Author: Land Matters (Page 1 of 3)

The Wildlife Trust have kindly sent us some more clips from the cameras on the land.

As well as more Otter footage, it’s very nice to see a Bullfinch so close to the camera, and first appearance of a Polecat!

Polecats are part of the same family as otter (the mustelids,) are native
to the UK and were almost persecuted to extinction in the past. They are
now a protected species since 1981 and come under the UK priority
species for biodiversity. Numbers are increasing in rural Wales, and it’s
great to have one as part of the diversity of species in our local
habitat.

We had a lovely Land weekend at Greenstreete, exploring the 6 Pairs from Abhidhamma through planting trees in the Badger Hut field, coppicing in the quarry in the Larch Wood, clearing paths amongst the trees on the bank behind the house and pulling up brambles on the edge of Greenstreete Wood. 
As you see from the photos we were blessed by rainbows!

As you know, we work closely with our local Wildlife Trust to manage our land at Greenstreete for greater biodiversity and resilience, so that it continues to be a nourishing environment for meditators. Tomorrow is the start of the Wildlife Trusts’ annual celebration of the incredible bond between people and nature, Hope Week 11 – 12 November – a reminder to spread good will and kindness as we face the climate and nature crisis together.

As a spokesperson from the Wildlife Trust says, “While it’s vital to stay informed about the challenges facing our planet, it’s equally important to step back and recharge. Eco-anxiety is real, and it can leave us feeling overwhelmed. Let’s take this week to remind ourselves to stay hopeful and celebrate the amazing progress happening in nature and conservation.”

On Sunday 17th November there is a livestream for young people on Youtube: “Hope is in Our Nature”, an exciting 2 hour interactive show to bring young people together to celebrate nature.

Find out more about #HopeWeek and sign up for the livestream: Hope is in our Nature | The Wildlife Trusts

Please forward this to any young person who might be interested.

Greenstreete features heavily in this interesting and informative video from Radnorshire Wildlife Trust about how the Lugg and its environs are being managed to try to prevent flood risk.

Some great stills from the drone footage of Greenstreete in the video can also be seen below.

The camera traps have been checked again, providing more fascinating and delightful views of the creatures at Greenstreete that we would not normally be able to see…

The first three trees were planted for Lance Cousins on Friday in the Ram field. The planting team was Chris Gilchrist, James Peel, Cary Mandel and Francis Beresford. These trees are two small leaved Limes and a Rowan.

Eventually there will be a whole grove.

This is Will Lewis, the local otter expert, with a motion sensitive wildlife camera, by the lake at Greenstreete.

He says the Otters have been there every month recently and are attracted by the water.

Lots of Otter spraints have also been found all along the river.

This is Dan Westbury from the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust who is working with us on the management of the wetlands and is planning to construct ‘leaky dams’ later in the year.

Dan has also spotted a couple of Kingfishers down by the lake.

It is Radnorshire Wildlife Trust who put up motion sensor cameras and who sent us all the footage.

Wilder Lugg Project | Radnorshire Wildlife Trust (rwtwales.org)

We are involved with this project.

Please do come along on Wednesday.

Book here: https://www.rwtwales.org/events/2024-07-03-wilder-lugg-project-launch

Exciting news! We may have Otters on our Wetlands.

Radnorshire Wildlife Trust officers who have been surveying there for us think they have spotted signs of their activity.

We have agreed for them to put up motion sensor cameras in four locations – see photos. The cameras record a short video (around 5/10 seconds). A WT officer will check them after one month – camera trapping can sometimes be a long-term project, with otters sometimes not returning to sites for many months, but we hope to capture something soon.

(We have requested that all footage with humans in be deleted, which the WT will do. The cameras will be switched off for the upcoming Family Weekend.)

Let us know how you feel about the cameras.

And if you spot anything yourself, please let us know!

One of the newly made ponds, in the sunshine…