Wherever you walk in Lympstone you will hear the magical words from friend, acquaintance or visitor: “Isn’t it Beautiful!” These last few wintery days with frost, blue skies and blazing sunshine have been an extra bonus. So it is time to celebrate all the beauty that we still have.
The Wild About Lympstone (WAL) group are excited to be organising a ‘Wildlife Festival’ on Saturday 3rd June. This open day will be centred in and around the beautiful village church and open for everyone from the village, and beyond, with a love and interest for nature. We plan for this to be a celebration of all that is already going on in the village to protect and enjoy our local nature and wildlife, giving everyone a chance to share their experiences, learn about new ways of protecting our precious wildlife and enjoy the remarkable expertise and special moments of many of our villagers.
This builds on our efforts from last year when, rather tentatively, we took up a community challenge from Devon Wildlife Trust. The challenge was to see how many people locally could engage hands, minds and souls, to restoring and protecting the amazing Natural World around us. Lympstonians’ response to my letter in the Herald early last year about this was immensely encouraging.
The WAL group was born soon after and set about making this challenge known to everyone. Regular WAL articles now appear in the Lympstone Herald which the editor positions with care alongside others of a related subject; a Facebook page has been created to spread the word; simple wildlife questionnaires brought some fabulous responses and the Friends of Gulliford Burial Ground invited me to see their great efforts to include wildlife habitats. It warmed the heart and made the enterprise well worth pursuing. Many, many thanks to so many of you dynamic and encouraging people.
We’d love for as many people as possible to be involved in this festival. To help us coordinate our plans, please drop us a line with any ideas and how you might like to be involved or share in the day. We’re envisaging a range of different displays, stands, stalls, talks, video screenings around any relevant topic focused on your enjoyment, interest and appreciation of our local natural world. e.g. gardening for bees and wildlife; wildlife inspired photography and art; plant or bird identification etc
All the best, Mary Truell and Rebecca Abrahams
Email: truell@me.com rebecca_abrahams@yahoo.com
Website: https://www.lympstone.org/clubs-socities/wild-about-lympstone
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildAboutLympstone
