Monthly Archives: August 2014

Balsam Bashing Dates: Sat 30th August and Sun 7th Sept, Mousley Bottom

27 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Biodiversity, Events, Plants

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Those who were tough enough to brave the rather inclement weather at the last balsam bash were impressed by the results of Derbyshire County Council’s sustained management of balsam in certain areas over a number of years – visible proof of the effectiveness of the programme, and a great morale booster in that we can clearly achieve something significant with the Tackling Invaders project.

DCC have invited us back, so if you’re a seasoned balsam basher already, or never been before, we’d like to see you there! Bring gloves (although gloves can be provided also) and wear stout footwear and long sleeves, and DCC will supply tea and coffee. You can bring a picnic as well if you can make more of a day of it, or just drop in at any time between 10 and 2.

Meet: DCC Mousley Bottom hut (if you don’t know where this is, it is the brick hut next to the grassed area in Mousley Bottom. Go to the end of Station Road (past Central Station) and turn left down the track between the new houses and the red brick one.

Time: starts 10am, ends 2pm, but feel free to join in at any time for as long as you can; there’ll be directions on the hut if you arrive much after 10am.

Dates: Saturday 30th August and Sunday 7th September

It would be useful if we had an idea of numbers, so if you are intending to come it’d be great if you could let us know by dropping an email to transition.newmills@gmail.com

Thanks,

Julian

What are you doing in September?

17 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Climate change, Events

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My guess is that if you’re reading this, you will be only too aware of the crisis we face from global warming. I’m sure you are also only too conscious that, whilst there has been plenty of talk from politicians and businesses, little has been done on a national or global scale to stop or reverse climate change. It looks like we are reaching a point of no return. It’s difficult to give a precise day, month or even year when that will happen (it may even have happened already) but the science suggests that it is around now.

And if humanity (that’s us!) doesn’t do something very radical almost immediately, things are likely to get very unpleasant indeed.

If you have any doubts at all about the depths of the problem and the urgency of the task, you could invest around 20 minutes watching this video by Prof Kevin Anderson speaking at a conference in Manchester: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KumLH9kOpOI

The science is impeccable but the message is still (unfortunately) rarely heard, or if it is heard, easily dismissed because of the way the media usually presents it.

We have a very small window of opportunity.

Planning is underway for a major international day of action on 21 September to coincide with an invitation from the UN Secretary General to world leaders in New York to discuss action on climate change.

Apparently, almost all of them are coming. This meeting will set the stage either for urgent action commensurate with the problem or more empty declarations. It is our best moment to set the agenda for years to come.

If we fill the streets across the world that weekend we could literally make history. Think the anti-Iraq war demo but with a different outcome. This time the issue is about something that will personally affect most of us. I believe we have to at least try to make a difference.

If you can, please consider joining the planned demo in London and encourage your friends and family to do the same. Click here to make the pledge to come: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/join_to_change_everything/?tsTWjdb

Balsam Bash with DCC – Sunday 17th August, Mousley Bottom

11 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by in Biodiversity, Events, Plants

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balsam bashersDerbyshire County Council have asked us if we could help them control himalayan balsam in an area of the Mousley Bottom nature reserve. Paul Leatherland, from Derbyshire County Council Countryside Services, has had a programme for this for a year or two already, with some success.

So if you’re a seasoned balsam basher already, or never been before, we’d like to see you there! Bring gloves (although gloves can be provided also) and wear stout footwear and long sleeves, and DCC will supply tea and coffee. You can bring a picnic as well if you can make more of a day of it, or just drop in at any time between 10 and 2.

Incidentally, Radio 4’s You & Yours programme recently had an article about balsam bashing – catch it on the iplayer here (7th August, 20:47-28:05)

Meet: DCC Mousley Bottom hut (if you don’t know where this is, it is the brick hut next to the grassed area in Mousley Bottom. Go to the end of Station Road (past Central Station) and turn left down the track between the new houses and the red brick one.

Time: starts 10am, ends 2pm, but feel free to join in at any time for as long as you can.

Date: Sunday 17th August

It would be useful if we had an idea of numbers, so if you are intending to come it’d be great if you could let us know by dropping an email to transition.newmills@gmail.com

Thanks,

Julian

Recreating the Wild – what can we do?

10 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Biodiversity, Rewilding

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A few of us met up last week to discuss what we could do to help return to a more natural state some of the land around us currently over-managed and degraded by humans.

This concept, known as rewilding, is a positive, hopeful idea that can be of benefit in many different and practical ways: to alleviate flood risk, increase the resilience of natural systems through greater biodiversity, and mitigate against climate change by locking in carbon. But it also provides us with spiritual uplift and a boost to our mental and physical well-being that comes from being present in truly wild places – real food for the soul.

Whilst rewilding’s main current protagonist George Monbiot’s romantic vision involves reinstating Britain’s extinct megafauna – wolves, lynx, even elephants – there is much that can be done that is more easily achievable in the near future (not to mention less controversial).

A lot is already happening in the region, for example the restoration of clough woodland (areas of steep sided woods next to moorland), rewilding near to Snake Pass and even encouraging New Mills’ own Mousley Bottom to be wilder, more natural and increasingly biodiverse.

What can we do?

The main ideas we discussed at the meeting are as follows.

  • Organise working visits to local rewilding projects to educate ourselves, to see what’s going on and also help make them happen. Likely destinations are: Mousley Bottom, Kinder Scout and Alport Valley.
  • Increase awareness and action for rewilding through a public meeting in New Mills. It may be good to time this to coincide with the launch of George Monbiot’s rewilding organisation, which is expected to happen sometime soon.

If you want to know more about rewilding, take a look at Jane’s eloquent blog that kicked off Transition New Mills Rewilding Group. Watch this space to get involved and don’t forget the upcoming visit to Rollins Wood, Marple.

We’d also recommend watching the following three short but informative and entertaining videos that we watched at the meeting:

The meeting was called, organised and chaired by Jane Ayres and attended by Paul Finn (a local ranger and member of Sustainable Hayfield), Sally Mitchell (who’s involved in a number of conservation efforts, including Rollins Wood in Marple), Chris (a biologist), Jill Hulme (very green-fingered) and me. It was held on 7 August 2014 at Spring Bank Arts.