Monday 18 January 2016

Epperstone and the Environment

I am going to have a little grumble.  Hagg Lane is privately owned, gives access to several businesses and is also registered as a public footpath and bridlepath. When the verges recently had their bi-annual cut quantities of drinks cans, bottles, polystyrene food trays and sweet wrappers, much of which can be recycled and none of which rots down, were revealed.  Wouldn't it be nice if the person or persons responsible for this mess read my blog and made a New Year resolution to take their rubbish home with them and dispose of it correctly?  Wishfull thinking, perhaps, but don't you agree?

Being an arable farm all is quiet during the winter months; although it is not cold the ground is wet and would be damaged by the passage of heavy machinery.  However, this is not unwelcome as it makes up for the long hours spent in cultivations, crop care and the harvest season. If proof was needed of the mild temperatures I spotted several clumps of primroses in full flower on the north-facing ditch banks in the Eastwood.  Being north-facing these banks do not dry out so much in summer so provide ideal conditions for the survival of the primroses and the spread of their seed.

Pollarding of the willows on the west bank of the pond, long overdue but carried out earlier this month, has opened it up considerably and made it more attractive to the mallard duck who visit it annually.  It was a pleasure to see three of them on the water when I went out early one morning.  I am hopeful that a pair will nest there and rear ducklings  There has been no sign of the  moorhens lately but this is all to the good as they have a reputation for killing ducklings. 
Social life in Epperstone continues; Wednesday coffee mornings in the church are popular and well attended.  Newcomers to the village find it is a good way to meet and make new friends. Parish Councillors celebrated 2016 with an excellent dinner in the Cross Keys.  The W.I. are looking forward to the next meeting when Jane Streeter will be giving a talk about her shop, The Bookcase, in Lowdham, which is, as she says, "more than a bookshop"; and so it goes on, with, hopefully, something for everyone.