The Wherry has broken.

 

"The Wherry has broken", as old time Martinstown people used to say when the South Winterborne resumed its winter flow after the summer dry period. This year, though there were dry islands in the stream in the village, the flow did not cease completely as it did last year. The stream flow closely follows the ground water level: this year the lowest level recorded at the Ashton borehole was 2.3m higher than last year's, which probably explains why the stream didn't go completely dry this year. The borehole figures clearly show the sudden increase in stream flow on the 26th of this month.

23rd. 65.80m,  24th. 65.81m,  25th. 65.84m,  26th. 66.00m,  27th. 66.23m,  28th. 66.47m,  29th. 66.83m,  30th.  67.33m

Pesticide free for all.

 

The current issue of ‘British Wildlife’ reports that notwithstanding claims that it would make environmental protections stronger, one of the opportunities that Brexit provided was to diverge from EU rules on such things as pesticides, phasing out chemicals that pose threats to human health or the environment. But the opposite has happened. The Pesticide Action Network has found that the UK has decided to retain 30 pesticides which the EU has banned since the time of Brexit, and also allowed onto the market six more which the EU has yet to authorise. Thirteen of these are regarded as highly hazarded pesticides by the UN, including several that are highly toxic to bees and aquatic organisms.

I kept bees in the village for over forty years but finally had to give up due to the difficulties posed by disease and pests. There are still half a dozen hives on Mallards Green, lovingly tended by Liz, but I fear that the valuable pollination services that bees provide are in serious jeopardy due to Government inaction on pesticides And of course many other insects besides bees that are useful pollinators will be affected.