Ecomimicry 1:
Matt Somerville (that's him in the white beekeepers hat, veil and smock), of Bee Kind Hives, came to UWNR to inspect the wild bee hive we installed in early May - the results were astonishing! To read more about this remarkable moment at UWNR, please click on the 'Read More' tab below and scroll to the bottom of the page....
Ecomimicry 2:
Guided by ecologists Gareth Harris & Lisa Wade, inspired by Isabella Tree and working with Jack & Harry (in the picture above), last Monday (July 23rd) we constructed this Ecomimicking Beaver Dam in an appropriate section of the main stream, which runs east - west, through UWNR.
To read more about this important construction at UWNR, please click on the 'Read More' tab below and scroll to the bottom of the page....
Ecomimicry 3:
After the death of a Barn Owl at UWNR, during the last 'Beast from the East' weather event in March 2018, I have been thinking long and hard about how we can lessen the chances of this happening in winter 2018 / 2019.
I am 1/2 way through Jeff R Martin's informative and detailed 'The Barn Owl, Guardian of the Countryside'. He points out before WW2 most mixed farms in Britain had a resident pair of Barn Owls - in sum, they were very common. What changed, with the agri-business revolution, was a move away from this traditional farming system, with its late harvest hay, open grain barns & extensive grazing of fields, with mixed grasses and flowers. A result of this historical type of farming was high numbers of small mammals - key prey species of Barn Owls.
.What we are attempting to achieve with these food (mixed grain) hoppers, which will placed in & around the Barn Owl fields, is a significant boost to the small mammal population at UWRN. If we can keep numbers high, as winter sets in, we have a good chance of sustaining our Barn Owls at UWNR, through to spring and breeding in 2019.