As I watched the first swallows swooping around the barns and house at Woodah Farm, I remember back to last April, when they arrived with me to the DWT reserves base where I would be spending my year. Now they have returned again and it is time for me to say goodbye to the rural […]
Read more "And on to the next adventure…"The days are lengthening, the sun beginning to warm the (albeit currently saturated) earth and life is starting to return to the ground beneath my feet. So breathe it in, that edge of freshness still remaining in the wintery air, and on the warmer days feel the heat of the sun and the warmth in the […]
Read more "Signs of Spring"The first snowdrops pushing their way up through the warming earth, the days lengthening as the light begins to wrap its arms around a new year and the song birds tentatively testing their voices, starting to build the dawn chorus symphony. Two wonderful super moons later, and its time for a belated January update… 2018 […]
Read more "A month of two moons"Cover image: solstice morning on Stourbridge Common, Cambridge With the winter solstice behind us and the days beginning to lengthen and stretch their way towards 2018, I’m enjoying some time back in the flatlands of East Anglia with my family. The last few months have been busy out on the reserves, with bridges to build, […]
Read more "The End of the Longest Night ~ the last few months of 2017"Since I last sat down to write a blog post, the swallows have left Woodah Farm for their wintering grounds, the autumn equinox rolled in with a beautiful, crisp misty morning and the leaves have begun to turn from vivid greens to a palette of red, orange and gold. Although the week has been warm, […]
Read more "The arrival of autumn"Cover picture: Bittersweet/Woody Nightshade From the first of September onwards, the Wildlife Trust reserves team can begin scrub clearance and tree felling – two key parts of winter works in practical conservation. With the nesting birds gone, the risk of disrupting wildlife with chainsaws and removal of large areas of vegetation is reduced to a […]
Read more "Bonfires, bats and tree felling"Cover image: Wasp Spider at Chudleigh Knighton Heath The evenings are starting to draw in, and the sky glows red outside my window at only 8:15pm at the end of a beautiful, sunny bank holiday weekend. August has flown by, with a various trips away and lots going on at work, so I am well […]
Read more "August update – surveys, chainsaws and a sunny bank holiday weekend!"Heath Week is a week long string of events to celebrate and share the wonderful heathland of East Devon. Timed to tie in with the summer holidays, it was all hands on deck to get Bystock ready for the heath week open day on the 25th of July! A new bridge went in with the […]
Read more "Pond dipping, plant hunting and rocky scrambling"Cover image: Tufted Vetch Greetings from sunny Devon! It has been a while since I last sat down to write, so bear with me if this is a bit of a rambling post as I meander through my memories of the last 3 weeks.. June ended with a visit to a reserve I had not […]
Read more "It’s been a while…!"The UK National Tree Seed Project is part of the Kew Millenium Seed Bank collection programme, set up to act as an emergency reboot for native plants should they become extinct in the UK. As part of the project, Devon Wildlife Trust has signed up to collect a sample from particular species of interest. Last […]
Read more "Plants glorious plants"
Learnings of an aspiring conservationist 