LEARN about opportunities to volunteer with the National Trust properties in West Dorset and at the charity’s famous Stourhead House and Gardens in Wiltshire at some upcoming recruitment days. In West Dorset, would-be volunteers can find out more at a volunteer day on Saturday 24th February, from 10am – 4pm, in Stourton Memorial Hall. Roles…
THIS year’s record of more than 45 Little Terns that have successfully fledged on Chesil Beach is a powerful endorsement of the hard work o local volunteers, and the positive results of the Chesil Little Tern Recovery Project. This year’s crop of Little Tern chicks is a remarkable increase on 2021’s three fledglings, and shows…
SALISBURY Cathedral clergy and stonemasons celebrated the end of 37 years of restoration and repairs with a topping out ceremony, when Canon Kenneth Padley, the Cathedral Canon Treasurer, climbed to the top of the scaffolding on the East End to bless the cross that sits high above the Trinity Chapel. Canon Kenneth’s blessing marked a…
SALISBURY Cathedral’s peregrine season has drawn to a close, as the last of the three chicks leaves the rooftop roost and the livestream cameras have been shut down. The two female chicks, Lily and Rose, have headed off, while Rex, the only male hatched this year, has stayed closer to the roost, and has been…
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…