All in a Days Work.....

Under the expert eye of countryside lecturer and keen bee keeper Jonny, further education students have been jumping in at the deep end by donning waders to carry out some wildlife surveys of our farm ponds this week.

Elsewhere, adventure is high on the agenda with second year students undertaking bushcraft skills, firelighting techniques and  creating a unique hedgerow cordial! Students are gaining skills in teamwork and leadership as they battle against the elements and put their survival skills to the test - I'm sure Ray Mears would be proud!

Finally Jonny is able to report that this year saw the first honey harvest at the apiary in Clump Wood. Students harvested an amazing 43 pounds of honey which sold out in 30 minutes! After a mild winter and early spring, colony sizes expanded rapidly and many swarms were seen this season. Our apiary now stands at seven hives and if all hives survive the winter we hope to significantly increase our honey production. 

 

Keeping Countryside Skills Alive!

Although the world has moved on in many ways, our countryside is often managed by using techniques handed down over many generations - the 'traditional craft skills' if you like.

Keeping this tradition alive, subsidiary diploma students have been practising their hedgelaying techniques on the farm with tutor Paul. Using the traditional method of repeated cutting with a billhook to stimulate regrowth in the layered pleacher, they aim to make sure that the hedges are great for wildlife yet also keep the livestock in! 

Extended diploma students have also been using strimmers this week to help manage vegetation which helps keep the grass at different levels, ideal for our resident small mammal population who then provide a wild larder for resident kestrels and barn owls. 

Nice work!

Work starts on the Conifers for Colleges site!

Under the expert instruction of Paul, our intrepid level 2 Agriculture and Countryside students are pictured ready to break the ground for the Conifers for Colleges site fence!

I wonder how many students it takes to put up a straining post? Answers on a postcard please!

Conifers for Colleges National Launch Gathering Force!

With a national launch date of the 5th of November, the Royal Forestry Society were able to confirm that a keynote address will be provided by Ian Gambles, Director of Forestry Commission (England). With students busy working on the design of the plantation and a site identified for the farm, this promises to be an exciting event to put coniferous trees back on the map!

Check back to track our progress before the big event!
 

Such a Fun-gi to be with!

Ok, sorry readers. This terrible pun provides a neat link to the discovering of a notable species of fungus by HE student Lynne Barnett at Kelmarsh Estate, Northamptonshire. Lynne sent the specimen to Dr A. Martyn Ainsworth - a Senior Mycologist at Kew who confirmed her identification as Hericium coralloides with the specimen  now accessioned in the collections at Kew as K(M) 194380. 

Read more about this story at Neil McMahon's (Kelmarsh recorder) website: http://northamptonshirebirding.blogspot.co.uk. 

Did the Harvest Mouse Cross the Road?!

The headline of this article is of course not the beginning of a joke, but rather a serious research question being answered by some PhD research examining wildlife dispersal along ecological networks in our countryside.

By the way, the answer appears to be yes! And for those mathematicians amongst you, the probability of crossing a 4 metre wide gap is 0.09.

The Natural Environment: Use it but Don’t Lose it!

BSc Land Management students were invited guests of the Northamptonshire Local Nature Partnership group at a conference held at the University of Northampton today. Students were treated to a Ministerial address from Lord de Mauley TD – the Parliamentary Under Secretary of the State for Natural Environment Science. Lord de Mauley alongside Jo Lappin from the Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership built a case for weaving environmental sustainability into economic and social agendas to enable the Northamptonshire region to prosper. Later speakers emphasised the value the general public associate with the Nene Valley Improvement Area and the exciting Rushden Lakes development, an integrated project involving a private developer and Natural England. 

To learn more about the work of the LNP click here: http://www.nenevalleynia.org/ including information on the Nene Valley festival running from October to November. 

To learn more about our exciting higher education courses in Agriculture, Countryside and Land Management get in touch now!