VIRTUAL REWILDING

ALLEGRA LETTS from Devon Sculpture Park talks about bringing the UK’s leading smaller scale rewilding project and environmental art centre to a virtual audience. While the park is closed they enable anyone to visit every day with their visitors app - DSP Online. Devon Sculpture Park is bringing its rewilding project and environmental art into the digital space. The outbreak of Covid-19 inspired us to find new avenues to spread the news of rewilding and perform our mission to teach and expose real life smaller-scale rewilding to the public. The method of rewilding has been vital to the restoration of our ecosystems, and in reversing the deteriorating condition of our environment. DSP puts this theory into practice. In order to continue to spread our environmental message during the current pandemic, we have been focused on bringing the DSP experience to your phones, laptops and tablets - getting involved has never been so easy. It has become evident to us that our holistic approach to healthier living through rewilding, wildlife gardening, environmental arts, culture, our wild kitchen and kitchen gardens have become hugely relevant and timely given the current Covid-19 pandemic. If there ever was a time to start making big lifestyle changes, and to scale back to nature - now would be it. You finally have the time to plant, to paint, to read, and to educate yourself about the climate crisis at hand. We’re here all along the way with guidance and information to keep you in the know. While we do plan to begin reopening certain activities at Devon Sculpture Park in July, we thought you might be interested in how you can remain involved and connected with this vital climate change project; online. At the beginning of April, we launched DSP Online, our virtual visitor and supporters’ app. Here, we post exclusive images, videos and articles about our wildlife conservation, our environmental art, and our wild kitchen. It is everything that has always made up the DSP experience, but now in online form. For just the price of your daily cup of coffee, you can purchase a month’s worth of content - you get exclusive access to upcoming projects, interviews with globally-sold artists who exhibit at the

KEEPING chickens is not difficult. If the trusty ‘rocket science’ benchmark is at one end of the difficulty spectrum, keeping hens is definitely near the other, ‘rocket growing’, end. But before getting into the practical basics, there are a couple of important principles for us to address: keeping any living creatures is a commitment and they will be dependent on you for their lives. If you do not provide all their (admittedly) basic requirements, they will definitely suffer and possibly die. You will also be responsible for spotting any unusual behaviour that might point to injury or illness - which means you will need to be very familiar with their usual behaviour. And that means you will have to spend time getting to know them. So, while I and my (farmore-knowledgeable-than-me) wife Jenn can advise you on keeping poultry without breaking the bank, you will have to invest lots of that other valuable commodity, time. You still up for it? Let’s get practical… The basic requirements for keeping poultry is much the same as for other living creatures: the birds themselves, shelter, food, water, security and wellbeing. Now we’ll examine each one in more detail (but only as much as you need). The birds There’s lots and lots of choice, of course. Traditional pure breeds are generally cuter and more, well, traditional, but also not such good layers. And sometimes not so friendly either. Commercially developed hybrids have many of the characteristics of pure breeds (including decorative plumage and a range of brown, dark brown, white, blue or even green eggs) but lay way more. They will become tame with handling but don’t expect that high egg yield to last much beyond four years. Shelter The priority is that it should be dry and relatively draft-free. The most common (but by no means only) option is the good ol’ chicken house - basically a short shed. Keep it high enough off the ground to avoid rot and ensure you’re not also providing rodent accommodation. The hens will need boxes or compartments in which to lay and some kind of bedding (straw, shredded cardboard, wood shavings, etc) to keep them cosy, encourage them to lay and ensure the shit doesn’t stick to the floor. Give them perches (batten’s fine) too. Food and drink Drink is easy: clean water every day, in a poultry drinker or just a bowl if they don’t keep knocking it over (some don’t, some do for a hobby). Food needs to be proper poultry pellets (ranging from cheapo commercial stuff to organic - check the ingredients against your bank balance), plus scraps (although, if Defra are watching, nothing from your kitchen). Security Nature is just full of predators that want to eat your chickens - and chickens love to get out and destroy your garden (and your neighbours’). Good fencing and gate/s are essential. Foxes, badgers, stoats and the like will dig (bury the bottom of fences to dissuade them); mink, rats and other small rodents will get through really small holes and gaps (use heavy-grade, small-mesh wire); and foxes are even better at jumping than they are at looking cute (and sly). Electric wire or mesh is the ultimate but also costly and the batteries (also expensive) need care and recharging. Completely predator-proof fencing is possible but difficult and expensive. Do as much as you can and trust to fate. But ALWAYS shut them away before dusk - and be sure predators will drop in on the night you forget. Wellbeing Just as there are larger creatures with an eye on your fancy feathered friends, there are smaller bugs who fancy the taste of chicken too. Red mite live in the chicken house and jump on your hens each night to drink their blood - herbal treatments and a liberal dusting with a fine powder called diatomaceous earth will help keep the buggers at bay; mites can be similarly treated; worms too require a natural remedy or chemicals. There are many other bugs and illnesses that can attack your birds (and those superwordy ‘basic’ guides will tell you about them in great detail), but this is where we come to the all-important message about spending time with your poultry. Yes, these are the basic requirements and they will get you up and running. But that is only the beginning - the start of years of caring. Chicken-keeping is, and should be, timeconsuming. To do it properly, humanely and effectively, you need to be committed. But, as is often the case, if you put the thought and time in at the beginning, it will mean less work is required in the medium and long term. So, to keep poultry successfully, you don’t need to be an expert in anything other than how they normally behave. Then, when they’re behaving abnormally, you’ll spot it. And then you can find all the expert help you need in one of those books, or from all the information online. In time, of course, you’ll learn and become an expert yourself… l To find out more about our birds (and to find out more about those herbal anti-bug treatments), search for ‘Tigley Tump’ on Facebook. We also sell a wide range of fertile hatching eggs - again, info on our FB page, or call Jenn on 07976 504918. Time for your birds Yes, it is another guide to poultry-keeping. But no, it’s not the same as all the others. This one doesn’t give you nearly as much information AND it requires you to give up lots of your time. I’m not selling this very well, am I? asks MARTIN FOSTER