Well done to our inaugural Calne Tree of the Year winner.
During drab and dreary winter days the warmth of a summer’s evening can feel some distance away, it seeming unfathomable that sunshine will once again beat down upon our gardens during hours winter dictates to be darkness. Much the same can be said about those responsible for the soundscape that forms a critical ingredient of the majesty that is a calm, summer’s evening. However, there are some unmistakable mystical voices providing the melody of our alfresco summer existence that are every inch as far away as summer feels to our winter existence. We are, of course, referring to the majestic scream produced by the common swift, a bird that for many months of the year will be in sub-Saharan Africa, feasting on the glut of flying insects on offer, enjoying their very own safari from on high.
Arriving in the UK within the last weeks of April or early May, swifts stay only long enough to breed, their return migration beginning in late July or early August. The onset of the migration is believed to be triggered by the lack of insects high in the air. Few swifts are left in September.
Coming out of winter and into the spring, the Calne Community Nature Reserve has been active for eight months now, so how are we doing?
As the map above shows, we have a wide spread of areas in the Calne Community. However, I will be concentrating on the villages this year to increase exposure and the aims of the community nature reserve concept.
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| The Lavender hedge. |
Free Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) seeds available for collection in Calne as part of the Calne Community Nature Reserve project.
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| Seeds ready for collection. |
Happy #WorldWildlifeDay
