Category: Conservation

  • Red Squirrel

    By The Bevis Trust In , , | June 15, 2020

    Some years ago we were contacted by the Cistercian monks who own 600 acre Caldey Island off the Welsh coast. Once farmed, it was now falling into desuetude and the few monks still there were getting elderly. We first arranged to rid the island of Brown Rats (Rattus norvegicus) by systematic poisoning over two winters using pest control contractors. Then, through the…

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  • Otterly wonderful

    By The Bevis Trust In , | June 25, 2019

    The sun never has to try very hard to lure me away from a desk and computer screen, and Thursday was no different.   All day it teased, dancing between ominous clouds but when it finally showed promise to stay a while, I happily pressed ‘save’ and closed the lid on my laptop. Eyeing the Himalayan…

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  • Beaver watching

    By The Bevis Trust In , , , | June 4, 2019

    With the long summer evenings we have quite a few visitors coming to see the beavers. Currently the beavers emerge around 20.15, but sometimes earlier than this. While most people get to see them, some don’t realise that you have to sit still, without speaking and just watching quietly. Beavers hear and smell very well…

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  • Climate change on the farm

    By The Bevis Trust In , | June 2, 2019

    The recent protests and awareness of climate change are what the Bevis Trust is all about. How can we somehow reconcile the needs of producing food for an ever-expanding human population while at the same time reducing carbon emissions and improving biodiversity? It’s all very well talking about it. How to actually do it? Here…

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  • Otters

    By The Bevis Trust In , | April 30, 2019

    In theory it’s lovely to have otters on the lake, like this one caught on camera last night. The reality is that they have cleaned out all the fish and if this one stays much longer it will kill all the young goslings, ducklings, moorhens and dabchicks. In years when an otter takes up residence…

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  • Caldey Red Squirrels

    By The Bevis Trust In , , | April 28, 2019

    I did an interview with Jemima Childs last week for her university project. Jemima is the daughter of Ben who manages Caldey Island. Great news to hear that our Red Squirrel colony that we started two years ago has now reached about 30 individuals. Some of them are getting tame enough for visitors to see…

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  • DEFRA and General Licences

    By The Bevis Trust In , , | April 24, 2019

    DEFRA has rescinded the General Licence to control a number of pest species such as crows, following a legal challenge by a pressure group ‘Wild Justice’. Now DEFRA are busy sorting out a new legal route which no doubt will entail more red tape and a wider disregard of the law in the countryside. Crows…

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  • Water Rail

    By The Bevis Trust In , | November 12, 2018

    It was lovely to collect in the wildlife cameras this morning and find that we had been visited over the weekend by a water rail. We have picked up one before on camera so hopefully it means we have a resident. The cameras are currently set to find out which beavers are doing what. We…

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  • Storm Callum

    By The Bevis Trust In , , | October 16, 2018

    Callum certainly made his presence known over the weekend with many branches and trees down locally. At Ricketts Mill water was the issue. The rivers came up with alarming speed and flooded much of the area around the lakes. This of course put pressure on the fences but Neil and his team had built them…

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  • More New Ponds

    By The Bevis Trust In , , , | August 21, 2018

    With the help of Steve and his digger we have made a couple of new ponds this summer and they are now starting to fill. It will be some time before they are naturalised and it’s a fascinating process to watch. To speed nature along a little we have sown some pond-edge wildflower mixes and…

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