Barnstaple comes alive for Wildlife Festival

Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) held its annual Wildlife Festival in Barnstaple on Saturday as part of the 13th North Devon Festival. It was the charity's fifth annual Wildlife Festival and ran between 10am and 4pm. The event featured many wildlife-themed exhibits and activities aimed at keeping families entertained. It began with a parade through the High Street with a samba band and giant bug stilt walkers, all led by the Mayor of the town who brought the parade to the Square and officially opened the event. Jo Pullin, DWT's event organiser said: "This year's event was a real success with over 3,000 people attending. We had Vintage Mobile Cinema showing wildlife films and over 100 nest boxes were made, which is always a firm favourite at our festivals. We would like to thank all the volunteers who help make the event possible and luckily the weather held off despite a short shower in the afternoon. Look out for us at a town near you next year!" This year's event was generously sponsored by BID Barnstaple, The Bridge Trust and South West Water. Photo: Wildlife Festival Stilt Walkers copyright Devon Wildlife Trust

Big Garden Birdwatch 2011 Results

The Big Garden Birdwatch 2011 results are here! Wow! Over 600,000 of you took part in this year's Big Garden Birdwatch. Not only does that make 2011 a record-breaking year for the number of people watching their garden birds, but your counts also revealed some exciting news about our smaller birds. Click here to view results in your area.  

The 2011 Big Garden Birdwatch top 10; Position Species

1 house sparrow

2 starling

3 blackbird

4 blue tit

5 chaffinch

6 woodpigeon

7 great tit

8 goldfinch

9 robin 

10 collared dove 

Next Event

June: Make Your Nature Count

October: Feed the Birds Day

BBC ANTIQUES ROAD SHOW COMES TO HARTLAND ABBEY 7 JULY

One of the highlights of the summer at Hartland Abbey will be the arrival of BBC's Antiques Roadshow on Thursday 7th July, starting at 10 a.m.. It is a great honour to be hosting it in this beautiful corner of North Devon which is easily accessible from Junction 27 of the M5 or from the A39. We are within easy reach of all Devon, Cornwall and Somerset with the City of Plymouth, and towns of Launceston, Holsworthy, Okehampton, Torrington, Bideford, Barnstaple, Crediton and Tiverton nearby. The house itself will be closed to visitors on that day only as it will be used as part of the show. However the gardens should be looking lovely and will be open as normal; if you are planning to visit anyway come along and perhaps bring some family heirloom with you too! The walk to the beach will also be open as normal and there will be a large variety of refreshments available, many supporting local charities. Contact TEL NO: Tel: 01237 441264/234 EMAIL: ha_admin@btconnect.com
7 July 2011 BBC ANTIQUES ROAD SHOW COMES TO HARTLAND ABBEY, Nr. Bideford, North Devon EX39 6DT.