Ring a Ring 'O .........

wheelbarrows!

What I love the best about being on holiday is being able to walk every day. Today we visited a pretty little village called Penselwood The name came from early medieval "Penn in Selwood": "Penn" came from Celtic penn = "head", probably referring to a hill; and "Selwood" referring to the Selwood Forest which once surrounded the area. A couple of miles north of the village amidst the trees are the remains of Kenwalch's Castle, an Iron Age hill fort which it is said was the location of the Battle of Peonnum in 658. History books tell us it is in Penselwood (then known as Penn) that Edmund Ironside fought and defeated King Canute and drove them down the hill to be finished off at a place still called Slaughtergate today, and incidentally where I have lived for the past 30+ years. EVERY time I have to give my address the assumption is made I live next to an abattoir! How wrong they are!

On our walk today we came across a hidden little gem known as Moldrams Ground Nature Reserve. Although we have lived only 4 miles away for more than 30 years we didn't even know it was there. Moldram's Ground is a 4 acre countryside site which offers valuable wildlife habitats including four ponds and wetlands. Two of the ponds are home to a population of great crested newts. There are excellent specimen trees on site, some scrubby areas, rough grasslands and wetlands. A low impact bird hide provides cover for bird watching and a boardwalk completes an un-surfaced walking loop of the site.

During a recent "Bracken Bash" at the reserve, a Dormouse nest was discovered among one of the areas of bramble. These delightful creatures are currently very much at risk on the site as there are no suitable wildlife corridors linking the reserve to other suitable habitats. The highly endangered Hazel Dormouse is very much an arboreal species and the presence of hedgerows, especially those with mixed fruits and nuts, is essential for them to spread and come into contact with other Dormouse communities. Perhaps we should try to manage the hedgerows better for the benefit of the Dormouse?

The latest report called "State of Nature" from 25 wildlife and conservation organisations makes very worrying reading. It shows very clearly that wildlife reserves, valuable as they are, are incapable of saving our wildlife, much of which is now under severe threat. Even one of our national wildlife icons, the Hedgehog is now under threat of extinction in the UK and it is likely that our grandchildren will never see one. Wouldn't it be good if every parish pro-actively encouraged everyone to conserve wildlife and our native plant life across its whole area, including its gardens, open spaces, and its farmland?