Including Foolow Wildwood presentation –
Draft Minutes –
1. Present – Lynn, Nicky, Suzanne, Adam, Laura S, Neil Buttle, Sue, Gordon, Martin, Andrea, Deborah, David.
Also John, Katie and Marianne, from the Foolow Wildwood group.
Apologies – Josie
2. Draft Minutes from the last meeting on 15 March, 2021 – https://tdeg.org.uk/tdeg-wildlife-group-meeting-15-march-2021-draft-minutes/ – Approved
3. Updates –
a. Working with Tideswell Parish Council on wildflowers for roadside verges and other public spaces – 1st Tideswell Cubs involvement
Lynn confirmed that Tideswell Parish Council’s three trial `no mow` had gone ahead, and the resulting increase in wildflowers was very promising. We also had an excellent evening with the 1st Tideswell Cubs, explaining the benefits of unmown areas for wildlife, playing games and a quiz. The cubs had produced some great posters for the trial areas, which had been put in place by TPC’s two contractors.
Lynn had written a short report about the areas, with thanks to all involved, for the TPC clerk. David confirmed that all parish councillors had received a copy of this. All public comments, both on Facebook and direct to David, had been very positive so far. We are hopeful that this means TPC will go ahead with additional areas in their new contracts this summer.
Gordon (also on Litton Parish Council) also confirmed that Litton PC were undertaking similar work on the playing field behind Litton Church.
Action – Lynn to continue to offer support to TPC if they request it during the new contract negotiations.
b. Working with Tideswell & District Sports Association on the area around the sports fields at the Tideswell community park.
Kath, Adam and Lynn had met with Sandra Howard from the Tideswell & District Community Association to discuss ideas for the further development of the nature trail at Tideswell community park. A short report has since been sent to both TDCA and the Sports Association. The TDSA secretary had thanked us for the report, but would also like further ideas from us about features of wildlife interest around the site.
TDSA are also progressing with a feasibility study to consider the enhancement of the whole site, and we remain hopeful that this will lead to further tree and shrub planting and increased public use of the site.
Action – Lynn to arrange a further meeting on site of any interested Wildlife Group members to progress this idea. Please contact Lynn if you would like to be involved.
c. Tideswell Dale ash dieback management and butterfly transect.
Following our discussion about monitoring in Tideswell Dale after the recent ash dieback management in the dale, we have now set up a new butterfly transect in partnership with Butterfly Conservation (and their Derbyshire recorder, Ken Orpe) to properly monitor butterfly diversity and abundance in the dale. We have two couples and three individuals undertaking the survey every week on a rota (thanks to all involved). Ken shares the results and photos regularly on the Derbyshire Natural History Facebook page, as well as with the team. Lynn will also mention the surveys in the next TDEG Wildlife blog in July.
Adam is also pursuing bat surveys (and David also mentioned having his own bat detector), and has obtained previous bat records for the dale. We are considering holding a `bat walk` in the dale later in the year.
d. Going Wild – a new initiative for promoting wildlife friendly gardening (join up here – https://tdeg.org.uk/going-wild/) .
The new initiative discussed at our last meeting to promote wildlife friendly gardening in our area has now been launched. Lynn shared the current map of sites, where local people have signed up – 15 in total.
Action – Lynn will continue to produce short `blogs` each month, encouraging people to try different wildlife gardening projects. It would also be great if other members contributed their own ideas, photos and successes. Get in touch with Lynn if you would like to do this.
4. Foolow Wildwood – Lynn then introduced the team from Foolow Wildwood – Katie, John and Marianne.
Foolow Wildwood presentation (click here to view).
Their presentation explained the history of the site at Brosterfield, and their aims to purchase the site and establish new woodland and wildflower meadows, with public access. The Peak District NPA has accepted their business plan, and is giving them `first refusal` to purchase the site – if they can raise the required price (£300,000) by November 2021. The group is currently fund raising – seeking some major private sponsors and large grant funders, as well as public donations. Anyone can donate funds or dedicate a tree for £25, on their web site (https://www.foolowwildwoodproject.org/donate-now ).
The group answered queries after the presentation. All agreed this was an exciting, inspiring project. Various suggestions were made about raising additional funding, as well as ideas about the use of social media.
Action – TDEG will be publicising the project through various Facebook pages and other social media channels, as well as other local environment groups. Please can all members mention the project to neighbours and friends.
5. Possible bird feeder scheme in partnership with Tideswell Parish Council.
David confirmed that he will be asking Tideswell Parish Council if they would be prepared to fund some new bird feeders which members of the public could then `adopt` for putting up in public spaces around the village. He is also hoping to approach the Community Association for support as well. David felt there would be a lot of interest in such a scheme.
Action – To be discussed at the next Wildlife Group meeting, when we’ve heard back from the Parish Council and TDCA.
6. TDEG AGM – 7.30pm, Wednesday 30 June – “Our future world – finding our way” with presentations from the Climate Pathfinders Youth Forum. Lynn asked everyone to put the whole TDEG AGM in their diaries for 30 June. The meeting would be held via Zoom. Zoom details will be sent to everyone on the TDEG mailing list
7. Further meetings?
Josie has suggested that we take up an offer from Thomas Eccles, a local insect expert, for a `bug hunt` around the Tideswell Community Orchard. Everyone agreed this sounded like an excellent idea. To encourage families to attend, we suggested that either a Saturday afternoon, or early evening on a week day, would be preferable.
Action – Lynn to liaise with Josie and Thomas over dates and times.
The meeting finished at 9pm (and our thanks to Nicky for the Zoom and IT assistance)
