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First Pickings

Our monthly harvest of news! Plus extra online offers

Barn Owl Trust launches 'Nestcam'

Visit the Barn Owl Trust's new 'Nestcam'  and checkout the 'Nestcam' Diary

"We have two web cams on a farm in Cornwall (UK) where wild Barn Owls are currently nesting in a specially designed Barn Owl Trust nestbox."

Nestcam is a close up view of the Barn Owls' nest inside the nestbox and Barncam is a view of the nestbox inside the barn.  Barncam will 'go live' once more activity is taking place outside the nestbox.

Wild Barn Owls have been nesting at this site since 1994 and most years they have been successful. Please remember that they are wild birds and we are not in control of what happens to them! It is natural for some of the eggs to fail and some of the nestlings may die.

Survival and nesting success are largely controlled by food supply. Encouraging the creation of prey-rich habitat is a key focus for the Barn Owl Trust.  We hope the owls will do really well this year and you'll really enjoy watching them!

 

NCCPG Spring plant fair

Visit the NCCPG Spring Plant Fair at Felley Priory, nr. Underwood, Notts on SUNDAY 3rd June 2007 12.00 noon to 4.00 pm for a wonderful range of plants from over 20 top-class nurseries.
Entrance £3.00, children free. Refreshments are available and there is ample free car parking. Find us on the A608, ½ mile from J27 M1, follow the signs for the Fair.

Forest Garden open weekend

The award winning Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project are holding an open day on 10th and 11th May 1-5pm (see attached flyer [PDF]).

There will be tours on the hour every hour, freshly cooked food and refreshments, bug hunts, children’s art workshops, plants and seeds for sale.

Come and see our outdoor classroom, clay oven, wattle and daub building, outlawed vegetables, wildlife pond - and spend a penny in our compost loo.

All for free.

The event is part of the Brighton Festival Fringe and is one of the BBC Breathing Places open wildlife gardens.

For more information about the project and directions www.seedybusiness.org

* The following Sunday (May 18th) Moulsecoomb Primary School will be opening their award winning school grounds 1 till 5pm, also part of the Brighton Fringe Festival. Over the past few years the children have helped plant a storytelling woodland, orchard, hedgerow as well as planting numerous trees, flowers and bulbs around the place; it has vegetable beds and a wildlife pond with a weekly gardening club, as well as a Saxon roundhouse, with the children fully involved in improving the school grounds.

There will be regular tours on the hour, bug hunts, food and refreshments.

The day is free but any money raised will go to the schools minibus appeal.

 

Scotland’s allotments surveyed

The Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society (www.sags.org.uk) works for plotholders throughout Scotland to protect existing sites, promote the value of allotments, and preserve skills in gardening.
Following on from last year's first audit of Scottish allotments, Finding Scotland's Allotments, the organisation is turning its attention to the value of allotments.
Jenny Mollison secretary of SAGS told KG: “Although allotments are becoming more and more popular, we find that many people have very little idea of the wide variety of flowers, fruit and vegetables that can be grown, even in a climate as unpromising as that of Scotland.
“The Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society would like as many people as possible to let them know what they grow, how much they harvest, how much it costs in terms of work and money, and how much space they need for growing a crop.
“We have designed a spreadsheet to allow gardeners to record these details week by week for one whole year.”
The spreadsheet can be downloaded from the SAGS website by visiting www.sags.org.uk and clicking on ‘Growing Survey’.

 

New organisation for allotment holders and gardeners

The South West Counties Allotment Association has launched as a community interest company dedicated to providing help, advice and assistance on all aspects of allotment gardening. Although based in the South West of England they aim to help all gardeners across the country.
The association claims to offer advice on everything from forming an allotment association, putting together a constitution and applying for funding to assisting you if your allotment site is under threat, and says secretary and communications officer Ayesha Wilkinson, can help guide you through the process of challenging a decision to close your site.

To take advantage of the association’s services simply become a friend of the SWCAA for just £2 a year and receive public and product liability insurance and discounted seeds.
For more information visit the website www.allotmentssouthwest.org.uk or contact Ayesha Wilkinson on 01271 379997.

Local food on the funding menu

Local Food, a new and exciting grants programme funded by the Big Lottery Fund, is open for applications. The £50-million programme aimed at making locally grown food accessible and affordable to local communities has been developed by a consortium of organisations, and is managed on their behalf by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT). Local Food is the first Award Partner scheme funded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces programme and will look to distribute grants to a variety of food-related community projects across England. Such projects as growing, processing, marketing and distributing local food; composting and raising awareness of the benefits of such activities will be eligible to apply. To find out more call the Changing Spaces Advice Line on 0845 367 1671 or visit www.localfoodgrants.org.

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