In the interests of openness and democracy here are the minutes of our 2021 AGM held a few weeks ago AGM Minutes 2021  WE would still be interested in hearing from anyone who might be interested in joining the committee in it`s work of promoting the work of Notts Wildlife Trust, nature conservation and wildlife in the Rushcliffe area.

Any questions please contact Gordon Dyne on gordon.dyne@gmail.com

This is a summary from Janice Bradley (NWT Nature Recovery Manager North), who is dealing with the County Council Mineral Extraction Plan. Land near Bartonis one of the sites allocated under the County plans for a gravel extraction unfortunately. The majority of the proposed site is within Rushcliffe,  one small area falls within the City’s boundary. The specific Planning  Application for the site is still in play, but that is now a matter of how, not if. We are currently waiting for the applicant to submit their response to the 4^th Regulation 25 request, to see if they can address all the issues raised.  The fact that it has taken that many requests shows what a controversial site it is and how poor the initial application was. I remain in contact with Barton PC about it.

The Mineral Plan will require the restoration of the site to BAP priority floodplain habitats, which are listed  in the site brief, and the presumption will be to protect the Local Wildlife Sites where possible and this is where things get complicated. The issue of the LWS`s effected is still being battled out at through the application process.

The principal aims of the project is to improve wildlife linkages and create stepping stones spreading out from existing areas of wildlife habitat in the target area. The project area is roughly a triangle between the A52, A46 and A606 and therefore Cotgrave Forest forms a major habitat feature in the area.

The Project is seeking to promote existing habitats such as hedgerows, headlands and green lanes, as well as creating new stepping stones, such as woodland copses and field margins. These will assist the movement of less mobile species such as small mammals, invertebrates and plants, around the area, as well as providing additional habitat in themselves.

So we are looking at farmland links between Cotgrave Forest and Roehoe Wood, Cotgrave Country Park and Cotgrave village edge woodlands and out towards Wheatcroft Wood and Dewberry Hill. And hope that by encouraging small changes that add up, we can create these stepping stones and connections for wildlife at a landscape scale.

But the Project is also interested in promoting sympathetic wildlife management within the woodland. because it is an important habitat in it`s own right, supporting a diverse range of local species and also the locally rare Purple Emperor and White Tailed Fritillary butterflies.

Gordon Dyne – Rushcliffe Nature Conservation Strategy Implementation Group (RNCSIG)

From Mike Rivett via NEXTDOOR – Badger culling. Do you know that badgers in south Notts are scheduled to be culled, even though some of them have been vaccinated against bovine TB already? If you disagree, please sign and share the petition – https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-badgers-in-notts-and-leics

South Notts Local Group (NWT) – The government are being tight lipped about exactly where the culls are taking place, to try and throw off disruption. But even if it the cull area does not include the Notts Wildlife Trust Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme area, the uncertainty has resulted in a significant number of farmers withdrawing from a scheme that had been NWT`s most successful land owner engagement project, running since 2015.

However the vaccination programme is continuing with the support from a dedicated group of volunteers. One of the bizarre ironies of this is that the government are simultaneously funding both the cull and the vaccination programme.

There are a whole cluster of nature reserves in Rushcliffe to visit over the spring and summer. Obvious candidates are Skylarks, Bingham Linear Park, Sharphill Wood, Bunny Wood, Rushcliffe CP, Cotgrave CP + smaller sites such as Wilford Claypits, Gotham Sandbanks, Wilwell Farm Cutting.

For more information you might want to follow these links For a list of local sites http://www.southnottswildlife.org.uk/content/?page_id=228

Alternatively this link is for  an RBC leaflet Nature in Rushcliffe http://www.southnottswildlife.org.uk/content/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/NatureInRushcliffe_leaflet_artwork.pdf

Another area to explore is Charnwood Forest just over the border in Leices. 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 !