Promoting & Enhancing The Natural Beauty of the Sid Valley
As I walked into our communal garden the other day I was startled by a large butterfly flying up from the tub of pansies by the door. I stood still and waited as it fluttered about and then settled again to feed. Then IRead More
Leave a comment I was delighted to see plenty of insects along the hedgerows of Laundry Lane in Sidford this week. It shows that some of the efforts to make space for nature are working. One group of insects I was pleased to see were small, blackRead More
Leave a comment Late April is the peak time to see one of our early butterflies flitting up and down hedgerows, the Orange Tip. Easily recognised by the bright orange tips of the forewings, the males are very obvious and common in the valley. The femalesRead More
Leave a comment Like so many of our common plants the humble and often overlooked buttercup is an important part of our valley’s biodiversity. I say buttercup, but there is more than one. There are twelve different buttercups in the UK and we have at least fourRead More
Leave a comment Once a knight was walking beside a river with his beloved, but he slipped on wet grass into the river. He clutched at the vegetation as he fell but it was to no avail. As he disappeared under the water, dragged down by hisRead More
Leave a comment We are so lucky to have our parks extending into the town. Apart from creating green spaces that we can enjoy, something proven to be good for our health, they also provide a space for birds for us to enjoy, something else known toRead More
Leave a comment Woodpeckers can bang their head against a tree trunk up to 40 times a second without getting a headache, we think. There are shock absorbing pads in the skull which prevent damage and, as the drumming is repeated, we assume it doesn’t hurt. ThereRead More
Leave a comment Nature has a habit of finding places to call home even in harsh environments. Some creatures thrive in deserts, our shingle beach garden is battered by storms but some plants and invertebrates cling on. There are even life forms that colonise the edges ofRead More
Leave a comment Tiny birds but with a powerful voice, wrens are Britain’s commonest and most widespread breeding bird, they are often heard but only seen as a tiny brown blur skipping through the shrubbery. The British Trust for Ornithology estimate there are about 11 million malesRead More
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