Every three months we promote different seasonal activities so from July-September we are encouraging you to take part in 4 new activities!:

1) Create a Wildlife Pond

2) Join the Big Butterfly Count

3) Help our Hedgehogs

4) Give your hedge a few inches

Don't worry if you are still planning to garden for insects or complete any of the activities from previous seasons you can just select other and describe your activity!

What happened in June:

Your pledges

We have had some fantastic pledges come in:

• Vendela in Lynmouth has pledged to garden for insects and negotiate with the National Trust to create a wildflower meadow in the field next door.
• Deidre in Lynton has pledged to plant fruit trees for insects and carbon dioxide mitigation.
• Lydia has pledged to leave lawns unmown and weeds to grow. She also plans to feed the birds and plant nectar rich flowers.
• Anne in Ilfracombe has pledged to leave a natural area at the bottom of our garden where she has sown with wildflowers in part and also built a hedgehog home with her son. "It is a lovely area to sit around a fire pit and toast marshmallows and listen to the birds."

• Sally has pledged to protect habitat for nesting skylarks on 80 acres of grassland by delaying silage cutting until late June.
• Anne in Great Torrington has pledged to complete a butterfly count in her medicinal herb garden: "We have transformed a redundant small conifer plantation at Holt Wood into a thriving project on medicinal trees and shrubs. We aim to support biodiversity alongside sustainable herbal harvests."
• Josie in North Molton has pledged to create a wildflower patch.

Events

On 21st June it was #2minuteday where people across the country Saw It, Snapped It, Shared It and Recycled It a great initiative to get everyone thinking how they can care for their local space.

‍Nature Natters

In June we spoke to Claire from Plastic Free North Devon about the work they do to educate and advocate for the reduction of single use plastic.

We also spoke to Jan from Devon Wildlife Trust about their action for insects campaign and asked her what we can do to help insect populations which are currently facing a dramatic decline.

We hope you are enjoying these video sessions!

Things to look out for in July

Butterflies: Many butterflies that usually emerge in July have been spotted early due to the record-breaking sunshine in June however there should be a great number of butterflies to spot during the month of July, please submit your sightings as butterflies are a key indicator of ecosystem health and data can be used to track the effects of climate change and changes in land use.

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Wildflowers:

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Exmoor National Park are looking for people to submit sightings of wildlife, in particular non-native invasive species to help their ENNIS project, records can be logged on the iNaturalist app and you can join in the Exmoor Wildwatch Project on iNaturalist more info here.

Hot and sunny weather may mean water is in short supply for our local wildlife, birds will definitely appreciate a shallow bowl as a bird bath and have you considered installing a water butt to save rainwater?

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Thanks everyone, have a great July and please keep sharing your amazing pledges for nature using the #pledgefornature or joining the Facebook group.