The poor calcareous soil on the quarry spoil banks are ideal for supporting wildflowers that are not so readily spotted elsewhere in the local area. The plants in the picture gallery can only thrive where not trodden, so look beyond the path edges and in areas where the vegetation has not been disturbed.
Continue reading “Look closely as you walk around the quarry”Big Butterfly Count 2021
This year’s count takes place between Friday 16th July and Sunday August 8th August. This is an excellent opportunity to involve the whole family in some valuable citizen science. Just choose a sunny day for the survey and make your observations within a 15 minute window,. There is a dedicated website provided by Butterfly Conservation where you can obtain guidance and subsequently record your results. As an alternative, recording can be made via the dedicated app. Just search for and download the Big Butterfly Count App
Holding Back the Invaders!
Volunteering resumed at the cutting on Sunday 18th April. The focus from then on has been to control and eliminate non-native species. This does cause some concern with visitors, as were are observed removing Bluebells. The bluebell in question is of the Spanish variety. It is both non-native and invasive. It is growing where we would much prefer to have native wild flower and grasses growing, which in turn provide a benefit for the native wildlife.
I have provided a guide to the difference between native and non-native bluebells, produced by ©Katrina Martin / 2020VISION
Continue reading “Holding Back the Invaders!”Hedgehog Awareness Week 02-08 May 2021
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society are running a Hedgehog Awareness Week . Please click on this link to take you directly to their website and the details of this awareness week. The website contains lots of practical steps that every household with a garden can take to help ensure the survival and recovery of this much loved spiny mammal
If nothing else, please provide access holes in fencing to allow the animals to roam. They need a wide search area to find sufficient food
A download of the most helpful steps you can take is available here
Ashlawn – December 2020
The Rugby Wildlife volunteer group has made exceptional progress in the latter part of this year, especially having lost over 20 weeks of activity due to coronavirus lockdown. December’s work has focused on two key areas – Maintenance of Pytchley Marsh and creation of new hedgerows.
Continue reading “Ashlawn – December 2020”Newbold Quarry – December 2020 Update
The volunteers have been meeting every Tuesday, to work on various fronts:
- Hedge Laying and hedge cutting
- Scrub clearance
- Grass cutting
- Major clearance on the west ridge to create a sunnier habitat for wild flowers and the invertebrates that depend on them
Ashlawn Update (2) – November 2020
The volunteer group has made great progress on two fronts – grass cutting and hedge maintenance. We are fortunate to have work that enables the group to spread out to conform with covid-19 distancing requirements, while still having no one left in isolated working.
Continue reading “Ashlawn Update (2) – November 2020”Ashlawn Update – November 2020
The annual task of cutting the grasslands and taking off all the cut material has been going for 6 weeks so far, with a few more to go. This exercise is vital to protect and enhance the growth of wild flowers and grasses for the multitude of species that depend on them, This in turn also provides sustenance for the lower end of the food chain!
Continue reading “Ashlawn Update – November 2020”Ashlawn Update, October 2020
The grass cutting has been going since last month and with the volume to be completed, will probably keep the volunteers busy on this task until Christmas! This exercise is essential to keep the grasslands open, for the benefit of the wild flowers and grasses that are essential to support the invertebrate life.
Continue reading “Ashlawn Update, October 2020”Work resumes at Newbold Quarry
The first work party of the Autumn/Winter season took place on Tuesday 6th October 2020.
Continue reading “Work resumes at Newbold Quarry”