From the Sherborne village road, two prominent lakes are clearly visible in the valley below — albeit somewhat choked with vegetation. They are easy enough to see. They have, it seems, been easy to misread. This piece sets out what we believe these two dams were actually built for, why that
Just a couple of notices and then something more serious: 1. I'm pleased to tell you that the County Archaeologist has taken notice of our communication with him regarding the discovery of a number of pre-historic burial mounds in the local area. In the next few weeks
I've just heard from the Gloucestershire Local Nature Partnership (GLNP) that the National Trust in Sherborne will soon be joining a North Cotswold biodiversity net gain scheme. The North Cotswold BNG scheme (BGS-060226002) call themselves a natural capital broker. Make of that what you will. The North
It's that time of year when I become overwhelmed a little bit with seeing signs of spring and all the other interesting things that happen at this time of year. What follows might bore you, might interest you. Take your pick and tell me what you've
This Saturday is Sherborne's Big Breakfast. Details below. In my opinion the cause that money is being raised for is the most worthy local charity I think there is. Kate's Nursing Care provides free hospice care at home, and is highly respected. It's a
Serena reports the first sight this year of Housemartins, inspecting a previous nest by her house. Serena carefully records their appearance every year and says that they almost always appear 12-15th April so that's bang on schedule. Although swallows have been seen also, no sign of the
You will recall that at the last Windrush Catchment Partnership I raised concerns about the continuing discharge of Sherborne's sewage into the Windrush river system at Bourton Sewage Treatment works without treatment - over 1000 hours so far this year. No Thames Water representative was able to attend. The
Rosi has reported two swallows today. At the end of March, that is notably early, though not without precedent. Our records show the first swallow last year arrived around 7th April, itself a week ahead of the typical mid-April arrival. Whether these two are settling here or simply passing
(Because sometimes these are the two most important elements of Sherborne's history, and natural history - they are a theme which runs across the millenia) Some good news this week, and one piece of decidedly bad news. Let us start with the good. Ancestor Oaks: A Milestone Reached We
Since the theme of this group is both the history and the natural history of Sherborne, I have a couple of notices. The first concerns a local ecology campaigner, Debbie Campbell, aka "the River Girl". Debbie is passionate about the state of Cotswold Rivers and the wildlife and
Just two brief things: 1. After our planting of oak saplings a couple of weeks ago I ended up with more tools than I started, namely a small garden fork and a large socket spanner thing. Let me know if either belong to you and I'll deliver to
This is an update on the situation regarding the sewage discharges. I passed our concerns to the Windrush Catchment Partnership, and the Chair decided to forward them on to Thames Water in advance of the Windrush Catchment Partnership meeting in a couple of weeks' time. The hope was that