Blog

Once again interesting boxes of equipment and plants appeared in the Village Hall for the 3rd Sustainability Day on Saturday 12 October.  It is always difficult to tell what is the most popular activity, apart from consuming homemade cakes and tea and coffee with friends.  As ever the repair café attracted many interesting problems to solve,… Read more: Sustainability Day 2024

On 20th November 2023, the St Mary Bourne school children from Sycamore Class visited Hirst Meadow to plant four juniper trees. The juniper trees had been planted in pots in 2022, by the previous year’s Sycamore Class and they were now ready to be planted out into their final positions in Hirst Meadow. The school… Read more: Sycamore class visits Hirst Meadow

In our tranquil village of St. Mary Bourne, a heartwarming spectacle unfolds every year as dusk settles in – the migration of toads. These resilient amphibians embark on an extraordinary journey, returning to their ancestral birthplace. Despite facing numerous obstacles along the way, including the main road through St Mary Bourne, the toads persist, driven… Read more: The Remarkable Journey of the Toads

Great News! Soft Plastics can now be recycled. Although soft plastics are not taken by the council, many supermarkets are now providing recycling bins for soft plastics, in an aim to combat environmental degradation and climate change. Soft plastics are the packaging that you can’t normally put out with your household recycling. If you can scrunch… Read more: Recycling Soft Plastic

Thermal Imaging Cameras can expose Hidden Heat Loss In the quest for energy efficiency, thermal imaging cameras are emerging as powerful tools to identify and address heat loss in homes and buildings. These advanced devices, originally developed for military and industrial applications, are now being harnessed by homeowners and professionals alike to pinpoint areas of… Read more: Exploring Home Energy Efficiency

SBV holds a Competition to see who has the Healthiest Soil in The Parish! Last summer (2022) the series writers of The Archers included a Holey Pants competition in that well-known radio drama.  Having checked out that this competition was based on scientific research, which it was, the SBV decided to raise awareness of soil… Read more: Holiest Pants Competition 2023

Last week the children of Sycamore class from St Mary Bourne Primary School, helped us unveil the new sign and information board at Hirst Meadow. Sustainable Bourne Valley (SBV) has been slowly and steadily transforming an unused plot of land in the centre of St Mary Bourne into a haven for wildlife, creating a habitat… Read more: Unveiling the New Hirst Meadow Sign

Author: Nicholas Cross. In 2005 I installed photovoltaic solar panels on our roof, the kind that generate electricity rather than the ones that heat hot water. There was not much information available in the UK at the time on how long they would take to pay back and there were no financial incentives. After some… Read more: Is solar worthwhile?

For billions of years, all life has relied on Earth’s predictable rhythm of day and night. This rhythm is encoded in the DNA of all plants and animals, including us. Humans have radically disrupted this cycle by lighting up the night sky. Plants and animals depend on Earth’s daily cycle of light and dark to… Read more: Dark Skies in The Bourne Valley