Trust the Wildlife Trust.....

Now that the breeding season has effectively ended, followers of the web cams and blog will be wondering what to do with themselves and already several suggestions have been made about switching to other peregrine webcams elsewhere - indeed watching web cams on other species.
Meanwhile, if you have enjoyed your involvement with the project this year, there are a few things you could do to get more involved with us.
The project is a partnership between the cathedral, the city museum and the county wildlife trust. The first two partners will promote themselves later.
The third partner, the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, is a charity and a non-profit organisation set up in the 1960s. For its income it depends partly on the support of its 12,000 members who pay an annual subscription. Some members also choose to make donations in addition and an increasing number leave us money in their wills.
This income in greatly enhanced by contracts with local councils and by funding applications made by the Trust staff (of whom there are now some 25 people). Funders include the national lottery, landfill tax, charitable trusts and some corporate supporters. Most of this money is short term and hard to get hold - so each year the Trust finds itself with a (usually relatively small) deficit and has to adjust its work and its expenditure accordingly.

Clearly the work of the Trust now relies heavily on the paid staff, without whom it would achieve very little.
Having said that, our wonderful volunteers (numbering over 500) make a major contribution to the Trust's work.

These people contribute their time in many ways: some volunteer to help with the peregrine watchpoints and without them we simply couldn't run them at all! Others help on our many nature reserves around the county. Others do office tasks and a few give their time as trustees, overseeing the work of the Trust and ensuring it develops and operates in a proper manner.

The Trust works in many ways to look after the wildlife of Derbyshire and to draw local people towards a better understanding and appreciation of that wildlife. This Peregrine project is just one (small) aspect of the Trust's work which you can find out more about by visiting our website at http://www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ .

The Trust's involvement with this project has been there from the very beginning but, as we have said many times before, without the strong partnership with the cathedral and with the museum, this project would have achieved nothing. We each contribute different and complementary elements to make up the whole.

So, if you are not a Trust member already (especially if you live in or near the county), you might like to consider joining us. Several of you have done this already. Others have joined their own local wildlife trust in whatever county or country they live in - and in many ways, that is just as worthwhile (remember the old addage "think global, act local").


Alternatively, if you have not done so already, a donation to the project would be very welcome. Such donations are currently handled by the Trust on behalf of the project and this system has worked well so far. Details of how to make a donation are here

http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/2009/04/donations-needed.html


Finally, you could offer your time to the Trust as a volunteer. For more details please see the website above or contact the trust via the website contact points.
Thank you.


Nick Brown (Derbyshire Wildlife Trust)

Ps. The landscape photo shows a part of the Peak District in North Derbyshire where the Trust has a series of important nature reserves. The last photo shows some of our work with children, here making a giant spider!

Natural World magazine feature

Natural World is the national magazine of The Wildlife Trusts, a working partnership of 47 local wildlife trusts across the UK - the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is just one of these 47. So this magazine is seen by the total membership of the wildlife trusts nationwide - about 756,000 people.

The winter edition, just about to be mailed out, has a peregrine photo on the cover and a three page feature on our Derby peregrines inside, written by yours truely, with many excellent photo's to illustrate it.
If you are a wildlife trust member, your copy will reach you shortly with your normal membership mailing.

If you are not - why not join your local trust or ask for membership as a Christmas present?

Go to http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/ or, for the Derbyshire WT, direct to http://www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ for details.

Otherwise, you can buy a copy of Natural World for £5 (incl. P&P) within the UK. For the price of overseas copies please email enquiries@derbyshirewt.co.uk. There are only limited copies available, so first come first served! Phone us on 01773 881188 and order your copy direct (and a DVD or two as stocking fillers too maybe?)!

Meanwhile, our birds have been taking snipe and woodcock - usual autumnal fare for them......

Nick B (DWT)

Children and peregrines

Last summer many schools used the webcam images to show their children what was happening on the cathedral tower....and there is so much educational learning potential quite apart from the sheer enjoyment of watching peregrines at the nest!

The drawings here are by infants from Brigg Infant School in South Normanton.

Their teacher, Helen Naylor has really used the peregrines in so many ways with her class - and the artwork they have produced is great for children so young, even if the cathedral (and the birds) appear in some interesting and lively

shapes!

Last summer the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust organised some family events at the cathedral aimed at children between about 7 and 12 and these went down very well.

The Wildlife Watch Club, the junior branch of The Wildlife Trusts, used our Derby peregrine story in their national magazine more than once.

If you have children of this age then why not join the Trust as family members or just join your children into Watch Club? Details are on the Trust's website at http://www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org/.

The national Trusts magazine, called Natural World, will have a feature article about our peregrines in the next issue which is due out shortly, so if you belong to the Derbyshire or another county trust, keep an eye open for that.

Nick Brown (DWT)

Ps. A peregrine is back on East Mill in Belper today, just above my DWT office window in fact (though I can't see it except from the outside....)