Fineshade Wood news

It's summer time - and the flowers are high After all the rain earlier in the year, the flowers and other vegetation in Fineshade are profuse at the moment. Because of the height of the grass, you have to look quite carefully to see the newly arrived sheep in the field in front of the Visitor Centre - there are rare breed Llanwenogs and Hebrideans who certainly have plenty to eat. Elsewhere in the wood, flowers are blooming, and insects flitting and it's a great time to visit. What could be better than joining Brian Laney for an informal wildflower walk this coming Saturday, 13th August at 10am? The weather forecast for Saturday is dry and not too hot - just ideal! We'll meet just outside the courtyard at the visitor centre but please send us an email to let us know that you're coming. We hope you can join us.

Back from the Brink project Thanks very much to those of you who were able to respond to our last request to complete the online survey www.naturebackfromthebrink.org. We've heard unofficially that there's a good chance that the Rockingham Forest part of the project could be based here and that there was a very positive meeting with Forestry Commission staff. There's still a long way to go, but it could be that the project would start next year. There are details on our website here: http://www.fineshade.org.uk/#!back-from-the-brink/p3lhi and we'll update that page as soon as we hear anything definite.   Forest Holidays You may have seen on the website that the Chief Executive of Forest Enterprise has said that: Following various consultation activities, they (Forest Holidays) are reconsidering how they approach Fineshade and it is unclear when any firm proposal for the area will be forthcoming soon, if at all.  While this is good news, it does leave the threat of future development hanging - Fineshade is still one of about a dozen FC sites on the so-called Exclusivity List, where Forest Holidays have been given carte blanche to plan developments. Perhaps we should be doing more to pressurise FC to take Fineshade off that list - what do you think?   Lots of Wildlife records The Chief Excucutive of Natural England has declared that "Fineshade is a wonderful place for wildlife". This summer we've had the help of several local wildlife recorders and photographers who've been finding rare or unusual creatures and plants. All the findings continue to be published on this page of the website http://www.fineshade.org.uk/#!wildlife-month/ph12q.  If you can help in any way, please do get in touch.   Enjoying and Protecting Fineshade Wood Thank you once again for continuing to support Fineshade - we are delighted that Fineshade has so many Friends. Do please let us know if you have ideas or suggestions about what more we could do encourage the enjoyment and protection of the wood. Friends of Fineshade