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Toys Of Innocence And Experience

Cliff Gorman of Woodbury, together with Paul Cooper, will be staging an art show entitled Toys of Innocence and Experience at Exeter Phoenix on Saturday 22 July from 11.00 17.00. Cliff tells us the show, which is interactive and free to visit, is suitable for all ages from 8 upwards. Contact him on 01395 232782, 07938 903584 or cliff4go@gmail.com for more information.

VOLUNTEER AT A LA RONDE, YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY

Are you interested in volunteering? Join us to find out more at our volunteer morning on Thursday 13 July, 10.30 to 13.00, for the chance to look around the property and find out more about our volunteering opportunities. To book your place or for further details please email alison.palfrey@ nationaltrust.org.uk, or visit our website. We have volunteering roles indoors and outdoors.

Have you got an interesting photo to illustrate your article?

If so, we'd love to see it, but please remember that we need high resolution photos - not too dark, but clear and sharp - as low resolution photos do not reproduce well on non-photographic paper.

Please remember to ask permission from any people included in your photos, and that photos of children require parental permission. Send all submissions to karensquires100@gmail.com.

Observations Of A Blue Tit Family At Webbers Meadow

For those of you who followed my posts on Wild Woodbury, I apologise for this recap, but you cannot escape Woodbury News, so here it is. There are pros and cons for modern technology, but of course it all depends how it is used. In this case, the camera in our nest box provided us with a fascinating insight into the blue tit world. Taken at a general level, as one might expect, these birds work incredibly hard to rear their family. Yet watching day-by-day, one begins to admire them and realise, as sentient beings, their emotions and responses are not dissimilar to our own.

At the beginning, the female took several days scrutinising the nest box in great detail. She went as far as pecking at the camera lens and then the walls and floor, making sure the wood was sound or, as somebody said, ‘checking building regs.' I am quite sure the location was equally closely examined for safety from predators. At the onset of nest-building neither bird roosted in the box, presumably in an attempt to reduce the chances of a predator seeing them entering the site. The male brought most of the material and dropped it into the box where the female examined it and threw some back out (seems vaguely familiar). Initially the grass and moss was piled up in a heap. She launched herself into it all, spinning around making a circular depression that became the nest. Then she picked pieces, moving them to her plan. It was not a haphazard creation in the end. Wool and feathers were only selected when she lined the nest.