Stonehenge
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust brought the countryside to Devizes to showcase their work and livestock.
Taking over the town centre on Saturday, 28th September, the Trust brought its rare breed Herdwick sheep and Dexter cattle to the Market Place to meet locals and visitors.
Hedrwicks in Devizes. Photo: Phil Cooper
As well as meeting the livestock, visitors had the opportunity to meet birds of prey with Walk with Hawks. Among the magnificent birds to meet were a golden eagle crossed with a steepe eagle, a barn owl, and a kestrel and they proved a popular draw throughout the day. Oak and Furrow animal rescue centre brought the ever popular baby hedgehogs, and those who were brave enough to face them could learn about bees with a demonstration hive by the Bee People. Displays included an array of steam engines and an impressive John Deere tractor.
Children and adults alike enjoyed the interactive river which helped explain the work being undertaken by the Wessex Chalk Streams project by giving people the chance to rearrange a river bank to make the water change course, speed up and slow down.
In the activities tent, Trust staff were on hand to help little hands to make beeswax candles and lots of nature related activities and games.
To help raise much needed funds for the Trust, the reserve officers manned a stand selling everything from fire wood and bean poles to hand hewn wood stepping stones and oak benches. All products were produced by Trust staff with resources from its own woodland.
Meanwhile, in the Corn Exchange, a repair café gave people the chance to learn how to fix those broken household items, a swap shop allowed Mums to exchange out grown clothes and toys.
A BBQ featuring the Trust’s meat products kept everyone well fed.
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust also announced the winners of its annual volunteer awards at the event. Winners are chosen by independent organisation, Involve.
Young volunteer of the Year: Tom Fry
Lifetime Achievement: Sue Haines
Volunteer of the Year: Jenny Amor and Laurie Lovelace
Volunteer Group of the Year: Smallbrook Meadows
Speaking after the event, organiser Michele Gard said “These events are very time consuming to organise. We rely heavily on the goodwill of our staff as well as the public and of course, we hope for good weather. Everything came together on Saturday to make County Comes to Town a fantastic event, raising almost £3,000 for the Trust’s work. I’d like to thank everyone; staff and visitors, for making it such a great day.”
