July 2016 Newsletter

A round up of news and views

Re-Wilding - come along and listen to Ecologist, Peter Smith - We are holding our AGM on Thursday 8th September, starting at 7pm in St Peter's Church. Straight afterwards, at 7.30pm, special guest Peter Smith will be giving a talk on Re-Wilding. Peter is the CEO of the Wildwood Trust in Canterbury: www.wildwoodtrust.org  and has been at the forefront of efforts to reintroduce animals such as the beaver, wild horses, lynx and wolves for ecological restoration, read more here... Entrance is free - there will be a collection to cover expenses, afterwards.

Air Quality in Marlborough - those of you who attended the last meeting of Marlborough Area Board will have been astonished to hear the new Chairperson, Cllr James Sheppard, admit that this important issue has been "kicked into the long grass".  

You may recall that the Area Board Councillors had asked TM to hold a public consultation earlier this year to come up with ways of reducing air pollution in the town.  The report on this consultation is summarised here... Wilts Council's Public Health Specialist had asked TM to produce an Air Quality Action Plan, since Marlborough and Westbury are the only AQMA's that have not yet done so. You can download this Action Plan from the Home Page of the TM website. Some Town Councillors are already implementing one of the actions from this plan, by working with bus operators to persuade bus drivers to turn engines off while waiting outside Lloyds Bank. However, it will be difficult to make progress in improving air quality without the support of our Unitary Councillors.

Marlborough-in-Bloom - Did you see our permaculture tubs along the High Street? Judging day was on 19th July and we are still awaiting the results. The tub on the left contains climbing beans, sunflowers, swiss chard and various bee-friendly flowers. 

Bee-friendly gardens - have you signed up yet? We are aiming to create a bee-friendly corridor between Marlborough and Pewsey. Check out whether your garden qualifies by clicking here... 

As you can see, my Red Mason Bee house is almost full of pupating bee larvae:  The Red Mason Bee is a small, common bee which nests in hollow plant stems, in holes in cliffs, and in the crumbling mortar of old buildings. It is a solitary bee so, after mating, each female builds its own nest; she lines each 'cell' with mud and pollen and lays a single egg in each until the cavity is full. The larvae hatch and develop, pupating in autumn and hibernating over winter. The Red Mason Bee is on the wing from late March, and feeds solely on pollen and nectar. 

You can buy a Red Mason Bee house like mine on-line.

And finally, a KCEL update - Kennet Community Energy, despite all the recent Government dis-incentives (i.e. abrupt reduction in FIT tariffs and removal of EIS tax benefits), have deployed a new solar PV installation.

The 29.68kWp system is on the roof of the Fussell Wadman Peugeot delership in Devizes. The installation was completed at the end of June and all the various monitoring systems are now fully operational. Full details with more photos and the early performance graphs can be found by clicking here.

Thanks

The Transition Marlborough team