» Listings for March 2024

1. SUCCESS!!! Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Common Farm Appeal

   Posted on 11:00am Tuesday 19th Mar 2024

    

   Derbyshire Wildlife Trust have a new appeal, Common Farm, and the goal was to raise £300,000 by 30th November 2023. 

   Update on 18 March 2024:  SUCCESS!!!
   
   Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to say that they could officially announce they'd completed on the purchase of Common Farm!!!  
   
   Over 2,000 donated to the appeal (only launched last October), contirbuting nearly £300,000 to the purchase.  Major donors and philanthropic organisations gave the rest of the funding needed to secure the site.  Locals have been critical to the success of the appeal, organising walking tours for potential donors, delivering leaflets, donating and encouraging people to get involved.  And the Trust is working closely with the community to develop the site as a great place for people and nature.  

   This is great news, well done Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and to everyone involved!
   
   

   
   
   The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust want to re-wild 83 acres,
   creating vibrant habitat for wildlife

   It’s made up of 18 sheep-grazed grassland fields which the Trust is going to transform into a wildlife reserve.  The team will make every field count, as they make the most of the different types of habitat;  they will re-wet the land, by filling in ditches, as drainage ditches flush vital rainwater from the site.  Blocking or filling them in will create pools by filling in the ditches to re-wet  the land. 

   As the land gets wetter, so trees and vegetation and wildlife will benefit. And cattle and ponies may come in as grazers, their manure enriching the soil and their grazing stopping trees from becoming dominant.

   
   Please find out more and donate here

   The project should form a diverse habitat – woodland expansion, scrubby thickets and open grassland that are species-rich and will benefit barn owls and skylarks and curlew, as well as plants such as the ragged robin and harebell.  This will give a new territory to wildlife – native plants and animals will thrive – hopefully within a year!

   Please find out more and donate here.
   
   

   Images copyright Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
   
   

2. It's Digital Cleanup Day on 18th March 2023 so be prepared to get deleting!

   Posted on 11:00am Wednesday 13th Mar 2024

    

    

   Back in February 2023, the BBC’s Panaroma did a programme called “Is the Cloud damaging the planet?”  Reporter Richard Bilton investigated the question.

   Cloud stores our pictures and emails and it powers our internet searches.  It enables us to stream movies and box sets.  So far, that’s great. 

   The problem with digital pollution

   The problem is that it depends on huge data centres which use huge amounts of power and water – so every time you and I go online, that increases our carbon footprint.

   Then there’s all the emails you don’t need or want, duplicates of photos and videos, files and apps you’ve got but don’t use. Cloud stores them and needs energy to do it.

   It all creates a type of pollution called digital pollution, and it consumes energy – even when we don’t think of it or use it.  It just sits there, consuming electricity, forgotten and all too often unnecessary.

   And yet, when we think of carbon emissions, we tend to think of things such as farting cows, car journeys, dirty factories, planes in the sky, and all that sort of thing.  How many of us think of digital pollution and the damage it does?

   Let's get deleting!

   Delete your unnecessary stuff and there are a number of advantages such as, we can extend the life of our gadgets, and we pollute less and help the environment.

   Plus, it gives you a feeling of control of your digital stuff.  I’ve just spent a 30 minutes deleting a lot of stuff from my phone – old messages, three pictures taken of the cat because she kept moving her head when only one was any good, photos sent of things I no longer want or need.  And my phone seems to have a new lease of life and burst of energy as a result of it.  I’ve cleared a lot of rubbish to create more space.

   A date for your diary!

   Now there is an event in March (on the 16^th) which gives you the chance to do your own digital de-tox, or you could make a start whilst waiting for something, or someone.

   It’s the Digital Cleanup Day and its on 16^th March 2024.  It’s a really good opportunity to raise awareness of digital pollution – most of us wouldn’t even think of it.  Clean up your data stored in i-Cloud such as files, pictures and videos, your mobile phone, and social media accounts.  And take a look at your email account. Often it’s a good chance to see if you can get better organised with it all, too – which will help with the general organisation and running of life.  Why not have a digital clean up party and see who can delete the most?!

   So there are four things to do:

   1. Clean up your smartphone
   2. Clean up your computer hard drive
   3. Clean up your mailbox
   4. Make new arrangements and do things in a different way - there are lots of ideas on the website
   5. You could share your results - you'll need to register to do that

    Visit Digital Cleanup Day 2024 here.