During a recent trip to the Cotswolds I couldn’t help but notice not only the colourful fields of rapeseed but also the vibrant purple strips of lavender. Apart from being on the wrong side of the road I could well have been driving through Provence. We have a tremendous success story about British lavender-growing in August’s issue of Countryman which is on sale this week. Also in the magazine we look at rising kites… the bird variety… and also someone making a living out of sheep poo. Yes, there’s still a lot to celebrate about our countryside.

As windfarms make their way relentlessly across the country – there were around 2400 at the last count with plans for another 400+ – the threat to our bird and bat population becomes larger. Although little work has been carried out in the UK, a six week study on two American farms recorded more than 4,500 bat fatalities from collisions with the turbines. As mentioned before in my blog, attempts at reducing bird collisions with wind turbines have typically involved making the turbine blades more conspicuous. However this clearly wouldn’t work for bats, where hearing is their primary sense. Anecdotal evidence, including that of bats foraging offshore in Sweden avoiding an area around Utgrunden lighthouse, where a powerful radar is in permanent operation, led Aberdeen University scientists Barry Nicholls and Paul Racey to investigate whether a small portable radar system would act as a repellent around windfarms. Experiments over the last two years have shown that the portable system works, with bats moving some 30m away. Further work now needs to be conducted by radar engineers working in conjunction with bat biologists, but in the end someone will need to pay for the implementation of the system…

Since the demise of the Royal Agricultural Show the Great Yorkshire has become the country’s biggest rural event. It started today in fair weather but by the end of the day rain had set in. Princess Anne, pictured here at one of the hound classes, stayed for around three hours. More photos on my Dalesman blog on www.dalesman.co.uk

I had some good news this week as it’s been announced that work has begun to create 2.4 hectares of new reed bed, wet woodland and wet grassland  habitat at the nearest wetland centre to my home. The  Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) are  to provide Martin Mere Wetland Centre in Lancashire, primarily with a new nesting habitat for reed bunting and water vole and other important species of conservation concern such as bearded tit, sedge warbler and reed warbler.  The project involves the excavation and profiling of ditches and ponds within an area that was once part of the Martin Mere - at one time one of the largest lakes and wetlands in the Lancashire plains. Once completed the open channels will be used for visitors to paddle around the reed bed in canoes.  I’m looking forward to this alternative method of bird watching while getting close to wildflowers and insects such as bumble bees, dragonflies and butterflies – but seeing as it’s thirty-odd years since I’ve been in a canoe I’m not sure if I’ll be allowed in one (or even fit in!). The wetland creation will be completed by October with the canoe safari experience opening next spring.

Results of the first sample survey of England’s 14,500 listed places of worship were published last week by English Heritage. It suggests that around ten per cent are in need of urgent major repairs and that two-thirds of congregations say funding major repairs is a constant worry. In response, English Heritage has produced Caring for Places of Worship, a practical guide, DVD and a website www.english-heritage.org.uk/powar.  Dr Simon Thurley of EH says: “We estimate that there are £925 million of outstanding repairs to be done in the next five years. Grants of £40 million a year help but the vast majority of repairs have to come from voluntary giving and have to be undertaken and organised by congregations themselves. The current climate of increased unemployment, low interest rates and reduced returns on invested capital make fundraising a greater challenge than ever. Alongside this, some congregations are finding the responsibility harder to bear unless their whole community comes together to support its most historic and iconic building.” EH will continue to assess places of worship and will add those which are most vulnerable to its Heritage at Risk register, making it easier for their congregations to attract the help they need from heritage organisations, local authorities and the wider community.

Photo shows St Mary’s at Broughton in Yorkshire - early Norman with additions up to the 15th century. The church overlooks the Countryman offices.