News

Update – see at bottom of article

The Bourne Conservation Group (BCG) has had a good summer after resuming its work of looking after and improving the open spaces and footpaths of The Bourne. Members have continued to support the Group following the end of Lockdown and interest has been shown from potential new members, perhaps inspired by the growing interest in nature and the environment.

Our Group’s earliest work back in 2002 concentrated on some of the woodland sites in The Bourne such as Paradise Wood and Burnt Hill Wood. As our experience widened and our overarching aim became the enhancement of biodiversity in the area, we saw our local sites as part of a broader pattern linked together by the river valleys, roadside verges and footpaths to form the Green Infrastructure of the town. This is of fundamental importance to the human population for relaxation and also to the wildlife for which it provides habitat and corridors to facilitate movement of species. These ideas have gathered strength and relevance in more recent times as the problems facing the natural world have worsened and become better understood.

Things are slowly getting back to something like normality and the arrival of September means that it is time to send out our Annual Report to Members and Friends. It records another successful period for our Group despite the major interruption our work has suffered.

If you have not received the report and would like a copy please request it through the last page of our website or by email to info@bourneconservation.org.uk

Further information about the AGM will be circulated when available.

This article has been written by our expert on biodiversity Dr Martin Angel and is well worth sharing with others through our website. Further articles are planned.

During the past months, while work has been seriously curtailed by the Pandemic crisis BCG has kept an eye on all its sites and undertaken a small amount of urgent work affecting health and safety. This was accomplished using our own set of Local Rules based on Government Guidelines to ensure
the safety of our volunteers and members of the public.   With the easing of restrictions a start was made on some more comprehensive work on Sunday 12 th July with a session based at the Underdown Nature Reserve. A total of 10 volunteers took part working in two teams, one on the main site and the other doing much needed clearance along the footpath by the stream. Six Duke of Edinburgh’s Award students including two new recruits took part and were glad to have some practical tasks to do after their disrupted summer.

The Bourne Conservation Group’s Committee has given careful consideration to the resumption of working parties and has given its approval to make a start within the limits of Government Guidelines, provided the general Covid-19 situation in the country continues on its present trend. This is a positive development and we welcome enquiries from potential new members who would like to contribute their time and knowledge – details can be found on the ‘Join Us’ page.

The Bourne Conservation Group is continuing to collect and share responses to the Garden Watch survey reported last month. BCG’s expert on biodiversity Dr Martin Angel undertakes his own surveys and on Monday 8th June recorded an exceptional sighting in the Middle Bourne Lane Community Garden. He caught three goat moths (pictured) in a single night.

The beginning of June is a good time to bring our members and friends up to date on a number of activities, so we have put together our first News Sheet of 2020. It has been issued by email and is also available to be downloaded below. We hope you find this useful and look forward to comments on any of the issues raised.

We are very grateful to our member Liz Chart for the excellent photos she sent recently from the pond in Middle Bourne Lane Community Garden and which deserve to be shared. We believe they are all palmate newts which can be identified by the rather broad toes on the hind legs. Palmates stay in the ponds longer than the commoner smooth newts. We have been pleased by the interest shown this year by visitors to both Middle Bourne Lane and the Old Churchyard to the new life in our ponds there.

While the Group’s normal pattern of working parties had to be suspended during the height of the Coronavirus lockdown, some activities have been resumed in late May under the government’s most recent advice. Noel Moss and Mike Long have undertaken some much-needed watering at the crossroads and Simon Bradbury has been doing the same at Middle
Bourne Lane to ensure the flowers and seeds survive there. Also, on what was the hottest day so far, Noel and Richard Sandars started on some preliminary work in the Old Churchyard, mowing and bramble pulling. During the course of the morning two ladies visited intent on seeing how the tadpoles were getting on while two young parents and their small daughter spread out a rug and had a picnic – they agreed to being photgraphed. A lady with her small dog also passed through briefly.