Owls

The government is currently undertaking the ‘Living with environmental change programme’. There has recently been a dramatic decline in bees, butterflies, moths and hoverflies, and virtually all the fruit and vegetables we eat has to be pollinated by these insects. With their decline and or their demise would come very serious consequences for our food industry. There is no clear evidence at the moment for the reasons for the loss of so many insects; it could be change in land use, the change in farming methods or the use of pesticide. One contributing factor already identified is loss of habitat. Our wildflower meadows have declined by 97% since the 1930’s. The over-zealous mowing by County Councils of verges and roundabouts are another factor; these provide breeding sites for much of our flora and fauna, they also provide much needed ‘wildlife corridors’.

OWLS are undertaking two projects at the moment, as part of the Local Biodiversity Action Plan. We are surveying, for ‘Plantlife’, the roadside verges around Oxhill, and secondly, our thanks go to Nicholas Morgan and the PCC for agreeing to let us enclose a section of the Churchyard to survey the wildflowers with the purpose of presenting a proposal, to the PCC, for creating a managed area to encourage a broad diversity of Fauna and Flora. If the PCC are agreeable to our suggestions we will then present this to an open meeting at the village hall.

Grenville Moore

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Last modified: August 16, 2010