Following a year and a half in lockdown keeping our hands clean, it seems that getting your hands dirty may be the key to boosting your health and mental wellbeing. That’s why an opportunity to arise in Crediton could provide a lifeline for local people, as Bracken Jelier discovered when she visited the Barnfield community allotment.
Neglected parts of Crediton are coming alive with flowers thanks to a group of keen volunteer gardeners who want to brighten up the town and, more importantly, create valuable habitats for insects. The work is being done by Sustainable Crediton’s Pollinator group, so we asked group member Esther Mann to tell us what they hoped to achieve.
Devon Dog Training recently moved into new premises in Upton Hellions on the outskirts of Crediton. We’re delighted that Daryl Cook the founder will be sharing his tips, thoughts and expertise regularly on this website. Here he tackles the subject of dog mess - always a hot topic on the local social media channels!
A nationwide art project is inviting people to learn about climate change by exploring the world of moths. Moths to a Flame will lead to the creation of a massive art installation to be displayed at the United Nations Climate Conference in Glasgow in November. Local artist and ecologist Naomi Wright is one of the organisers of this ambitious project, which aims to make 20,000 moths out of recycled milk bottles and send a powerful message to world leaders. Here she explains how to get involved.
A few weeks after his first blog on otters was published on this site, ecologist Paul Chanin was delighted to receive an email from a reader. Not only because it proved that he had at least one reader but also because she had just seen otters on a tributary of the Creedy. Since then he has had a couple of other records of otters seen in the catchment this year, something that would have been unheard of when he first came to the area in the 1980s.
The first beavers to live wild in England for centuries are to be allowed to remain on the River Otter in East Devon after a five-year reintroduction trial. Ecologist Paul Chanin reports on the Crediton link to this recent government announcement, the environmental benefits and challenges of beavers and the prospects of them returning to the River Creedy.
Sustainable Crediton is a voluntary group working to help local people lead more sustainable lifestyles. SusCred member John Craythorne explains how the group has both a global and local perspective.
It’s been a bumper year for dragonflies and local ecologist Paul Chanin has been observing and photographing them in his garden. In this report, he explains how to tell a dragon from a damselfly and gives us a fascinating insight into the habits and lifecycle of these remarkable insects.
Like many species, hedgehog populations have declined in recent years, but they are still doing quite well in urban areas. They are certainly present in Crediton and if your garden is not too isolated nor tidy, it is quite likely that you too have a spiny nocturnal visitor, as ecologist Paul Chanin discovered.
