Promoting & Enhancing The Natural Beauty of the Sid Valley
While spring flowers, early bumblebees and courting birds attract attention at this time of year, the humble but fascinating lichens just get on with doing their thing. Lichens are different, a fusion of a fungus and a simple plant or alga, some are evenRead More
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The National Trust in Somerset transformed a river by filling its channel, allowing nature to reclaim the landscape, resulting in increased biodiversity and flood resilience. This article is about. marvellous river experiment that I believe needs repeating hundreds of times. I was brought upRead More
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Summer hangs on in to September until the equal hours of day and night, the spring equinox on the 22nd September. After that it becomes the changeover month marked by the autumn migration of birds to and from Britain in earnest. On theRead More
Leave a comment The Lower Otter Restoration Project (LORP) is a major environmental re-engineering of the mouth of the River Otter. Apart from strengthening sea defences, the project has created 55 hectares of new intertidal habitat for wildlife. The project is not only benefitting wildfowl and wading birds but it is seeing a return of various saltmarsh plantsRead More
Leave a comment The Great UK WaterBlitz is a biannual campaign calling on volunteers to test the quality of their local freshwater including rivers, streams and lakes. This helps to build a national picture of water quality across the UK. From Friday Sept 20th to Monday Sept 23rd 2024, thousands ofRead More
Leave a comment Volunteers from the River Sid Catchment Group were delighted when a recent electrofishing survey of the river catchment revealed the presence of Brook Lampreys, eel-like fish so ancient and primitive they have not evolved jaws nor paired fins. Although harmless filter feeders, their cousins,Read More
Leave a comment They are with us throughout the summer, but spider webs become more noticeable on bright autumn mornings as they sparkle with dew drops. Size for size stronger than steel but also more stretchy than rubber, spider silk is one of the most marvellous creationsRead More
Leave a comment Yellow Rattle is a wild flower that has for a long time acquired almost a cult status as the plant to introduce to a wild flower meadow to suppress grasses and so allow the wild flowers that grow with them, to flourish. Yellow rattleRead More
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This cricket was found in our kitchen in early August. My wife, Denise, and I share house cleaning duties. I am responsible for the kitchen, as can be judged by the fluff this poor chap has attached to his right hind! We know heRead More
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