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Many butterfly species are on the wing now such as common blue, meadow brown, ringlet, gatekeeper, grayling, small copper and painted lady. Large numbers of the six spot burnet, a day flying moth, can be seen on the wing and great green bush crickets can be heard and sometimes seen among the taller dune grassland … Continue reading Butterflies and moths are out and about

The bumblebee was sighted during the Bumblebee Blitz event on the Burrows between 12/14 august.  We’ll have an update and a map of sightings from that event when they’re available.

Henry Williamson’s “The Pathway” remembers just one of the scents that fill the Burrows at this time of year. The low mat forming aromatic foliage of Thyme (thymus polytrichus), with its tight clusters of purple flowers, used to carpet vast areas of the dune turf, formerly created and maintained by rabbits eating down the grass … Continue reading “Oh, the smell of the wild thyme…”

On 4 July a group led by Jo Pullin of Tarka Country Trust, accompanied by Dr Phil Sterling from Butterfly Conservation.Org and Mary Breeds, local botanist from the Braunton Countryside Centre, inspected the verge created by the Braunton group of Life on the Verge.  The site is beside the old railway line heading towards Ilfracombe, … Continue reading Life on Braunton’s Verge

In the context of the InterReg European initiative to encourage EcoTourism in the North Devon Biosphere we are looking for one, or maybe two, contractors to develop this capacity using the Countryside Centre as the hub.  Specifications for the contract are shown below: closing date for applications is 18 July 2019. http://www.northdevonbiosphere.org.uk/news/invitations-to-quote    

We are very lucky to host the Barnstaple Group of the West Country Embroiderers’ exhibition of their lovely work in the windows of the Braunton Countryside Centre.  The theme is “Trees” and you can see their work until 6 July!