Environment

Tackling climate change

ThE Adapting the Levels project team says it’s developed a way to make plans for climate change action and see how they might work before committing the resources.

It’s launched a “unique and pioneering new web-based app” which will enable individuals, communities, councils and businesses to design and co-create plans to prepare and adapt whether for their home, business, community or the wider local landscape.

It says the new Adaptation Pathway tool, which focuses particularly on the challenges of flooding and drought on the Somerset Levels, has turned a proven technique which is being employed around the globe to plan for climate change, into an interactive tool.

The user-friendly website has launched with a number of pathways created for a variety of climate scenarios such as those in the home and garden, surface flooding in local villages, and on agricultural land.

Users of the web app can input their ideas and thoughts, and also see how actions can directly and positively impact in those scenarios. Users can also “vote up” certain actions so people and communities are able to ‘own’ their own climate adaptation solutions.

Details: https://www.adaptingthelevels.com/ http://pathways.adaptingthelevels.com/

Steep Holm open for visitors

ThEcharity trustee owners of Steep holm Island, The Kenneth Allsop Memorial Trust, have resumed sailings from Westonsuper-Mare for the first time since March 2020.

The island has been inhabited on and off for centuries, is full of hidden surprises and is steeped in history. It is a nature reserve, bird sanctuary, and with seals and muntjacs, it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Sailings from and back to Weston can only take place at high tides, making it a 12-hour day trip.

Sailings are planned for August 9th, 11th, 22nd, 24th, and September 7th, 9th, 21st and 23rd.

Details: www.Steepholm.online Details: https://www.mendiphillsaonb.org.uk/caring-aboutthe-aonb/farming-in-protected-landscapes/

Funding boost for Mendip AONB

View from Crook Peak

A MAJORnew fund to help farmers and land managers in the Mendip hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) has been announced called Farming in Protected Landscapes. The AONB unit will be awarding £450,000 between now and the end of March 2024.

The fund will be available to help farmers in all our “Protected Landscapes” –National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Andy Wear, vice-chair of the Mendip hills AONB Partnership and a local farmer said: “This is a game-changing amount of money for the Mendip hills AONB and has come along at just the right time.

“Farmers have shaped the way the hills look for generations and this funding will help them to alter their practices to let nature recover, adapt for climate change, improve access and adjust to the new farm payments system post-Brexit.

“By supporting the farmers, land managers and people who live and work in these areas, we can help protect these exceptional places and support local communities.”

The programme is part of Defra’s Agricultural Transition Plan, developed by Defra with the support of a group of AONB and National Park staff from across the country.

The Mendip hills unit will be appointing a Farm Engagement Officer to help farmers apply and a local assessment panel to ensure awards are independently decided.

Another wheelie great bike jumble

FROME’S annual Bike Jumble has raised £3,000 towards the town’s Missing Links project which is aiming to create a trafficfree, multi-user path from the town centre to the Colliers Way route running from Great Elm to Radstock.

The jumble – the fourth of its kind –was a community-led day supported by Frome Town Council with more than 20 volunteers involved in making it happen, including four students on the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme from Frome College.

In the lead-up to the day more than 8o bikes were donated by the community which were then checked over by the team and fixed up ready to sell at the event for a great price. Clothing, helmets and biking accessories were also available to purchase. ding Frome were there to help with maintenance and bike checks through their Pay-It-Forward scheme.

Town councillor Rich Ackroyd, who is also chair of Frome’s Missing Links, said: “It’s great to see the Bike Jumble has become such a well-loved part of the town’s annual event calendar. The team were busy all day selling and giving cycling advice, from sizing and style to practical biking tips, and the funds raised will take us another step closer to our goal!”

The bike jumble underway outside Frome Library

Great walks but where is the signage?

FORa very long time my wife and I have been meaning to write asking you to pass our very sincere and grateful thanks to your regular walks compiler, Sue Gearing. We have followed her suggestions for many years in the Mendip Times and other publications to which she has contributed her inspirational ideas.

We rarely miss trying out her routes and have built up a thick folder of her cuttings so that we can often repeat her walks. her last two – “Beauty from an industrial past” around East harptree in your June issue, and “A wander around the Isle of Wedmore” last month – we found absolutely superb.

The first was made especially enjoyable by the magnificent swathes of bluebells (and the fact that the Waldegrave Arms was there to provide much-needed refreshment half-way round!), and the second, which skirts the Somerset Levels, was like walking back in time, taking us through a landscape that probably has changed little in a couple of hundred years.

Sue’s historical notes always add extra interest: we didn’t know the Romans worked salt pans on the edge of the tide at Westham, or that Roman burials and other artifacts were discovered in the past at heath house. however, neither did we see any sign of the poor unfortunate lady who gave her name to Madwoman’s Lane at Blackford!

The footpath signage on the East harptree walk was excellent and a credit to whoever is responsible for maintaining them. however, there was an almost total absence of such signs or direction posts around Wedmore, which puts to shame the public rights of way official covering that area, where many of the links also seem badly in need of a little TLC.

Those matters are out of Sue Gearing’s hands, and we eagerly await the regular delivery to local outlets of the Mendip Times, so that we can see and try out her future efforts.

Ian and Sue Tabrett Cross, near Axbridge

Threat to hedgehogs

PRICKLES hedgehog Rescue in Cheddar is asking members of the public to watch out for flystrike when flies will lay their eggs on any open wound or on a hedgehog that is lying still.

It usually means the hog is very sick but also flies can target orphaned babies that cannot curl to protect themselves. The eggs look like specks of pollen which quickly develop into maggots.

Details: 07806 744772

Environment festival

A NEW festival for Bath and North East Somerset is taking place in September to showcase individuals, organisations and businesses that have taken action to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies. The B&NES Climate and Biodiversity Festival will run from September 13th to 26th to enable the district to link with national debate ahead of two significant international environmental conventions taking place this autumn.

These are the Convention on Biological Diversity in China in October and the UN Conference in Glasgow in November.

The council is inviting communities across B&NES to shape the two-week programme of events by running their own activities on the theme of carbon emissions and nature including food, travel, waste, renewable energy, biodiversity, buildings and finance.

Details: https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/climate-andbiodiversity-festival or email sustainability@bathnes.gov.uk

Campaigners win gas plant battle

CAMPAIGNERShave won their campaign to stop a gas generation plant being built in Midsomer Norton. Conrad Energy is now proposing a battery storage scheme at Midsomer Enterprise Park.

There was outrage that the gas plant was given the go ahead by B&NES council officials during lockdown. Protestors picketed the company’s offices in Abingdon and collected a 1,800 name petition.

The new facility scheme would house eight containerised battery units, each consisting of hundreds of cells, receiving electricity from the grid when demand from customers is low and releasing it back to customers when there is need.

Councillor Sarah Warren, deputy leader responsible for climate and sustainable travel, said: “I’m delighted that the new plans would not impact on air quality or emissions locally and would also help us towards our goal to achieve net zero carbon by 2030.”

Funds to cut carbon footprint

A £50,000 Climate and Ecological Emergency Fund has been launched by Mendip District Council as part of its drive to encourage residents and businesses to do more to tackle climate change.

The authority has announced a number of initiatives to encourage behaviour change, including a “Climate Action Pledge Card” which suggests lifestyle swaps, such as buying local produce, planting bee-friendly flowers, and switching to a green energy supplier. It says every pledge residents sign-up to will make a difference to their carbon footprint, and to Mendip’s overall emissions.

The emergency fund is available to community organisations who can apply for up to £2,000 to support eco projects such as tree planting, sustainable food production, greener travel and renewable energy schemes.

The installation of electric vehicle charging points in council-owned car parks is due to begin shortly with partners Franklin Energy. Charging points will be located in Frome, Glastonbury, Street, Wells and Shepton Mallet.

Mendip’s Portfolio holder for Strategic Policy and Climate Change, Councillor Tom Ronan, said: “The launch of the ‘Pledge Card’, the new eco fund and our air quality campaigns are of course welcome – but to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 we need an 80% reduction in district-wide emissions.” AN open garden event in Bowlish, on the edge of Shepton Mallet, has raised £800 for the town’s annual snowdrop festival.

Amanda hirst and Ian Keys welcomed visitors to Old Bowlish house where they have spent the past 16 years bringing the gardens – on several terraces – back to life.

The Shepton Mallet Snowdrop Festival celebrates the life and work of Victorian plantsman James Allen, the first person to develop a hybrid of wild snowdrops, who lived in the town. The money raised will go towards restoring the obelisk on his grave in Shepton Mallet Cemetery.

Applications for the Climate Emergency Fund close on August 1st. For details, visit: www.mendip.gov.uk

Wildflowers thrive in cemetery Garden visitors dig deep for snowdrop festival

Amanda and Ian at Old Bowlish House

For details about the festival, visit: www.sheptonsnowdropfestival.org.uk

Plant invader

Lucy Hawker, Bonnie Wilding and Badger the dog having fun pulling up the plants

The cemetery at Holy Trinity Church in High Littleton MOREthan 20 people answered the call to help remove invasive MEMBERSof the high Littleton and hallatrow Environment Group planted 200 square metres of the cemetery at holy Trinity Church in the spring with wildflower seeds as part of the Wider Churches initiative by the Diocese of Bath and Wells and Somerset Wildlife Trust. A botanical survey has been done in the cemetery and the churchyard which will result in a management plan for mowing and planting in the future. himalayan Balsam from Lords Wood, at Pensford. Simon Jackman, who lives in a farm near the wood, called for volunteers, following similar clearances last year. Villagers joined him and the wood’s owners, Andrew and Judith hillman, and 20,000 or more of the plants were pulled up. Mr. hillman said: “It was very pleasing to note that areas that were tackled in similar events last year were much less infested. Unfortunately vastly more plants remain and it is hoped to have another such evening in a few weeks’ time.”