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Wildlife events


Some local wildlife events



Check out the respective organisations’ websites for full details. 
Please let us know of any other local wildlife events we can include here


April 2022


Saturday 30 April 2022 9am-10am (or to 10.30am subject to weather)
for Sylvania Community Stores & Cafe and Devon Wildlife Trust 

Birds in your Valley Mincinglake Valley Park guided bird walk
Starts and finishes at Sylvania Community Stores, 1 Sylvania Drive, Pennsylvania EX4 5DT

Have you always wanted to know how to identify a song thrush and a blackbird just by their song? Or know when to look up to see a sparrowhawk? Do we really have stonechats breeding in our park? Whatever you want to see or hear, walk leader Simon Bates will help.
   Booking required (maximum 20 places available): £5 for adults, free for under 18s. All proceeds go to Sylvania non-profit community shop and DWT. Book and pay for your ticket at Sylvania Community Stores. Suitable footwear advised: possible muddy sections and some hills but we will be going at a gentle steady pace. Sorry no dogs. For more information, contact Simon tel. 07875 280540



May 2022


Tuesday 3 May 2022 starting 8.15pm, approx. 2 hours
Devon Wildlife Trust Exeter Local Group

Pips & Pints bat walk
Starts Catacombs Park, meet at Bartholomew St entrance, St David's What3Words: panels.task.mason 

Guided walk looking and listening for bats around the historic cemetery and beyond. Will we find some lucky horseshoes? Suitable for families and those starting out at bat detecting. Some bat detectors should be available but please bring your own if you have one. Approx. 2 hours, with optional pub stop after. Suitable footwear advised, and please bring a torch. Joint event between DWT Exeter Local Group, Devon Bat Group and Devon Mammal Group; donations welcomed. With thanks to Exeter City Council



Wednesday evenings from 4 May - 18 May 7pm - 8.30pm
Celebrating 60 Years Wild (DWT 60th anniversary) - Guided wildlife walks at Exeter Valley Parks
Chances to explore three of Exeter's Valley Park nature reserves in the company of DWT Nature Reserve Officer Chris Moulton. 
   Expect to see and hear about the history and wildlife of these fascinating urban green spaces. Free, donations welcomed. Walks will include slopes, steps and rough ground: suitable footwear advised. Please do not bring dogs to these events.

Ludwell Valley Park 4 May starting 7pm at Ludwell Park community orchard (cycle/footpath between Pynes Hill and Tollards Road) What3Words: author,proof.violin
 
Mincinglake Valley Park 11 May starting 7pm at Calthorpe Rd entrance to Mincinglake Valley Park (Morrisons end of Valley Park) What3Words: silver.jazz.games

Riverside Valley Park 18 May starting 7pm at Ducks Marsh field, end of Salmonpool Lane, off Topsham Rd What3Words: wished.jump.guitar





Some selected past events with links:

Thursday 14 January 2016
University of Exeter 
Rewilding. An evening with George Monbiot and Alan Watson Featherstone
A public discussion on re-wilding and the global development agenda. Hosted by the Network of Wellbeing, the University of Exeter and Exeter Community Initiatives. Rewilding is the conservation process seeking the return of a habitat to its natural state. But what are its ethical and global dimensions? Can it contribute to solving challenges such as flooding, climate change and improved well-being for all? Join acclaimed writer George Monbiot and the inspiring conservationist Alan Watson Featherstone, Executive Director of Trees for Life, to explore the social, ecological and developmental benefits of rewildling, including the return of 'keystone species' to degraded habitats across the globe.
Watch a recording of the talk at


Wednesday 13 April 2016 Natural Devon  / Devon Local Nature Partnership First Annual Lecture by Professor John Lawton
Making Space for Nature: more, bigger, better and joined up   
chaired by Harry Barton, CEO Devon Wildlife Trust
University of Exeter, Newman Blue Lecture Theatre
Sir John is an eminent British ecologist and is currently President of the Institution of Environmental Sciences, Vice President of the RSPB, Chair of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and a Life Fellow of WWF-UK. In 1989 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 2005 he was knighted for his contributions to ecological science. He has played a major part in promoting UK-wide wildlife conservation and led the ‘Lawton Review’. The review’s report, Making Space for Nature, was published in 2010. Concluding that England’s ecological network is too small and isolated, the review called for better protection of England’s wildlife and the establishment of new Ecological Restoration Zones. This was widely supported, with the establishment in 2011 of Nature Improvement Areas. The report continues to inform policy today.Massive thanks to: Exeter University, Devon Wildlife Trust and Devon County Council.The talk can now be listened to at: 


Thursday 6 April 2017
Devon Local Nature Partnership
Natural Devon's 2017 lecture: Professor Dieter Helm CBE: Natural capital and sustainable growth
Newman Blue Lecture Theatre, University of Exeter 
Professor Dieter Helm is an Official Fellow in Economics at New College, Oxford, Professor of Energy Policy at the University of Oxford, Professorial Research Fellow of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Chair of the Natural Capital Committee and member of the LEEP Advisory Board for the University of Exeter.  Yale University Press published the paperback edition of his recent book – Natural Capital: Valuing the Planet, in 2016. 
In the face of growing environmental pressures Professor Dieter Helm is looking to offer a set of strategies for establishing natural capital policy that is balanced, economically sustainable, and politically viable.  He believes that the commonly held view that environmental protection poses obstacles to economic progress is false, and that the environment must be at the very core of economic planning.
Professor Helm’s lecture is particularly relevant this year given opportunities presented by Brexit, the development of Devon Local Plans and the development of the Heart of the South West Productivity Plan.
Event in partnership with University of Exeter.
A recording of the presentation can be found here