Batman, Doodle Bug and in-flight catering – these are some of the things to look out for in May, as well as Large Skippers . To find out more, read our guide What to look out for in May.
Monthly Archives: April 2021
Rushcliffe Climate Change and Nature Pre Election Conversation
This is being run om Tues 27th Aprl at 7.30 pm via Eventbrite and is a chance for chance for voters to meet candidates in the forthcoming County Council Elections to hear their plans to address climate concerns.
Climate and Nature Pre-election Hustings
Would you like to see Nottinghamshire County Council do all within its powers to reduce climate warming?Would you like to see the County Council protect and improve the diversity of habitats within our beautiful County?
You are warmly invited to meet Candidates wanting your votes, and hear their plans for Climate and Nature in Nottinghamshire. This is an opportunity to question their proposals in advance of the County Council Elections on May 6th.
The meeting will be chaired by Christopher Ward Emeritus Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine and Systemic Family Therapist and key organiser of Climate Assembly Nottingham
At the meeting, Candidates will present their manifesto commitments and proposals to support climate and nature – this will be followed by audience questions. Attendees will have an opportunity to submit questions in advance via the organisers
The zoom link will be sent via Eventbrite in advance
Grizzeled Skipper Project
This is from Chris Jackson Christopher.Jackson@nottscc.gov.uk project organiser
Unfortunately as you will all be aware, due to Covid-19, we were unable to get out with our volunteer work parties onto any of the grizzled skipper sites last year. I don’t think that this will have too much of an adverse effect over one year, but this may be more problematic if the same thing happens over the coming autumn-winter. The good news is that we did manage to get some site management undertaken during the winter with scrub management being undertaken along the disused railway embankment at Bingham Linear Park, and also we managed to get a remote controlled mower to cut the vegetation along the recently cleared areas along the Great Central Railway line near East Leake.
I am contacting you all to remind you that the grizzled skipper will be soon on the wing and that once again if you are able to get out and about onto some of the known sites and report sightings of the butterfly that would be very much appreciated. The graph below shows the number of grizzled skipper sightings in recent years and how the project has been beneficial in boosting records in Notts, since it started back in 2012. Having made such a positive impact we are keen to keep momentum going during 2021 and hopefully with your help, we will continue to see an increase in the number of reported sightings of grizzled skipper.
In recent years, the first sightings of grizzled skipper have ranged from 9thApril – 8th May (see table below), with the earliest being back in 2017 (9th April). Due to this year’s cooler April I suspect that the first sighting may be a bit later than in 2017? Staunton Quarry has regularly been the site where the earliest sightings have been recorded, as well as being the best recorded site in Nottinghamshire. It would be great if we could get as many different sites surveyed as possible this year.
The following sites have had sightings in recent years and are publicly accessible:
- Newark to Cotham Sustrans Route
- Newark to Bottesford Disused Railway
- Staunton Quarry
- Bingham Linear Park
- Flawborough Footpath
- Langar Airfield East (bridleway)
- Newstead Old Coal Stocking Yard
If you want more details on any of these sites, such as grid references, please let me know.
Wildlife Sites to Visit in Rushcliffe
There are a whole cluster of nature reserves in Rushcliffe to visit over the spring and summer. For more information you might want to follow these links For a list of wildlife local sites click on the link. Alternatively this link is for an RBC leaflet Nature in Rushcliffe
Wildlife Sites just over the border
An area worth exploring is Charnwood just over the border in Leicestershire.
There is a cluster of Leic Wildlife Trust sites namely Lea Meadows, Ulverscroft and Herberts Meadow and in addition the County Council manage Outwoods, Beacon Hill, and Broomriggs Farm and of course there is also Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood. Although the footpath network is very limited in the area it is perfectly possibly to put together a days walk taking in Beacon Hill, Ulverrscroft/Herberts Meadow, Lea Meadows, Bradgate Park and Broomriggs – although to be fair such a circuit is more about passing through. But it is a fine walk taking in National Forest plantations.
Outside of Charnwood there are nature reserves at Holwell/Browns Quarry and also Wymeswold Meadow and Loughborough Big Meadow all just over the border. See LRWT web site for more info https://www.lrwt.org.uk/nature-reserves PS not sure if exotic places like Leicetershire has left the EU, so you might need to take your passport !
The Campaign to Protect Peat Bogs
The Wildlife Trusts are promoting a petition to Parliament to ban the sales of peat, which you may wish to sign here:
Tim W`s Latest Nature Diary
This time Tim looks at how plants are aware of their surroundings and replicates an experiment carried out by Darwin would you believe. Tims nature diary 9 – Plants
Rushcliffe Nature Conservation Strategy Implementation Group AGM
RNCSIG recently ran it`s AGM online using Survey Monkey and attached is a summary of the results. RNCSIG AGM 2020
South Notts Ringing Group
The bird ringing group do sterling work over the year on various sites in southern Notts contributing to our understanding of bird activity not just in the UK, but also into Europe and Africa. Attached is a link t0 the SNRG Report 2020
Stanton on the Wolds Golf Club –
Whilst conservation work on nature reserves is very important, such sites are only a small fraction of the total area of the Borough. So this extract from the Golf Courses Annual Report, represents a useful contribution to the bigger picture
A lot of ecology work has been taking place on the course during lockdown. The dew pond on the 15th has been cleared out and landscaped (Could I politely request that members do not introduce any fish or vegetation to this area please). A number of new bird and bat boxes have been installed in a number of locations around the course alongside numerous log piles and insect houses.
We made good ecological use of the tonnes of cores removed during greens maintenance week these have been placed in a number of damaged areas around the course they have been rolled and by late Spring they will provide a healthy covering of grass. Hundreds of thousands of wild flower seed have been sewn around the course (I will keep the locations secret and hopefully you will see them germinate and grow)