Our ideas for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the planting of Quarry Wood are taking shape. We would welcome the involvement of other organisations in High Bickington – and individuals too – to plan and run these events. In fact, we really would like this to be a community effort and to involve more people in the woodland group. Why not join us in 2025 and help to look after the wood for the next 20 years!
The provisional programme looks something like this – if you have other suggestions or can help to run these events, we would love to hear from you.
| What | When | To Involve |
| Tree Planting – Come and finish planting the hedge in the swales area, which is now part of Quarry Wood | Saturday 8th March | Everyone welcome |
| Devons Wonderful Hedges – A talk by Robert Walton | Friday 4th April at High Bickington Community Centre | Everyone welcome |
| Talk and Easter Egg Hunt | 19th – 21st April | Everyone |
| “Open House/Campfire Experience” – a weekend of activities and events – the main celebration of the 20th anniversary of planting. Bushcraft, wildlife identification, ‘mucky pup’ activities, demonstrations, refreshments around the campfire … | Late spring/early summer | Everyone |
| Teddy bears picnic/treasure hunt/trail quest – activities that could run separately, or maybe at the same time, with something for all ages | Summer | Children of all ages with parents/ guardians |
| An Earth Walk – a 2-hour wander around the wood, seeing it from a different perspective | Summer | Everyone |
To register your interest in this talk, please click here.
Hedges by Robert Wolton (Bloomsbury 2024)
This beautiful book, with over 300 photographs and illustrations and more than 200 references offers something for anyone interested in hedges from all aspects, be it the origins, history purposes, values, creation, and management, whatever their level of knowledge. Hedges have a crucial role to play in many of the most critical challenges we face, including wildlife diversity, climate control, energy (think wood for fuel), health and well being, pest control and diseases, pollination, flood risk reduction, water quality improvement to mention but a few. This is now recognised by government, with various funding schemes over the last decade, and the efforts of conservation organisations. However, there are still major issues to be addressed. Only 12% of our hedges are good for wildlife. Serious losses continue, many of which could be avoided with better hedge management. With the author’s depth and breadth of knowledge, both theoretical and practical, this book gives guidance on how to make the changes required, while acknowledging the pressures faced by farmers. He challenges myths by quoting research, recognises when history and culture are useful, but also when advances in technology and mechanisation can have a positive impact on hedge management. The appendices include local survey results, and detailed lists of native or probable archaeophytes of British trees and shrubs, and priority species significantly associated with
hedges.
It is an excellent call to action.