Gallery

Mendip Flora and Fauna, October 2024. Photos by Mary Heffernan

Visit to Batch Farm October2024. Photos by Peter Janes

Batch Farm is a sustainable farming enterprise near Churchill where young people from disadvantaged backgrounds can discover interests and skills through contact with nature and outdoor activities. The Society has provided a grant for the installation of a composting toilet which was needed so that they could camp on site.

Clockwise: Welcome by Roger White. A dew pond restored by young people (with help from our Chairman Tina Bath). A newly planted woodland. The composting toilet. Another dew pond in progress. Fungi as part of a balanced ecosystem.

Bio Char Day at Tania's Wood 14th Sept. 2024. Photos by Peter Janes

Making Bio-char is halfway between a bonfire and charcoal making. The brash is burnt in a kiln with a restricted air supply then put into sealed drums to cool before combustion is complete. The result is a fine powder consisting of carbon and ash. This locks up a considerable proportion of the carbon which would have been released into the air (as carbon dioxide) if it were burn in the open. Bio -char makes a great addition to compost as the carbon particles absorb nutrients which, when it is mixed into the soil, are slowly released to plants.

Clockwise. 1) Filling the kiln. 2) Well alight. 3) The volatiles have burn off. 4) Putting into drums to cool. 5) Tina preparing sausages for cooking on the embers.

Tea and Home Made Cake at Ebbor Gorge Farm. June 2024. Photo by Judith Tranter

Walk in Ebbor Gorge on 18th April. Photos by Jo Bradshaw

Walk at Stanton Drew 23rd March 2024. Photo by Richard Frost

14th March 2023. Memorial to US Airmen Killed in Crash near Hazel Manor in 1944. 

Photos by Peter Janes

More information - https://www.blagdonlhs.com/aircrash-compton-martin-1944

Clockwise: About 60 people attended the ceremony. The memorial was unveiled by an officer ftom the USAF. The memorial stone near Hazel Manor farm. The inscription.