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Barnstaple & District Local Group

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Indoor activities

Talks by good speakers on a range of conservation issues. We meet in the Castle Centre in Barnstaple, near to the large Cattle Market car park, and easy walking distance from the bus station and the railway station. Meetings are once a month from September through to April.

We are lucky enough to attract good attendances to our meetings. We try to make them as friendly as possible and welcome new members.

Outdoor activities

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Summer time is for getting outdoors and enjoying wildlife first hand. We embark on a very ambitious programme of 'wildlife experiences'. Almost always involving a walk of some kind. We try to provide a good mix of very easy, level walks for the less able, and a selection of more strenuous walks for the fit and strong!


We can do all this because we have some kind of event every Tuesday evening, and very often a daytime walk too, either week-end or week-day. All outdoor events are bookable. This is so we can explain what to expect and have an idea of numbers. As with the indoor meetings, we are very popular.

Children

We do not organise events specifically for children, but they are  welcome at all our events, both indoors and outdoors. While we do not get a lot of children attending  at least nine of our outdoor events included one or more children with parent or guardian.

Nature reserves

BarnLG2Uppacott Wood nature reserve
Some of our members are Voluntary Wardens at Uppacott Wood, a lovely nature reserve only a couple of miles outside Barnstaple. We have work-parties there in the winter, keeping paths clear, coppicing and making clearings to encourage flora, butterflies and birds. Members have put up and look after 40 birdboxes, and 50 dormouse boxes which are monitored every month during the summer. We also encourage people to help by monitoring the vegetation through the summer months and we introduce people to the wood with guided walks.

Swanpool_Marsh_mainSwanpool Marsh nature reserve
We also help at the DWT reserve at Swanpool, a freshwater marsh near Braunton. Mary Breeds is voluntary warden there.

Culm grassland nature reserves
One of the jewels in Devon Wildlife Trust’s crown (there are many jewels)  is the wealth of Culm grassland reserves. Lots of information about the culm is available elsewhere on this website. One of our committee members,  John Bradbeer, is voluntary warden on three of them,  Mambury Moor, Volehouse Moor and Stowford Moor.

How to find out more

We publish a Barnstaple and District Local Group Newsletter every four months. A quick look through our past Newletters will give a good idea of what we have been getting up to. Click on one of the pdf files in the left hand panel.

We publish our own programme of events twice a year. A winter programme from September to April and a summer programme from April to August. You can find a printable version of our latest programme by clicking on the appropriate pdf file in the left panel. Events are also listed on the events webpage.

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