Our wild flora has been changing rapidly. All over Britain and much of mainland Europe, the populations of wild plants have been thinning out. Throughout the English lowlands, counties have been losing species at roughly one species every second year, Read More
Pollinators in general and bees in particular have declined catastrophically, except in favoured districts that have escaped modern, intensive agriculture. However, in recent years much has been done to research and publicise this decline, with the result that even the Read More
On 14 September 2006 The Hudnalls, an area of dense woodland, tumbledown remains of squatter cottages and old drystone walls in the heart of the Lower Wye Valley Gorge was dedicated as the latest National Nature Reserve.
I spent Sunday 13 June in a large field near Muchelney in the Somerset Levels at the annual Green Scythe Festival, mainly so that I could see scything done properly. The event attracted all ages to an arena of well-grown Read More
Our autumn meeting on Saturday 29 October proved to be the most popular we have held in ten years, save only for an even more popular evening on bats a few years ago. With 56 people crammed into the loft Read More
For a few weeks in the summer of 2011, we placed a map in the village shop to collect deer sightings, and, thanks to 30 or so contributions, we now have a map showing where deer are most often seen. Read More
The sheep, cattle and horses in our fields have competition. Fallow deer are now common in the district and regularly emerge from cover in the woods to feed in the fields. Wild boar, having been released into the Forest of Read More
Last week I went to Shirenewton to talk to the local history society about meadows and traditional haymaking. It was arranged a year ago, but it turned out to be well timed, for Shirenewton village has just acquired land for Read More