Leeds Castle Food Festival

On Friday 11th September I visited Leeds Castle for their Food Festival! The festival ran over the weekend (finishing today), and featured fresh, regional produce from over 50 local food and drink producers. There were cookery demonstrations and talks as well, and all of this in the grounds of Leeds Castle in Kent, "the loveliest castle in the world"  (see leeds-castle.com for more info). A great family day out!

Shortly after arriving at the  food festival, we saw a demo by Wild Food UK on foraging. We learnt about some common plants and fungi that can be found this time of year, such as wood sorrel and brown pennybun (Boletus edulis).

Wild Food UK talk about foraging basics

We then spent some happy hours browsing the stalls, learning about Riverford Organic Farms vegboxes. (riverford.co.uk), tasting marshmallow cakes at Marshmallow Heaven (Marshmallowheaven.org), and trying and buying traditional Mead through Warner Wines (@warnerwine), who also plied us with sample of a rare coffee liqueur from Germany.

Other highlights include:

• Kent Cider Co. (http://kentcider.co.uk/) - we bought a flagon of  toffee apple cider!
• Mightyfine Things (mightyfinethings.co.uk) - a variety of spirits and flavours, such as sloe gin and plum brandy.  
• Snowdonia Cheese Company (www.snowdoniacheese.co.uk) - their cheeses have won gold medals in the world cheese award! Ruby Mist won gold this year. I brought away some Bouncing berry (mature cheddar with cranberries), Red Storm (vintage red) and Ruby Mist (mature cheddar with port and brandy).
• Poptata Street Fries (www.poptata.com/), established earlier this year. We bought their gourmet cheesy chips for lunch!

A wide variety of stalls, with the lovely Leeds Castle in the background.

Lunch: gourmet chips with cheese and guacamole!

Countryside Management Association: Olympic Park social

Some of the CMA members from the East of England region met on Saturday 27th June at the Lee Valley Velopark, near Stratford station. We were treated to a fascinating tour of the Velopark (including the Velodrome, mountain bike and BMX tracks), followed by a walk around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We saw the wildlife areas, and learnt about their creation and maintenance from Lee Valley staff. We then retired to a local pub for dinner.

At the Olympic VeloPark! Thanks to Roger Cole for the photo.

It was interesting to walk around the site of the 2012 Olympics  and see the London Olympic legacy. As well as being informative, the social was a great chance to touch base with some of the other members in the region and discuss the CMA. Many thanks to Derek and Ges, for organising the social and showing us around!

The Countryside Management Association represents professionals in the greenspace and countryside sector, and supports development of staff, students and volunteers. Benefits include training and study days, CMA “Ranger” magazine, networking opportunities, international links, and professional accreditation. Membership is heavily discounted for unwaged members - including students. For more information visit countrysidemanagement.org.uk.

Langdon Hills Butterfly Surveys

My partner Natasha has been taking part in butterfly surveying at Langdon Hills Country Park since last Summer. This Country Park is part of the Langdon Living Landscape, one of the best areas for butterflies in whole of Essex. The survey route covers a number of species-rich meadows, interspersed with semi-natural woodland and hedge-lined rides. I accompanied Natasha on June 28th and made a note of interesting species, butterfly or otherwise! Cattle were present in Johnson's No.2 field, doing their bit for conservation.

Meadows can be incredibly rich habitats!

Martinhole Wood:
Other: Black Bryony, Scaly Male Fern, Bluebell, Wood Dock, Dog's Mercury, Wood Avens, Honeysuckle.

Johnson's No.1 (Meadow)
Butterflies: Meadow Brown, Marbled White, Common Blue (we think), Essex/Common Skipper, Comma.
Other: Meadowsweet, Birds-foot Trefoil, Red Clover, Tufted Vetch, Yellow Rattle, Ox-eye Daisy, Self-heal, Tragopogon seedhead (Goatsbeard or Salsify).

Horse Ride
Butterflies: Comma.

Johnson's No.2 (Meadow)
Butterflies: Large White, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood.
Other: Field Rose, Pheasant, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Wild Carrot, Ox-eye Daisy, Self-heal, Cinquefoil, Shrew.

If you're interested in getting involved with butterfly surveying, Langdon Hills Country Park has a number of survey routes in both the One Tree Hill and Westley Heights areas of the park. Contact Langdon Hills Country Park for more information. If volunteering isn't your thing, then I'd still recommend taking a walk around the Country Park to see some of the brilliant butterflies!

Soprano Pipistrelle Roost Count

Twilight on Wednesday 24th June saw Natasha and I at Hanningfield Reservoir (EWT), sat on a picnic blanket, awaiting the emergence of over 500 bats. Essex Bat Group were running a Soprano Pipistrelle Roost Count, part of their work to map bats across Essex and track changes to their populations over time.

Hanningfield Reservoir.

Awaiting bats!

There are 10 species of bat found regularly in Essex, with Common and Soprano Pipistrelles being the two most common. Over 500 Soprano Pipistrelles were counted over the course of the emergence, which took just over an hour - Natasha and I personally counted 364 individual bats! There was also a large bat around, recorded on a bat detector and pegged as "noctule or leisler's or serotine".

Soprano Pipistrelle in blurry flight.

I got involved with the Roost Count at Hanningfield through my involvement with the Langdon Hills Bat Group, which formed last year through the Langdon Living Landscape (under the guidance of Essex Bat Group). We've been out to various sites across the Langdon Ridge to look for bats, and have discovered a number of different species in the area. If you're interested in getting involved with the Langdon Hills Bat Group, I'd recommend getting in touch with John Hunt (at Langdon Hills Country Park) at langdon.hills@btconnect.com. Please remember that all bat species and their roosts are legally protected in Britain.