Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2015 | Page 52

COUNTRY LIFE

Countryside news
with Tony Ridd

What to look out for...

PTES Volunteer Weekend
More than 40 conservation volunteers from the Island and mainland descend
on The Peoples Trust for Endangered Species’ woodland at Briddlesford
Copse, for what is now an annual event.
Organised by Ian White, Dormouse Officer for the PTES, and now in its
seventh year, many of the volunteers are qualified ecologists, countryside
rangers and specialists in conservation. Their tasks included coppicing hazel,
clearing fallen trees from tracks and fences, cutting paths through scrub, ride
widening and clearing of invasive sycamore. There was also plenty of cleaning
and replacing dormouse boxes and erecting a post and rail ‘tree cage’ in the
Parkland, from oak timber cut and cleaved from the woodland. www.ptes.org

Love Your Countryside
The ‘Love Your Countryside’ campaign highlights how we can all enjoy
beautiful rural areas of Britain responsibly.
The campaign is currently highlighting the dangers of sky lanterns. Recent
campaign activity looked at the death of thousands of livestock following dog
attacks on sheep and fly-tipping which now affects 67 per cent of farmers in
England and Wales.
As well as raising the profile of these problems which hamper farmers
doing their day jobs, the campaign offers practical steps we can all take to
tackle these issues. www.nfuonline.com

52

www.visitilife.com

Oyster Mushroom

Hairy Bitter-cress

You can find oyster mushrooms
on dead or dying trees, often in
large clumps. They can grow in
the same place in successive
years, so remember where you
picked them and head back there
next year. If you separate the
caps and air dry them, they can
easily be stored.

This is a weed that can infuriate
gardeners with its capacity to
spread over cultivated soil, paths
and among cold frames. Its
secret weapon is being one of
the fastest life-cycles in the flora
world, flowering in a few weeks
from germination, with the
explosive seed pods projecting
seeds across the garden.

Moles

Woodlice

Perhaps mole hills rather than
moles! With the ground being
soft and damp moles can create
20 meters of tunnel per day.
They leave their mounds of earth
as they excavate these tunnels.
They generally eat insects and
naturally aerate the soil, but
can damage root systems and
farmers’ crops.

The woodlouse is not an insect
but a crustacean. They are the
only crustacean to inhabit inland
and not watery habitats. They
feed on decaying leaf and plant
matter, playing an important role
in the natural carbon dioxide
cycle. They have an average
lifespan of around two years but
some are known to live to four
years old.