Dorchester and Poundbury Business Awards. After receiving a silver Dorset Tourism Award, the museum received bronze in the Large Visitor Attraction of the Year category at the South West Tourism Awards at…
AS the second season of Gentleman Jack returns to our screens, the interest of the audience will once again turn to Shibden Hall, the beautiful Tudor house where Miss Anne Lister grew up, and where she lived with her aunt, uncle and sister – when she wasn’t travelling, usually with her lover and wife, Ann…
A NEW project to record heritage sites that matter to local communities has been launched by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Somerset and the Exmoor National Park is one of 22 pilots for this new Local Heritage List. The list is intended to help to protect buildings, sites and structures that local…
THE peregrines are back on their lofty perch at Salisbury Cathedral – and the webcam which allows us to see them has now gone live. They’ve been hanging around the tower for a while and have been seen mating, so the signs are good. Last year the first egg was laid on 15th March so…