BioBlitz
We are still finalising the programme for the BioBlitz, but I have attached a poster and draft programme to give you all a sneak preview. As you will see, Friday 17th June is mostly the school carrying out surveys, but there will be a public guided walk/survey in the morning or late afternoon – time and place TBC. In the afternoon we will be setting up displays etc., in the Church and at 9.30 pm there will be a bat walk with Craig Dunton.
On Saturday 18th June the school have kindly allowed us to gate crash their Big Breakfast! For the early birds there will be a walk/survey starting at 7am – probably at the Parish Church, route TBC, it will finish at the school for breakfast. We’re hoping others taking part in the BioBlitz will also join us for breakfast. The moth trap results will be revealed along with any other traps. Craig Dunton is going to place some dormouse tubes in several locations soon and these will also be checked on the Saturday morning. At 11am there is the choice of a walk/survey down to the river or a wildlife survey of the old churchyard.
Results of all the surveys will need to be submitted to our base camp at the Church by 2pm where they will be collated and the grand total announced at approx. 3.30pm.
The Church will be open all day on Saturday from 10.30 am for refreshments, information, the use of binocular microscopes etc., and the submission of survey results. We also hope that you will come along and report any hedgehog, swallow, house martin and swift sightings so that we can plot them on a big map of Loddiswell that will be in the Church. There will also be a raffle and a competition – the results will also announced at 3.30pm. Please join us for tea and cakes while you wait!
Hopefully some of you might be able to help as well as taking part in activities? As they say – “many hands make light work”! The more help we have, the shorter stints people will have to do. The donation of cakes, biscuits and raffle prizes would also be gratefully received. On the Saturday I will join the 7am walk and then spend the rest of the day helping out at the Church with refreshments etc.. – as I said, any help gratefully received! Thank you very much to those who have already offered.
I should also mention that we are being allowed to use the Church free of charge, I have offered, but the PCC won’t accept any payment, which is very generous of them. I hope people attending the BioBlitz will be generous too and pop something in the Church collection box?
A big thank you to Fiona Van Es without whose knowledge and expertise this BioBlitz would not have been possible! Also to Lynne Kenderdine of DWT Avon Valley Project who will be leading a walk on Friday 17th and has been giving lots of help and advice.
We strongly recommend downloading the I-naturalist app to your phones to aid with species identification. Please also bring stout walking shoes (wellies for the river walk), a pen or pencil and something to rest on (I find table mats make good clip board substitutes!), binoculars if you have them and a bottle of water. If it’s sunny (which I very much hope it is!) sunscreen would be wise too. For the bat walk please bring a torch – a head torch is ideal.
Wildlife Sightings
We now have 101 members in our Facebook group which is fantastic! There have been some wonderful photos and videos posted. It may take me a while, but I am transferring them to the website, though I can’t upload videos unfortunately, I am careful to credit your photos and videos to you.
Several people have heard and seen cuckoos in the valley – even one flying over the allotments - which is terrific news as they have been very scarce in recent years. On a less positive note, swallows, house martins and swifts have all returned, but their numbers are well down on previous years. There have been one or two sightings of red kites and most exciting of all a pair of them spotted over Clark’s Barn Lane the other day!
Funding Success!
I was delighted to hear today that our application for funding from the Wild About Devon Community Wildlife Fund has been successful and we have been awarded £173.88. This is for the purchase of 10 Hi-Vis vests and a scythe which will be used when we are working on the roadside verges and other green spaces.
That’s all for now I think...
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