Snippets
3.4.2024
Get Gardening - Just one thing with Dr Michael Moseley
In this 15 minute episode 'Michael dons some gardening gloves and gets grubby. It’s no surprise that digging, hoeing and heaving bags of soil around is great for our physical fitness. But Michael learns how gardening can also impact our microbiome from Dr Hannah Holscher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She explores how gardening can boost the gut microbiome, benefitting our health and wellness. Our volunteer Caspar, tests his green fingers by growing some kitchen herbs and visiting a community garden.'
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2.4.2024
Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina)
At our meeting on 18th March 2024 at Samlesbury WMH, Mary Anne alerted us to the threat of this new pest which has arrived in England. Comprehensive information can be found at this portal. She says:
- This is the main website which has all the links to posters, ID sheets etc. There has been a positive sighting of just one 2 weeks ago in Leyland. They have not been able to trap it so the hope is it died in that cold spell and did not have any friends locally.
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2.4.2024
Need for Black Poplar Conservation (Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia)
This was featured on 31st March 2024 during an episode of Countryfile in the Trent Valley (starting about 12 minutes in). Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia is a threatened native tree that grows on wet and waterlogged ground such as ditches, river banks and flood plains. As the Countryfile programme explains, these are diminishing habitats. Black birch has separate males and females and, If it is to be conserved, more females need to be planted downwind in the vicinity of males.
See also:
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