As the year draws to a close, we wanted to keep you up to date with news from the South West. It has been a busy year but we’ve achieved a huge amount for woods and trees with your help. Next year’s plans see new volunteering opportunities...
There are no beavers at Fingle Woods but diesel-powered machines are building beaver dams As the “rewilding” debate expands its wings outside the confines of the conservation world and enters the mainstream media, Fingle Woods finds itself looking at where it can play a part. In...
First, of course, a very Happy Christmas to all our members and we trust we will be seeing all of you in the New Year. Now to more mundane matters; the forecast for the 1st Dcember turned out to be unduly pessimistic and overnight rain ceased...
At Fingle we are lucky enough to have a wood filled with all kinds of different wildlife from Roe Deer to Salmon and Dippers. Yet there is one species in particular that lives here – the Hazel Dormouse. I have volunteered with the Fingle team for...
The Conservation Assistants recently led a guided tour of the National Nature Reserve (NNR) for the Dartmoor National Park apprentices. This was a chance for them to see what the trainee scheme at East Dartmoor NNR is all about, and for both sides to network,...
On Sunday 18 November Colerne Parish remembered their First World War fallen by the planting of 23 trees in the Woodland Trust’s Frank’s Wood. Wiltshire Council, through the Woodland Trust’s First World War project, invited communities to mark the centenary by planting trees across the county,...
In searching the waterways for signs of otters, Natural England volunteer, Emma, has been discovering the beauty of Yarner Wood as it changes through the seasons… For the last year I have been volunteering as part of the East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve otter survey team,...
The story of the wych elm trees in the Bovey Valley Woods has reached its final chapter. The volunteers of the East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve began the adventure began back in 2016 when a hunt for the diminished population of elms took a painstakingly...
Back in June the South West area held their volunteer week thank you event at Curry Rivel, and we spent the afternoon at RSPB Swell Wood. The main reason for choosing the wood was owing to the nesting herons. At the time I did not have...
Slightly hidden but only a short walk into Yarner Woods, lies the reservoir. It’s a popular place to sit and watch waterfowl species, such as the mandarin ducks, and on the sunny autumn days we have been having recently, it’s easy to overlook that underneath...