Congratulations to our committee member Debbie Carter, who has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Green category for BBC Radio Wiltshire’s Make a Difference Awards. 

As most of our members are aware, Debbie has been a very active and essential committee member for many years, in addition to other nature-related causes in Tisbury and surrounding area she’s dedicated a lot of time, effort and passion. Woodlands Alive organiser, parish council’s tree warden, WWT’s nature reserve warden, water vole surveyor, dormice surveyor… Debbie was conducting a botanical survey near the community field (which she was instrumental in obtaining for the enjoyment of all the residents of Tisbury!) when she received the call from BBC to let her know about her nomination!

So we are very pleased to hear Debbie has been shortlisted. They’ve had more than 200 nominations in total across the eight categories, with finalists being shortlisted by a panel of four, based on anonymous nomination letters. There will be an award ceremony on Saturday 23rd September, where they will be announcing the overall winner for each category. In the meantime, you will be able to hear Debbie’s story, as well as that of other finalists, on interviews BBC Radio Wiltshire will be conducting over the summer.

We wish Debbie all the best for this award and thank her for all she does for nature and all of us who value nature.

by Inés López-Dóriga

We are meeting on Saturday the 4th of March at 10.30 am in the field behind King George's Field and the Skate Park for some winter
maintenance.

We have done two hedgelaying sessions earlier this year; this time we will be looking at how the trees we planted in years past are doing, removing any grass from inside the guards, adding woodchip, replanting gaps with hedge trees, replacing missing stakes and guards...
 
You are welcome to join us. The best place to park is the Nadder
Centre car park, from where there is less than a 5 minute walk to the field:https://goo.gl/maps/NwoqRXzTFBxWC3hGA

All the banner photographs have been changed and everybody who entered the competition has a photograph featured in the updated pages.

We still have a few pages hidden in the Wildlife identification and recording section while Inés gathers more information and they will be made visible once complete. It's been very enjoyable choosing from the beautiful submissions we received and thank you once again.

Please do keep the photographs coming, to increase our library. You can send us a message via the Contact form and we'll send you the email address for submissions. Most of the photographs used on the website are in landscape format, especially for the banners, where they need to be of high resolution to cope with the elongation. Portrait photographs will also be useful for illustrating the page content of our new section, so we welcome those as well.

How stunning it was to see our members' photographs up on the large screen, nattily disguised for the voting protocol by alphanumeric codes. With the delicious plum gluhwein and mince pies from Debbie and Andrew Carter, plus Izzy Fry's talk on bird-ringing, our Christmas event was highly enjoyable. Thank you for your contributions!

The winning photographs for each category are shown below:
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Birds - Lapwing by Izzy Fry
Invertebrates - Adonis Blue by Peter Shallcross
Mammals - Fox by Andrew Carter
Fungi - Chicken in the woods by Jasper Bacon
Landscape - Ashcombe Bottom by Andrew Carter
Plant -  Lichen by Andrew Graham

*please note that it hasn't always been possible to show the full parameters of each photo in the upload.

There was no overall winner due to the wide range of votes. Two other members also deserve special mentions with runner up scores: Debbie Carter (Tawny owlets) and Claire Cartwright (bumblebee). ​

Thank you to those who have submitted their photos for the competition which we'll show at the Christmas meeting this coming Thursday 15th December at 7pm. Mince pies and mulled wine will be served!

We would like some more photos if you can get them to us before end of Sunday 11th Dec. The email address for submissions was included in the Treasurer's update email, otherwise please use the contact page and we'll send the info to you. We don't publish email addresses on this website due to spam prevention.

There are 6 categories for the photo competition. Please submit only one photo per category:

Birds
Invertebrates
Mammals
Fungi
Landscapes
Plants

Izzy Fry, our Young Nature Watch co-founder, will also be giving a talk about her experience of "Bird ringing: How, what and why" which will start at 7:30pm.

At our Christmas meeting on Thursday December 15th we will be holding a competition to find the best photos taken by our members.

There will be 6 categories:
Birds
Invertebrates
Mammals
Fungi
Landscapes
Plants

Members will receive an email with the details of how to submit your photos. You can also contact us for the relevant details via the Contact page.

Maximum of one photo per category per participant and the deadline is Sunday 11th December.
​
The photos will be displayed on the screen at the front of the hall before the talk starts, judging will be by the audience and the results will be posted on Facebook and on this website.

​A new venture for the Society, a screening of the film Kiss the Ground on Thursday 24th November at 6:00PM in the Victoria Hall, in which experts and activists unpack ways in which the earth's soil may be the key to combating climate change and preserving the planet.

“Kiss The Ground, stands above its contemporaries by doing one simple thing. Presenting a feasible solution to the problem of climate change whilst not being foolheartedly optimistic. This documentary dives into the world of sustainable farming and soil rejuvenation, offering a hopeful look into simple, approachable practices for a better tomorrow.”

“This is definitely one of those documentaries that everyone should watch. Climate change and global warming are things that impact us all, and the ideas presented in this film gives me hope that it CAN be reversed.”

Tickets: on the door – Adults £1 each. Under 21s free.

​Victoria Hall, High St, Tisbury (opposite the garage)

If you are interested to learn a practical skill and to help conserve the landscape around you, you may be interested to hear of courses in hedgelaying being offered at Church Farm in Semley over the next few months.

Day-long courses, aimed at beginners and free to participants, though limited to half a dozen people at a time, will be led by Anthony Brown, a man of considerable experience and skill, on five days between now and next February:

Saturday 12th November, Friday 25th November, Saturday 10th December, Friday 20th January and Friday 3rd February.
​
If you think you may be interested then please use our contact form and we will forward the email address to you.

Thanks to everyone who popped by our stall last Saturday including our lovely volunteers, Lizzy and Janet, who helped man the stall. And well done to those who tried their hand with the Wildlife Quiz. The best score was 18 out of 20. No prizes but you know who you are!

Young Nature Watch provided some bug hotels from their recent group activity which we gave away for small donations. We hope to see some new members at the next Young Nature Watch activity which is a bug hunt on Saturday 13th August. Please sign up to their mailing list to keep in touch.

What a beautiful evening it turned out to be, fresh after the rain. Thank you to all who came along and joined us in celebrating the Society's 40th Anniversary on Saturday.

Peter and Inés set out a challenging 26 wildflower identification trail across the meadow and Andrew Graham's multiple choice mystery wildlife quiz had people marvelling at the stunning clues taken from photographs by our members.

Prizes were awarded to young guests and slightly older members... What could be better than celebrating together in a pretty meadow in the late June sunshine?