Your local group
An excellent way to get to know your local wild places better - & to become more involved in their conservation - is to meet up with your local group at its events. See the diary & the contacts on page 2
Camel

Local members met recently at the home of Camel Committee member Trevor Renals to view the fabulous display of heath spotted and southern marsh orchids that were in flower in his superb unspoilt meadows near St Kew.

Camel Secretary Bet Hartley also held an Open Garden Day at Treligga on the north coast, raising £100 for the Trust and a further £240 for Oxfam. Well done and thanks Bet!

In June there was a visit to Wadebridge from a rare species: a rose-coloured starling in full breeding plumage. It fed regularly at a garden bird table on a housing estate, along with common starlings, and fortunately the owners of the garden were delighted to share the treat with local birdwatchers.

We have continued to enhance our committee meetings with recording on our reserves and in June we tracked bats at Hawkes Wood and some of the neighbouring properties at Treneague.

I followed up reports of a family of otters on the River Camel, and my wife, son and I were fortunate to watch three otters playing and feeding for over 20 minutes on successive evenings. It was an absolute treat as they came very close, breached the surface like dolphins and generally showed off to us. We were able to follow their bubble paths as they submerged and we watched as one caught a fish and they writhed and tumbled about in the shallows with it. There were two adults and one cub, which kept calling to its parents as it kept fairly close to the banks of the river.

There are some things in nature that stick with you for the rest of your days and these moments undoubtedly fall into that category!

Adrian Langdon

A rare rose-coloured starling visited Wadebridge in June.

Photo: Adrian Langdon
 

Caradon

Well, now that the foot-and-mouth crisis appears to be receding, our thoughts go out to all those affected, particularly those who lost animals - Cornwall was lucky.

I suppose we've been affected by the restrictions applied to events and even a stroll in the countryside. Things are getting back to normal and good evidence of this was another well-attended group event at Grove Farm, near Saltash.

We were invited to see the 20-acre hay meadow of David and Jean Davis. This is a meadow established with the Trust's help and managed under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. Patches of wild flowers, including knapweed, mallow and scabious, had been planted in the meadow to attract the wildlife, particularly insects. The sun shone and despite a breeze the sun brought out a good selection of butterflies: ringlets, meadow browns by the dozen, skippers, marbled whites, six-spot burnets and the highlight - a newly emerged vibrant purple hairstreak. How our guide Dave Gibbon spotted it in the hedge defies belief! I'm sure he's got butterfly radar! A silver-washed fritillary also glided by.

Many thanks to the Davises and also to the usual, excellent, eagle-eyed commentary from Dave Gibbon.

To contribute to the Hedgerow Campaign, Gail recently collected just under £50 in a few hours in Liskeard. Many thanks to all who contributed.

We hope to see more of you all at the next events in Caradon.

David and Gail Cory


A rare rose-coloured starling

 
Caradon

The Carrick Group ensured that the Trust was well represented at the Falmouth Big Green Fair in early July. This is a popular annual environmental event in Cornwall and it attracted a large audience. The main theme this year was waste reduction and recycling, and many stalls showed how various local organisations are developing projects that promote sustainable solutions to the county's waste crisis, which in turn has a direct impact on local wildlife and fauna. In addition to recruiting new members and gaining donations, our volunteers manning the stalls were pleased to meet many young Fox Club members and other Trust members who were very knowledgeable about the massive waste problems we face.

Two events that we are looking forward to are illustrated talks by Kate Stokes on mammals in general and otters in particular (on 24th October at Carnon Downs) and secondly by Rowena Varley on the habits and behaviour of bats with the chance to see and feel some real live bats (on 22nd November at St Agnes). Both groups of species are under considerable threat from loss of habitat and these talks will update us on the progress the Trust is making to reverse this trend. Members of other groups are welcome, as are non-members - the more we can attract non-members into our talks and activities the better!

In my view, one of the most challenging objectives for the Trust is to attract and persuade the "unconverted" to support these types of initiative. All groups should reach out beyond their membership and communicate as much as possible to the huge non-member audience out there in Cornwall!

Bob Bridges

We were sad to hear that John Hill, who became Secretary of the Carrick Group when it was re-formed last year, died during June after a short illness.