1.News (December 2005)

• Narroways Millennium Green Trust meetings are held once a month in the St.Werburghs area, usually at The Miners Arms -The next meeting however is our Annual General Meeting at 7.00p.m. on Monday 16th January 2006 at The Jack Brimble Centre (the scout hut) on St.Werburghs Road, St.Werburghs. it will be followed by a local history talk on St.Werburghs - the hill and the stream. Everyone welcome.
  
  
  Volunteering on Narroways
  
• Guy and Kirk now organise our volunteer days. The next one is Saturday 18 February 2006 10:30 am at Narroways Hill. MoreVolunteer Work Days for Narroways have been scheduled for 2006. They are on Saturday mornings on :-
  Saturday 1 April 2006
  Saturday 13 May 2006
  They are a great way to get involved and do something practical. We usually meet on Narroways Hill around 10.30. We do whatever needs doing - last work day we cleared litter, removed graffiti from our signs, and cut back scrub where it was shading meadow land.Wear practical clothing and get ready for a bit of green therapy.
  
  Volunteers on hay cut in Church Field
  
  
• Safer routes to Fairfield School This summer, Bristol City Council tried to impose urban street lighting along all the footpaths by Narroways with no consultation of local residents and organisations. With the support of local councillor Jon Rogers we gained a consultation period during which nearly 100 people wrote expressing their objections to this proposal. Narroways Millennium Green Trust gave their views outlining issues such as light pollution, urbanisation, energy wasting,effect on bats and other wildlife, the fact lighting gives a false sense of security, damage to a prominent landscape. The local paper, Bristol Evening Post tried to depict local people and organisations (who were all united in not wanting the street lights) as not caring about children's safety, even though the school and the police were not in favour of recommending these routes after dark. For now the work has finished without lighting being put in but we need to remain vigilant.
  
  Machinery clearing pathside vegetation
  
  
  Meeting with Fairfield School to reach consensus over footpaths.
  
  St.Werburghs Website has been completely revamped and is more attractive, useful and user-friendly. It has a forum which everyone is invited to use, a calendar that will keep you up to date with Narroways activities along with others, news and links pages amongst others. Just to mention too there is a new local wildlife site run by Narroways trustee Des Bowring - its all about the wildlife of Montpelier and is updated frequently. Check it out at Wild Monty
  
  Voodoo Dolls needed for the following:-
  People who ride motorbikes on Narroways, churning up the meadow grassland and often burning out the stolen bikes.
  People who let their dogs crap on Narroways and don't clear it up.
  People who put dog shit in plastic bags and hang it from fences or bushes. Bizarre!
  People who drop all their cans, bottles, takeaways, crisp packets for the good litter fairy to take away.
  Pathetic taggers (not to be confused with graffiti artists) who scrawl their rubbish little scribblings on signs and walls and anything that doesn't move quickly.
  
  Luckily, most people who use Narroways just want to enjoy it and its wildlife.
  
  
• Wildlife Observations
  There will be a wildlife review of 2005 available at the AGM on 17th January (see above) but some highlights have been the Waxwings back in early 2005, the Ravens that have been seen on St.Werburghs church tower recently and the Tawny Owls heard this summer. Jays, Foxes and Sparrowhawks are often seen.
  
  Remember we produce quarterly email reports of wildlife sightings on Narroways and district. If anyone would like to be put on the mailing list or have any local wildlife sightings to report please contact us at narroways@netscape.net
  
  
  Jay on allotment bean pole.
  
  
• With the expert help of Keith and Linda Hall we have erected a Tawny Owl Nestbox in the woodland at Narroways to try to entice the owls heard recently to make themselves at home. It would be fantastic to have local nesting Tawny Owls in Ashley Vale and there should be enough mice and rats to satisfy them locally. We also hope to run a nestbox project with our local school.
  
  Bringing the owl box up the path to Narroways.
  
  
• Narroways Hill is used occasionally by other groups but the trustees should be contacted (via St.Werburghs City Farm or our email address) for any Organised Group Activities (beyond the usual dog walking, blackberrying, picnicing, sledging, didgeridoo playing, small discrete fireworks party sort of stuff) The main reasons are to preserve the wild environment, protect the wildlife there, and respect other people's rights to a quiet green space in the city.