Scuba Divers Explore the Depths of Loe Pool
If you go down to the Pool today......don't worry, that shape in the water is not some unexpected monster of the deep, but a diver searching out for plants, rare or otherwise, growing in the waters of Loe Pool.

As part of a four year project funded by Natural England, the divers will be building on work carried out by the National Trust since 1999 to find out more about what plants are growing within Loe Pool.

Since the mid-seventies, the Pool has suffered from algal blooms, caused by too many nutirients entering the water from the sewage works in Helston and at Culdrose and from farms and settlements up the catchment. Recent work carried out at the Helston Sewage works have led to a dramatic reduction in some of these nutrients and we haven't seen an algal bloom here for over six years and the water quality and clarity is improving, allowing us to let divers get underwater to see what is growing there.The divers, from Kennack Diving School www.kennackdiving.co.uk have been working under the guidance of Dr Jan Dinsdale who has been surveying the water plants from a boat for the past 10 years.

Jan said “we’re not sure what we will find. The years and years of algal blooms have really taken their toll on the water plant life in Loe Pool and we haven’t been able to find many plants at all during our recent boat surveys.  But the good news is that things are improving. Getting down under the water to have a really close look  will give us vital information about the state of the natural vegetation on the bottom of the lake and what potential it has to flourish  as the water quality continues to improve. Over time we’d like to see plenty of plants growing up through the water from the bottom of the lake.  The return of these plants is a vital step in the recovery of the lake’s natural balance; they will help to make sure that the algal blooms are a thing of the past”

Reporters from Westcountry TV interview
David and Des from Kennack Diving

Early reports are that the divers have brought three types of plant to the surface and one old bottle - marked Sleeman and Co, Helston. They'll return again in September for a further survey.

Alastair

Nice day for a Bike ride.......

The weather seems to be on the turn for the better (for how long though ?) and this morning I bumped into Dave Page of Porthleven Cycle Hire, leading a guided cycle tour around Loe Pool at Penrose.


Porthleven Cycle Hire are a National Trust Ambassador Business, and we have been working closely with them for a couple of years looking at how we can help people on bikes enjoy Penrose more. PCH offer a great service for bike hire and guided cycle trips whether you live locally or are on holiday (they will deliver to your accomadation if you are on your hols). For more info check out their website at:


http://www.porthlevencyclehire.co.uk/


Watch this space for more news on cycling related work at Penrose this year. We are working with the 1SW Cycle Hub project, PCH and the Cornwall AONB partnership to improve cycling facilities and information, and with Sustrans to improve people's awareness of Penrose as an off-road (and green and pleasant ) alternative bike link for Helston and Porthleven.


We are also improving our signs around Penrose generally, so if you have any ideas about what might help you please get in contact


Mike


mike.hardy@nationaltrust.org.uk

Kayaking is back

Just when you through it was safe to go back in the water...you were right!

"Kayaking on the Helford" is back this year with a chance to paddle with expert tuition up to Frenchman's Creek and experience life on the water from a new perspective. We welcome all abilities and anyone over the age of 8 to come along with us. This year we are using sit on top kayaks, so paddling is even easier. For info contact us on: 01326 558424. 


Dates for this years events are: Sunday 10th June, Saturday 7th July, Saturday 11th August and Saturday 8th September. We are also running a series of outdoor activity events including surfing, coasteering and cliff climbing, see the poster below for info. 

Layla  

Mullion Harbour Day

Mullion harbour day is back this year on the 30 June. Alongside all the usual fun and games there will be a whole range of fun races for everyone whose prepared to get a bit wet! Start planning now for your raft race entry and visit our facebook page if you have any questions on raft rules.
See you there.

Foraging and Feasting on the Lizard

A couple of years ago I was invited to do a piece on Radio 5 live about foraging for food from the wild. This was a live discussion with John Wright, author of the River Cottage foraging books. I think I was brought in to offer a counter argument, defending the rights of wild plants and animals to remain ‘un-foraged’ in the name of conservation. Unbeknown to 5 Live, I am also a keen forager and agreed with pretty much everything John had to say on the subject.



From a conservation point of view, so long as the countryside isn’t pillaged of plants, animals and fungi for commercial gain, then I can’t really see the problem in collecting nature’s bounty once in a while for personal use. If it brings people closer to nature, making them appreciate what unspoilt and well managed countryside can offer, then foraging can only help our conservation goals.

I’ve just completed a series of three guided ‘forage and feast’ walks around Predannack near Mullion. Foraging is certainly ‘in vogue’ these days, with each walk well attended, with over 50 people putting their trust in my judgement as to what’s edible and what’s downright toxic!



Photo credit Dom Brandreth



The best times of year for foraging are spring and autumn. Spring is best for all the lovely young herbs, shoots, flowers and leaves, whereas Autumn offers the best time for fruit, nuts and of course fungi. Predannack Cliffs in May are swathed in wild flowers, a feast for the eyes if not the taste buds!

Each walk started with a short ‘Die, Starve or Survive’ game, where various plants (both edible and poisonous) were offered to those attending. I must say that had it been a real life or death scenario, not many would have survived too long. It’s amazing how similar Cow Parsley and Alexanders resemble Hemlock and Hemlock Water Dropwort and how Sorrel can be a dead ringer for Lords and Ladies!



wood sorrel (photo Jourdon)



As a reward for their ‘virtual’ poisoning, I served up some Sea Beet and Wild Garlic soup which seemed to go down well, before embarking on our walk around the cliffs.

En-route we munched on wild water mint, water cress, pennywort, rock samphire and various other tasty, and not so tasty, herbs, leaves and flowers. Occasional stops were rewarded with other morsels I’d prepared earlier such as Water Cress Omelette, Ransom pesto, seaweeds and one lucky group was treated to a wee dram of bramble whiskey!






All in all a very successful series of walks, and as far as I’m aware, no-one was seriously poisoned.

Look out for some fungi forage walks later in the year.


Happy foraging

Justin

Adventures with Landewednack School

Class 3 showing their best miserable Victorian faces

It's been an action packed few weeks for Landewednack School, with lots of NT adventures far and wide. Class 3 travelled up to Lanhydrock recently to explore the historic house. The Victorian school room complete with period games to play was a real hit.

Everyone dressed the part, with Mr B looking dapper in his top hat! In the afternoon the group joined me in the parkland to try their hand at measuring trees, using all sorts of nifty tricks to gauge their circumference and height. Taller than we're used to seeing on the Lizard that's for sure! 











Last week the whole school came down to the Waterings Nature Garden class by class, as part of an ongoing partnership first established 15 years ago. Class 1 became bug hunters for the afternoon, and received a surprise visit from a giant hedgehog bearing gifts of badger, frog and fox masks!


Class 2 went on a Spider Safari, making their own 8 legged friends out of pipe cleaners and pom-poms, as well as having some close encounters with the real kind, courtesy of 'pooter' bug suckers.

Class 3 battled it out in 3 teams with a nature quiz, and then had a go at building shelters out of coppice poles, bamboo, and anything else to hand.

With all the hot and sunny weather we were glad of the shade!

We're happy to offer similar nature based fun to all Lizard schools, so please do get in touch if it appeals

Rachel

Flora Day 2012

For Flora Day this year, we were lucky enough to have Bella the 1971 VW campervan with us!








We were giving out leaflets about the local area and events, recruiting new members and chatting to people about volunteering with the National Trust.

Helston looked lovely in the May sunshine...

... and we also had a "how many people can we fit in Bella" competition!








Rosie