Festival celebrates North Devon’s bats

Residents in North Devon are being encouraged to celebrate one of the region’s rarest and most fascinating wildlife species: greater horseshoe bats.

Members of the public are invited to celebrate one of Devon’s nocturnal wonders by joining one of more than 20 ‘Bat Festival’ events being staged across the county. The festival is the only one of its kind in the UK and its events have been organised by the Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project – a 5 year partnership project made possible by National Lottery players through a £785,500 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant, led by Devon Wildlife Trust. The project is working towards sustaining Devon’s population of these threatened nocturnal animals.

Ruth Testa, Project Manager of the Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project, said:

‘We want people to be as excited about bats as we are, and this festival will bring people closer to the secret life of bats – quite literally!  There are events to suit all interests, ranging from a ‘Bats, Moths and Stargazing night’, an exhibition of wonderful illustrations, talks and plenty of bat walks.’

The month-long festival, which begins on 25^th August with a launch event at Bovey Tracey, includes public bat walks organised by the North Devon Coast Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (18^th and 25^th September), and a drop in bat event followed by an evening talk at Braunton Countryside Centre (Weds 12^th September). The Centre also hosts one of the projects ‘Bat Beacons’, allowing visitors to find out more about bats through an interactive touchscreen.

Dave Edgcombe Project Officer at North Devon AONB said:

“The festival is a great way of raising public awareness of these little known creatures. Braunton is a very special place for greater horseshoe bats, as the surrounding countryside provides excellent feeding grounds. So why not come along and join us to find out more?” 

Further details and booking information for all the events can be found on the project’s website www.devonbatproject.org/events.  

Greater horseshoe bats have seen their numbers plummet by over 90% in the last 100 years. Today Devon remains a stronghold of this endangered species with about a third of the UK population found in the county.

The Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project hopes to reverse the species’ decline. Over the coming years it will continue to work with local landowners, farmers and communities across Devon ensuring that Devon remains a place which offers greater horseshoe bats the room to live and flourish.

A Greater Horseshoe Bat – Photo copyright Michael Symes (All Rights Reserved)

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 Tap here for further Bat Festival details and booking information for all the events .

September Highlight. Clovelly Lobster and Crab Feast!

Clovelly celebrates its famous lobsters and crabs, sustainablly caught by its fishermen, with a great day out for all the family on the 2nd September.

Choose from a variety of crab and lobster dishes cooked on the quay or book a table at the Red Lion Harbour Restaurant and dine on a delicious lobster dish.

There'll be live music all day including sea shanties & folk music by the Barnacle Buoys, Harbottle & Jonas and Westerley 5 or 6.

Chef cookery demonstrations and tasters by Sanjay Kumar from the award-winning mobile cooking school, "School of Cornish Sardines". He has also appeared on Countryfile along with the BBC's Food Programme.

Felicity Sylvester from "Sustainable Fish Education" who promotes greater use of local caught sustainable fish, holding workshops/demos around Devon & Cornwall. She will be offering recipes and information as well as performing Lobsters Hypnotising.

There will be a prize draw for a magnum of champagne, local food and craft stalls, withy pot demos by Sue Morgan, a Clovelly Lobster fishing exhibition along with plenty of freshly cooked lobsters and crabs, and beer tasting.

Children will be kept entertained by street theatre, Walkabout Magic, balloon modelling and event-themed Games and craft activities provided by ArtyCrafts & Shipwreck Survival workshops.

It's in aid of the National Lobster Hatchery, Padstow, who will be exhibiting some of their baby lobsters prior to and after their release into Clovelly Bay at the beginning and end of the day. They are best known for their lobster stock enhancement programme where they rear the baby lobsters from theeggs. It is the most vulnerable stage of their life cycle after which they release them back into the wild, with the help of local fishermen and dive groups.

In 2014 alone, they released 53,000 juveniles back into the wild and they hope to increase the numbers released over the next few years. 

Anyone can Adopt a Lobster for just £4 to help pay for their baby lobsters to be raised and then released. http://www.nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk/

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Lobster & Crab Feast, Clovelly

Sunday 2nd September 2018

Clovelly Harbour

10am to 5pm

Contact: Visitor Centre. Tel: 01237 431781.

www.clovelly.co.uk

SUMMER SOUNDS FROM SPRING KING as the band release second track 'I Hum' from forthcoming sophomore album 'A Better Life' + Annie Mac 'Hottest Record' - OUT NOW

Today Spring King share ‘The Hum’, the massive new single from their forthcoming album A Better Life. Taking the bands trademark choruses to the next level, ‘The Hum’ is a raucous chant-along roar of fight-for-your life invincibility. The track was premiered last night by Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 and can be streamed/purchased now.

Of the track, Spring King’s James Green says: “"The Hum’ is a song about returning to old haunts and old memories, and attempting to relive those visceral experiences and emotions, whilst realising that you've allowed yourself to slip into a life that wasn't necessarily what you'd planned. It also came to encompass all the broader themes that the album touches on - self-reflection, overcoming adversity and negativity, and a constant striving for something better.”

A Better Life is released August 31 via Island Records. A stunning evolution from their 2016 debut, Tell Me If You Like To, the new album is a primal, joyous demand for no less than a better world. A Better Life finds the Manchester four-piece fully collaborating; the result is an astounding volcanic flare of musical energy, born of an equally collective confidence from Tarek and his bandmates Pete Darlington (guitar), Andy Morton (guitar) and James Green (bass).

A Better Life is produced once again by Tarek, who won the Self-Producing Artist of the Year at the Music Producer’s Guild Awards 2017 for his work on Spring King’s debut Tell Me If You Like To. Musically, however, A Better Life is a triumphant advancement of their previous material and the sound of the band truly understanding their own power.

Spring King recently announced their biggest ever UK tour for this September - culminating in shows at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town and Manchester’s O2 Ritz. This weekend they play Sheffield’s Tramlines Festival and will also make appearances at RiZe and Reading and Leeds Festivals. Tickets for all dates are available now.

Spring King festival dates

• 22nd July Tramlines Festival, Sheffield
• 18th August RiZe Festival, Cheltenham
• 25th August Reading Festival, Reading
• 26th August Leeds Festival, Bramham Park
• 1st September Bingley Music Live, Bingley

Headline tour dates

• 19th September St Lukes, Glasgow
• 20th September The Cluny, Newcastle
• 21st September Plug 2, Sheffield
• 22nd September O2 Academy 2, Liverpool
• 25th September Thekla, Bristol
• 26th September Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
• 27th September O2 Institute 2, Birmingham
• 28th September O2 Forum Kentish Town, London
• 29th September O2 Ritz, Manchester

Spring King (Tarek Musa, Peter Darlington, James Green, Andrew Morton) Photo copyright Hollie Fernando (All rights reserved)
Listen to new track ‘The Hum’
Tap here to Pre-order new album A Better Life 
out August 31 via Island Records

A Better Life can be pre-ordered now. 

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