Andy Goodwin of Willow Coppice is coming to run this workshop teaching us how to make a beautiful willow swift.
Date: Friday 13th June from 4pm until 7pm (latest).
Venue: Shipton but exact location tbc depending on weather!
Cost: £35 per person.
No previous experience necessary. All materials and equipment are provided.
Only 8 places available so email us quickly if you're interested!
Wild About Swifts
by Edward Mayer
The swifts are back!!
They're only with us from late April until early August so let's make the most of these incredible birds which fly 7000 miles from Africa to breed here in the Wychwoods - and all without the aid of Sat Nav!
Come along and find out more amazing swift facts to impress your friends with and, most importantly, how you can help them by installing swift boxes on your home.
The dawn chorus is truly spectacular at this time of year so we were really pleased to team up with Bruern Farms for this very special event - a dawn chorus walk in Foxholes Nature Reserve followed by breakfast at the Bruern Farms Cafe.
Look out for it again next year!
Based around Tom's book, 'Ghosts in the Hedgerow - a Hedgehog Whodunnit', this talk took the unlikely format of a murder mystery. But who could possibly have it in for the beloved hedgehog? The suspects were rounded up for investigation - Mr Clarkson the chauffeur, Tommy Brock the badger, Major Geddoff the landowner and Mrs Nymbies the local parishioner. Spoiler alert - it was probably all of them acting together!
This was a funny but nevertheless serious look at the myriad of threats facing hedgehogs and, most importantly, what we can all do with very little effort to encourage them back into our gardens.
Wildlife has the same needs as we do: water, food and shelter. In this talk Rhiannon shared tips and ideas as to how we can incorporate these into our own gardens to turn them into vibrant habitats for all sorts of wildlife ... and still have a beautiful garden. It's a great way to protect and connect with nature!
A fascinating talk about what we can see in our amazing night skies and how important it is to protect them from light pollution.
Sadly the weather gods were against us and we couldn't go outside but amateur astronomers from CNAAG set up their telescopes at the back of the hall for us which was really interesting.
We'll have another go soon!
Ian talked to us about his experiences growing wildflowers at nearby FarmEd and explained the importance of sowing wildflowers for pollinators and insects, wildlife generally and soil health. With the huge area covered by gardens in the UK we have the perfect opportunity to go some way to replacing the wildflower meadows that have been lost to intensive agriculture since the 1930's.
Ian also very kindly supplied some wildflower seed for us to take home and get planting!
This talk covered what we can all do in our own back gardens to help this threatened animal, from putting out water and food, to avoiding potential threats such as poisoning, strimming, burning and drowning - it's a dangerous life being a hedgehog!
But the number one most important thing we can do is 'Get Connected'! We need to connect our gardens with our neighbours so that hedgehogs are free to roam the large distances they need to forage for food and to breed.
We learned about nearby Kirtlington's Hedgehog Highway which has received national press coverage! Let's do the same in The Wychwoods!
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.