Coming up in Rushcliffe

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SOUTH NOTTS 2018/19  WINTER WILDLIFE TALKS PROGRAMME

 All talks start  7.30pm in Room 5, West Bridgford Methodist Church, (junction of Patrick Road and Musters Road), West Bridgford, NG2 7PQ. Admission includes tea & biccie adults: £3; children: free.

SPRING OUT & ABOUT WITH WILDLIFE PROGRAMME

Sun 21st Apr – Woodland in Spring – Cotgrave Forest with Neil Pinder (07981 928402). Meet 9.30 am Lamming Gap Lane entrance, parking where the Lane turns sharp right (Lane on left off A606 Melton Road after the Normanton on Wolds exits).

Sun 28th Apr – Bunny Wood Open Day – from 10.30am to 4pm.  Guided tours, children’s scavenger hunt, nature trail with labeled plants. Bunny Wood is on the left of the A60 climbing out of Bunny village, car parking available. Chris Terrell-Nield (0115 9374906).

Sun 28th Apr – Sharphill Wood in Spring – wildflowers and spring birds with John Elwell & Richard Elliott. Meet at 10.00 am at the top of Peveril Drive, West Bridgford.

Mon 13th May – Holy Cross Convent (Costock) for a guided walk with Sister Mary Julian around the Convents woodlands, several acres of rough grassland, a wildflower strip and old orchard. Meet 10 am, but numbers limited, contact Gordon Dyne 0115 8784842 or gordon.dyne@gmail.com for details.

Wed 15th May – Wilwell Cutting Nature Reserve in late spring – with Tim Williams looking at a variety of wildlife found on the reserve btoh obvious and obscure. Meet 10 am at road entrance, on the right just after going under the ring road along the B680 between Wilford and Ruddington. (Gordon Dyne 0115 8784842 or gordon.dyne@gmail.com)

Sat 18th May – Ruddington Spring Fair – 9.30am till 12 pm at St Peters Rooms, Ruddington  (opposite the church) selling plants, cakes, craft goods to raise funds for Notts Wildlife Trust. (Gordon Dyne 0115 8784842 or gordon.dyne@gmail.com)

Sun 26th May – Bingham Linear Park Grizzeled Skipper Butterfly Walk (and other flora and fauna), meet 10 am Tithby Bridge entrance. Led by Jenny Hawkings (hawkingsjenny@gmail.com)

Sat 1st June Wilwell Cutting Nature Reserve Open Day from 10 am till 4pm – particularly for the early summer wildflowers (including Southern Marsh Orchids) labelled up around the reserve. Also some guided walks. Road entrance, on the right just after going under the ring road along the B680 between Wilford and Ruddington. Car parking available. (Gordon Dyne 0115 8784842 or gordon.dyne@gmail.com)

WHATTON PRISON WILDLIFE PROJECT RECIEVES NATIONAL RECOGNITION

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Numerous projects have been carried out in the grounds of HMP Whatton in Rushcliffe, including creation and management of extensive wildflower areas, installation of bird feeding stations and nest boxes for birds (including swift and owl boxes) and bats manufactured in the craft workshop, shrub beds, walkways, small ponds and water gardens, bug houses, log piles and a wormery. These projects very much link to and support the biodiversity of the local area, with Bingham Linear Park and the River Smite being very close by.

The staff and prisoners are closely involved in all projects and the work closely ties in to rehabilitation, skill development and wellbeing, with the prisoner’s having an increased awareness of wildlife and the natural environment.

HMP Whatton has closely involved and engaged with external local partners on these projects, including Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers, Swift Conservation, Rushcliffe Barn Owl Project and Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust organised and delivered a presentation/ demonstration event, centred on ponds and amphibians and further activity and projects are being planned for the future. The prisoner’s take part in monitoring wildlife, for instance recording bird and small mammals found in the habitat areas.

We are very pleased that HMP Whatton has received national recognition for the excellent nature conservation projects they are carrying out in the prison grounds. Their achievements have been recognised through the Ministry of Justice as they recently won the National Offenders Management Service (NOMS) Wildlife awards as outright winners in 2018. As partners, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust was pleased to attend a celebration event at the prison in September.

Ben Driver  (NWT Southern Conservation Officer)

 

WILWELL CUTTING NATURE RESERVE OPEN DAY

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Visit the reserve in early summer, the Southern Marsh Orchids will be in flower along with a host of other wildflowers. We will be labelling many of them up, but in addition volunteers will run several guided walks round the site and will also have the South Notts nature table out. The open Day is on Saturday 1st June from 10 am till 4 pm and the reserve can be found on the B680 on the left just before the ring road bridge between Ruddington and Wilford Village. The entrance to the car park will be signed (Post Code NG2 7UT will get you very close, but not spot on. For a map of the reserve and general location see https://www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/nature-reserves/wilwell-farm-cutting-nature-reserve

Gordon Dyne (Reserve Warden)

 

SOUTH NOTTS RINGING GROUP – 2018 REPORT

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The bird ringing group have published thier annual report covering thier principal rinnging sites at Attenborough and Holme Pierrepont, see SNRG Report 2018  for details. But this year the ringing group have agreed to hold an “open morning” where people can come along and see thier work (and the birds) at close hand. This is on Sundaty 18th Aug at Skylarks Nature Reserve BUT numbers are limited in timed groups and to reserve a time slot please contact Gordon Dyne on gordon.dyne@gmail.com for more details.

RUSHCLIFFE REPTILE & AMPHIBAIN SURVEY

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Under the ausoices of the Nottinghamshire Amphibain and Reptile Group (NARG) we are putting out an appeal for records of amphibains and reptiles seen in Rushcliffe. These can be posted online (  https://groups.arguk.org/nottsarg )  and will add to our understanding of these species distribution within Rushcliffe and the county. All that is required is date, species, number and location and a photo if possible (particularly important if it is something very unusual like an adder, sloworm or common lizard). And of couse records of the young ie tadpoles etc are equaly good evidence of presence.

Although you might think your few records from a garden pond say are not important, they can contribute to a much bigger picture confirminmg presence in an area and contributing to a better view of abundance.

For more infornation about the survey and reptile and amphbians in Rushcliffe see 2019 Rushcliffe Amphibian Survey final -v2

Why trees have been felled at Sharphill Wood

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Ash dieback, the tree disease currently attracting most attention, is unfortunately not the only disease that affects trees. Sharphill Wood has been struck by a number of other fungal infections that have weakened many mature trees including Ash, which is common in the wood. In recent years many trees have fallen or been blown down, but a number have had to be felled because they pose a danger to the public using the footpaths and the many organised school groups who play in the wood. The sight of so many fallen trees has understandably attracted concern from visitors to the wood.

The Friends of Sharphill Wood have been consulted by Rushcliffe Borough Council, the wood’s owner, on the need to remove the dangerous trees and we rely on them to clear any trees that fall blocking the footpaths. We have recently been donated some new trees, which go some way to replacing the lost trees. Much more planting will be required to replace all the lost trees and we hope to meet with Council officers and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, with whom we operate a management plan for the wood, to discuss how we can regenerate the wood to ensure its continued amenity value to the area.

The award winning Friends Group have been working to maintain the wood for the past 10 years and this latest challenge, together with mitigating the impact of the new housing development, places unprecedented demands on our volunteers. If you would like to help save this iconic landmark for future generations you can contact us through our website www.sharphillwood.org or on facebook. It would be marvellous to hear from you.

Bill Logan

Friends of Sharphill Wood

Notts Wildlife Trust in Rushcliffe

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A few months ago NWT briefed Rushscliffe Borough Councilon NWT activities in Rushcliffe, which in part is funded by the council under a Service Level Agreement to promote nature conservation localy. This link Rushcliffe SLA Presentation to RBC June 2018  is the slide set from that and gives a very good idea of the range of activities being undertaken, both by staff and volunteers in 2017, but you can assume that 2018 is similar.

CELEBRATING RUSHCLIFFE AWARDS 2018

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At a very good awards ceremony held at Beckett School local nature conservation groups & people were well represented. In the Environment Category the winner was Tim Williams & Ian Workman for their particular contributions to the Wilwell Farm Work Party (and also Wilford Claypits), but in addition the East Bridgford Wildlife Group were short listed for their work at Springdale Wood and Bridgford Street Meadow. In the Young Environmentalist category I am delighted to say that Samuel Mark won for his volunteer work at Skylarks and that the Rushcliffe Wildlife Group were also short listed.  As was Bill Logan in the Volunteer of the Year category , Bill is an NWT Trustee but locally is a principal organizer of the Friends of Sharphill Wood.

So congratulations to the winners and short listed, but also a big thanks to all the other nature conservation related groups nominated (South Notts Ringing Group, Grizzeled Skipper Project, Radcliffe on Trent Conservation Volunteers, StMarys Convent, Whatton Prison) for their distinctive contributions to the natural environment of Rushcliffe.

 It demonstrates how vibrant the local nature conservation community is, as  that list could have easily been doubled.

 

CRAFT GOODS FOR THE SPRING FAIR

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In this years Spring Fair at Ruddington (Sat 18th May) we are hoping to extend the range of our crafts stall. Do you have any ideas/skills that might provide us with some different craft goods, particularly if it is wildlife themed ?

We would love to hear from you, as it would be assist us in our major fund raising exercise.

Contact gordon.dyne@gmail.com

POPPY & PINT PUB QUIZ

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Once again South Notts Local Group will be running it`s world famous pub quiz at the Poppy & Pint (Lady Bay) to raise funds for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. The quiz will be Sunday 27th January, arrival time 7 pm for a 7.30 pm start. The questions will again be set by Neil Glenn.

But also as usual we are limited to 25 tables, with a team size at a MAXIMUM of four people, Cost £3.50per head,

As last year was a sell out (and we had a few reserve teams).so if you are interested you should book early to avoid disappointment. So if you want to reserve a table please contact gordon.dyne@gmail.com.

 

A big thanks to P&P/Castle Rock Brewery for giving us use of the room

 

Grizzeled Skipper Project

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Butterfly Conservation (East Midlands) have produced a summary for the Dingy and Grizzeled Skipper Project results for 2018. See attached 2018 DSandGS Project-progress report.     The key conclusion for Rushcliffe is that Grizzeled Skippers are doing well in this area (Dingy Skippers are not found locally).

In part this is the result of the good work being done by the Nottinghamshire Biodiversity Action Group Grizzeled Skipper Project and as it happens they have released details of thier 2018/19 winter work party programme. So if you would like to help with this important project, for more details follow this link NottsBAG Grizzled Skipper Practical Work Poster 2018-19_V2