Who doesn’t love the horse chestnut? With their spiky green cases, gleaming seeds, celebrated by children (I hear ‘conkers’ has started to make a comeback). Horse chestnuts, with their mahogany-bright conkers, are the very essence of a British autumn and more importantly you can find this beautiful tree all over New Mills But did you […]
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Flora and fauna : Signs of Spring Well Spring is hanging round the corner and everything’s on the point of happening. We had a wander along the canal across from Swizzels last weekend and hiding behind The Hub (that pink building) were a few patches of lemon yellow coltsfoot. A sure sign of things to come.
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Shield Tree Wood is a Viking themed Forest School and outdoor woodland at Thornsett Fields Farm, New Mills on the edge of the Derbyshire Peak District. They are passionate about getting children and adults back outside where they are happiest. At Shield Tree Wood they use exploration, den building, woodland crafts, tool use, campfire cooking,
You can’t beat fresh herbs to compliment a good meal, so it’s great to have access to a ready supply of free fresh herbs popping up around New Mills courtesy of Incredible Edible Their recent accomplishments include a recent sprinkling of TLC at Torr Top making the planters and wall spaces look fantastic – we
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This time of year is dodgy for our feathered friends. All the berries and seeds they’ve been managing on over the last few months have gone, insects can’t be found and the ground is often frozen. During just one cold night they lose a massive amount of body weight, and you wonder how any survive the
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Every year approximately 8 million tons of plastic waste finds its way into our oceans, where it wreaks havoc on our wildlife, and then finds its way into the human food chain. Rethink Plastic New Mills, a campaign by Transition New Mills, aims to boost awareness of the problem encourage New Mills residents to use
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I arrived home the other afternoon to be met with a mass of insect life on the flowers of the ivy (the best thing you can plant for wildlife), but by far the most eye-catching were the red admirals. Its life history is interesting…in May and June it migrates north to us from northern Africa and southern
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A walk along the Sett Valley Trail this evening surprised us with this little corker exploring the hardcore. Much as I deplore them in the garden for their under-root explorations, moles are charming little things going about their subterranean lives generally out of sight (though they do surface surprisingly often). Moles live by their sense
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You’ve probably noticed but this time of year is brilliant for moths. The best nights to see them are those still, warm overcast evenings full of the scents of summer. A friend recently sent me a (rather dodgy) picture of one of these caterpillars he found up on the heather tops. It’s that of
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Flora and fauna – Goosegrass and other regrets REGRET 1 It will have been in the mid-60’s on a school geography field trip looking at flood plains on the Goyt in Stockport when I was first surprised by Himalayan balsam, its popping wriggling seedpods entertaining the whole class far more than any ox-bow lake. Oh dear
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