Wild Cornwall No.83 - Autumn 2000

News of the survey work is travelling slowly but momentum is gathering. Please get in touch if you want to contribute. We still need more on the location of ponds.

After three years of evening talks on local natural history issues, we are looking further afield this winter with two talks focused on the coast and one on Yugoslavia - let us know what you feel about this.

Brian Stringer

PENWITH

Despite being blessed with perfect weather, our early summer events have had a very poor attendance with approximately ten people for the coastal wildlife walk near Zennor and, more recently, despite roasting sunshine, an attendance of eight for our St Erth barbecue; the latter was a fundraising event and it raised £8 for the Trust.

In early July we had a working party on one of our reserves, Kemyel Crease, which is six acres of coastal woodland situated between Mousehole and Lamorna. The problem we have at Kemyel is the dreaded Japanese knotweed. Six years ago it was threatening to engulf a large part of the reserve; this year we found a grand total of eight plants, so all our hard work over the years is paying off.

However, one of our more recent acquisitions, Baker's Pit at Nancledra, has a serious knotweed problem. Hopefully in six years' time I will be able to report another success story.

Work on nature reserves is an ongoing thing and many hands make light work. This coming winter we have two working parties at St Erth Pits, each lasting just two hours, followed by an optional pub lunch at the Star. We look forward to seeing you there; please wear good footwear and bring gardening gloves and a spade, loppers or a small bow-saw.

As I write this article in mid-July, summer has not yet happened. The swallows came briefly but very few nested. There has also been a notable absence of insects with the exception of a few butterflies.

Here's hoping for an Indian summer.

Alistair Beasley

RESTORMEL

A very interesting morning was spent in June at Margaret and John Elliot's environmentally friendly farm near Bugle. Unfortunately the weather was very changeable, which may have put people off coming. Wild flowers were in profusion, as were Margaret's many greenhouses with a wonderful variety of plants, cacti and bonsai. We found out how their farm grew and how they planted their own woodland which now sustains many natural wild flowers. We also learnt about the history of the quarry lake which is on their land. A big thank you to Margaret and John for letting us enjoy your property.

Kirsten Roots

Further progress has been made at Red Moor on the Wilderness Trail and the focus now moves to keeping the paths open. In the autumn there will be a chance to assist the Hebridean sheep with gorse bashing and maybe flip a burger too for an impromptu barbecue.

On the other side of Helman Tor, at Breney Common, new fencing has been erected to help with grazing this sensitive marsh fritillary area.

Sadly, Prideaux Wood continues to attract attention from vandals and illegal shooting groups. We are monitoring the situation and forging links with the Friends of Luxulyan Valley, who have similar concerns. Tree thinning has taken place and plans are being hatched to improve the bottom path - rhododendrons beware!

The ponies from the Redlake reserve have been moved to Cabilla Woods to help create a wildflower glade; this in turn will be of great help to butterflies, moths and dormice. Improvements to the paths will also help with access.

The reserve work continues to make good progress but your help is always wanted, so please come along to our work party days - it all helps to improve our reserves for wildlife.

Dell Netherton

Packing and distribution of our newsletters is a mammoth task for the Restormel Group, which we only just achieved without the help of Ken Isham. In the past, Ken and his wife Brenda have carried out this huge task on their own - for

which we owe our sincere thanks. We wish them a very happy retirement and hope to see them at our future meetings. In the meantime, my thanks go to our committee members for rallying around to get the newsletters out. Special thanks must go to Mrs Joy McMullin for allowing us the use of her office and delivering a proportion of the newsletters herself. We are always looking for help with newsletter distribution - if you can help, please let me know.

Dave Thomas

TAMAR

In May, six people joined Tim Dingle on an evening walk round Bude; later that month five of us enjoyed a Butterfly Day at Tim's home. The weather ensured we saw no butterflies, but we learned a lot from books and slides and enjoyed walking through the wonderful private reserve Tim is creating on his own land.

Our Open Garden day was well attended, with fine weather. Over £500 was raised, thanks to all involved.

Our programme of winter talks begins at the Parkhouse Centre at 7.30pm on 18th September; on the 19th, telescopes will be poised at Maer Lake from 5.00pm to 7.00pm to identify autumn migrants visiting there.

Our little hamlet had an interesting visitor on Easter Monday: a very large, white-chested raptor who perched on a fence post for some time then hovered over Crackington Valley, joined by a suspicious - and much smaller - buzzard. The jury is out on identification - guesses included a honey buzzard, a Bonelli's eagle and a female hen harrier!

At last I got to the Royal Cornwall Show (my goats were there, so I had to be)! I fought my way right across the showground to visit the beautiful Trust stand. An arrangement I made to help was cancelled after all that - could I come in the afternoon instead? This was not possible, so I was allowed to hand out quiz papers to children. On the whole the young visitors preferred the plastic creepy crawlies on sale!

Gillian Ruddock

Cornwall Wildlife Trust