I'm glad that we can see the photos from more sophisticated set-ups because it was a little underwhelming without the gear. I used the method of back to the sun, video on selfie mode on a mobile phone. The birds kept singing and there was no sense of darkness or was I in a parallel universe? 

​Here are the superior photographs from Andrew Carter, taken near Pam's Path. Andrew has explained how he achieved them: 

"After fiddling about with my very standard camera, I went back to basics to shut out the sun's light. I experimented on Manual, F11, 1/5000, infinity focus by manually focussing on the most distant horizon I could find, then finally going towards full zoom(176mm), ISO set to 125 and looked at the display not directly through the lens."

Thank you, Andrew, we greatly appreciate your record of this total solar eclipse in action. Our Young Nature Watch members may be around for the next total eclipse viewable in the UK in 64 years' time. Of course, you can join the eclipse chasers and travel around the world to view another one elsewhere...

It's too hot tonight to do this on Wed 15th July. We'll put another post up with the new timing soon.

Further to the blog post on 18th May, this is a reminder that we are taking part again in the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme and we need more volunteers to help us.

Can you give us a hand on on Sat 25th July 2026 (extension to Sun 26th if necessary) when we install the cameras?

We will be taking down cameras on Mon 24th August 2026 (extension to Tues 25th if necessary) and will need help again.

We also need volunteer spotters to identify animals in trail camera footage online.

If you would like to get involved in any of these, please get in touch
via the contact page and we'll pass your message on to Inés. All training provided!

Please join us in ragwort pulling from the Community field, behind the skatepark and Nadder Centre at 6:30pm on Wed 15th July. 

We pull the ragwort in preparation for the field being cut for hay and any cinnabar moth caterpillars will be rescued and put on other ragworts in a non-harvested location.

Bring a picnic and enjoy this summer's activity!

Don't forget that we have an additional talk this week from Inés López-Dóriga who helped to crew a tall ship across the notorious Drake Passage to Antarctica. She will be reporting on the wildlife and the unique flora and fauna found in this stunning landscape.

​As always, doors and bar will be open from 7pm, free for members and people under 21 years of age and £4 for guests.  

On Thursday 14th May, we have an additional indoor meeting (the last of the season) starting at 7.30 pm at the Victoria Hall. Our speaker is Inés López-Dóriga presenting ‘Antarctica on a tall ship’, a report on the wildlife and landscape characteristics of Antarctica, as encountered during a recent trip sailing through the Drake Passage from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

The talk will illustrate the unusual wildlife (micro and macrofauna
and, incredibly, flora) that can be found on the white continent and
the ocean around it, as well as the landscape characteristics
of geography, sea currents, ice, icebergs and volcanoes that make it so special.

​As always, doors and bar will be open from 7pm, free for members and people under 21 years of age and £4 for guests. ​​

You may have seen Debbie Carter, a licensed dormouse handler, on the Wiltshire Woods edition of Countryfile on 2 November, but if you missed it, catch up on the last 10 minutes of the programme found here.

​Debbie was in Oyster Coppice checking the dormice boxes with Caroline Longley (Wiltshire Wildlife Trust) and Charlotte Smith from the Countryfile team. They found dormice and caught some footage on camera, much to everyone's delight. TisTalk interviewed Debbie this week, so you will soon be able to hear all about her experience. 

Matthew Phillips has passed on a recommendation for "Jump" which is a musical performance composed and performed by Karen Wimhurst at Sandy Hills Art Centre on Thursday 26th June at 6pm.

"A wonderful and unusual evening at Sandy Hill Arts Thursday 26th June celebrating UK's Insect Week. The evening begins with a fascinating illustrated talk by eminent entomologist Peter Smithers, presenting his new work 'Small Game Hunter'. The second half is musical and visual magic - an interweaving of clarinets, insect and amphibian sounds alongside a film by Glaswegian based artist Sonia Killman, drawing on macrophotography of these wonderful creatures."
​

Dr Jocelyn Elson-Riggins is a locally-based Whale Poo Ambassador for the Rugvin Foundation and a self-employed research consultant specializing in the fields of marine biology, veterinary parasitology, and wildlife disease.

Jocelyn joins us on Thurs 13th March for her talk "Pooping for the planet: why whales are marine ecosystem engineers" in the Victoria Hall, High Street, Tisbury at 7:30pm. The doors to the Victoria Hall will be open from 7pm and the bar will be available then too. Members are free and guests £2 at the door.

Jocelyn obtained a BSc from Bangor University, an MS from California State University Long Beach and a PhD from the University of California, Riverside. She then spent four years lecturing at Montana State University Billings before undertaking a postdoctoral fellowship at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), UK. Prior to becoming self-employed, Jocelyn was the Supervising Scientist of the RVC’s Clinical Investigation Centre laboratories. Most recently, she has been lecturing part-time at Bournemouth University.

In this session, Jocelyn will give an illustrated and entertaining talk on the roles whales play in marine ecosystems and in the mitigation of climate change. This will include findings from the latest scientific research. These discoveries have shattered previous assumptions about the importance of whales. Finally, she will talk about the threats whales face in today’s world and will open the floor to group discussion.

The Rugvin Foundation’s “Whale Poo Game” will be on display at the talk and if any Young Nature Watch members want to come have a look at it before the talk, they are most welcome. This game was developed as part of a workshop for school-age children. These uplifting and educational workshops are designed to raise awareness of how sustainable living and protection of whales can contribute to healthy ecosystems and the fight against climate change.

We would like to encourage those of you with children or grandchildren to visit the Dorchester Family Science Festival on Sun March 16th where Jocelyn will be running the game in conjunction with Prof. Genoveva Estaban and Dr Demetra Andreou of BU. The children will play the whale poo game first. They will then move on to Genoveva's table where they will see phytoplankton for themselves under the microscope. Then, they will learn about environmental DNA with Demetra. They will "process" water samples to generate a DNA barcode, which they will use to match to a specific marine organism (one of the ones they learned about in the whale poo game).

Recently the Society was given some Natural History books, kindly donated by Val Hopkinson when she left Tisbury. Three of these books have been accepted by Wiltshire Libraries for use in Tisbury Library, so they will be available for a wider audience. They are "The Wiltshire Flora", "The Butterflies of Wiltshire" and "Wild Flowers" by Sarah Raven.

We shall sell the remaining books at our meeting on Thurs 13th March with some additional books donated by Peter and Inés as a fundraiser for the Society. They have been priced at the lower end of the second hand market (from quick research online) and hope you'll support us in finding new homes for this interesting selection.  Please bring cash with you!