East Leake

MANOR FARM APPEAL. round 250 people have so far answered an appeal in East Leake for financial support to help ensure the popular local Manor Farm Park and Woodlands remains the attraction it has been for over 20 years.

Seven weeks ago the appeal was launched to help raise funds to safeguard the future of the Park site on Castle Hill and since then there has been a steady stream of donations being made.

For many years, Manor Farm Park and Woodlands has provided a life-long, loving home to numerous farm animals, birds and reptiles who had found themselves unwanted or abandoned by their previous owners. Say the owners: “We are not a working farm; our animals remain with us for life and are of the upmost importance to us.”

It is admitted by the farm owners that the current situation with regards COVID-19 means they find themselves in a position that all of their income streams have been cut-off. “We have reserves to draw upon in times of need to ensure the continued high welfare of our animals, however, the length of this crisis has rapidly depleted our funds.”

A message put out from the farm says they had to cancel fundraising events planned in May and June, and lead to them making the appeal for donations towards the care and welfare of their animals, specifically feed, bedding and veterinary costs.

“Any donations will be very gratefully received, by our animals as well as the staff, and will help to ensure that we are able to continue to offer a home to unwanted animals in the future. If local to us we would also be grateful to accept donations of feed/fruit/vegetables and there is a barrel left by our entrance doors in the car park for drop-off”.

The park message ends: “Our huge thanks in advance for your generosity and support.”

The initial appeal target was for £8,000 target and at the weekend had reached over £6,000 from 244 donors.

The popularity of Manor Farm is underlined by some of the messages from donors to the appeal.

Sophie Ford commented: “Manor Farm has been a favourite place for myself and family to enjoy over nearly 20 years now. It’s our go-to for days out with friends and family and has helped grow our children’s confidence around animals and nature. We hope to visit again as soon as this is all over!” while Zoe Willimsky said: “We love Manor Farm and can’t imagine it not being here. Good luck!”

Reesha Armstead said: “My children both came to Manor Farm Nursery and as a family, we spent many fun and happy days out around the farm with the animals.

“You do a fantastic job and long may you continue to do so!” while the message from Angela Hill was “As a family we have been visiting the farm for the last 22 years. To lose it would be tragic for the animals and the community.”

PRIVATE PRAYER. East Leake parishioners are still unable to go into St Mary’s parish church for a service during the period of the coronavirus pandemic, but can now go there twice a week for private prayer.

The church is open from 1pm to 4pm each Wednesday and Sunday afternoon.

But parishioners .can take part in a service on line which the Rector the Rev Tim Parker has introduced on the new website of the church on which they are streaming digital content every Sunday Morning at 10am and which can be reached at www. eastleakechurch.org

The Church of England stopped all Sunday Services at the start of the disease problem in March.

The Rev Tim says these are unprecedented times for the modern church and as we seek to respond to them well, our community life will look quite different.

As a move to help with necessary communication activities during the present coronavirus problems, the parish church has set up a special email line, for itself and for the other churches in its group.

Tim, in a message to parishioners in the villages within the East Leake group of churches – East Leake itself and West Leake, Costock, Rempstone, Stanford on Soar – says: “Over the next few months, it is likely that at least some of us will have to self-isolate for a period.

“So we can support one another during this time, we would ask anyone in this position lets their church warden know or contacts our staff team using as special email address set up for corona virus news: covid19@ eastleakechurch.org”

The Rev Tim says this is an email address which is being shared by several members of the staff team so that, should one of them be unavailable for a period, they can still keep in contact.

St Mary’s are producing a colourful and extremely well presented weekly newssheet during the present situation and this is available from the post box at the Rectory and in several village shops.

GARDEN WATCH RESULTS. Friends of Meadow Park in East Leake have been examining the results of this year’s biggest-ever national Garden Watch, when almost half a million people counted nearly eight million birds with house sparrows retaining top spot.

The national Garden Watch was organised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds earlier this year and the results of the most spotted birds has changed little from the previous year.

Top position in this year’s survey was taken by the house sparrow, making it first for the seventeenth year running. Starlings came second followed by blue tits, wood pigeons, blackbirds, goldfinches, great tits, robins, long-tailed tits and magpies in that order.

There was little bit of shuffling at fourth and fifth, with the woodpigeon moving into fourth and, last year’s number four, the blackbird, dropping one spot to fifth. There was one new entry to the top ten, with the long-tiled tits in ninth position. The chaffinch has dropped from number nine to number 11.

As an adult bird, the house sparrow mostly feeds on the seeds of grains and weeds, but it is opportunistic and adaptable, and eats whatever foods are available. It can perform complex tasks to obtain food, such as opening automatic doors to enter supermarkets. In common with many other birds, the house sparrow requires grit to digest the harder items in its diet. Grit can be either stone, often grains of masonry, or the shells of eggs or snails; oblong and rough grains are preferred.

Several studies of the house sparrow in temperate agricultural areas have found the proportion of seeds in its diet to be about 90%. It will eat almost any seeds, but where it has a choice, it prefers oats and wheat.

The diets of the starlings in second place in the Garden Watch survey are usually dominated by fruits and insects. Many species are important dispersers of seeds. They are important dispersers of mistletoes. Starlings have been observed feeding on fermenting over-ripe fruit, which led to the speculation that they might become intoxicated by the alcohol. Laboratory experiments on European starlings have found that they have disposal enzymes that allow them to break down alcohol.

The Eurasian blue tit which came third is a valuable destroyer of pests, though it is fond of young buds of various trees, especially when insect prey is scarce, and may pull them to bits in the hope of finding insects. It is a well-known predator of many Lepidoptera species including the Wood Tiger moth. No species, however, destroys more coccids - any of very many scale insects including mealybugs and aphids. Seeds are eaten, as with all this family.

Most of its diet of the woodpigeon – number four in this year’s survey - is vegetable, fleshy plants in open fields or gardens and lawns. Young shoots and seedlings are favoured, and it will take grain, pine nuts, and certain fruits and berries.

In the autumn they also eat figs and acorns, and in winter buds of trees and bushes. They will also eat larvae, ants, and small worms. They need open water to drink and bathe in. This species can be an agricultural pest. It is wary in rural areas, but often quite tame where it is not persecuted. Young common wood pigeons swiftly become fat, as a result of the crop milk they are fed by their parents. This is an extremely rich fluid that is produced in the adult birds’ crops during the breeding season.

At number five the common blackbird is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, earthworms, seeds and berries. It feeds mainly on the ground, running and hopping with a start-stop-start progress.

It pulls earthworms from the soil, usually finding them by sight, but sometimes by hearing, and roots through leaf litter for other invertebrates. Small amphibians and lizards are occasionally hunted. This species will also perch in bushes to take berries and collect caterpillars and other active insects. Animal prey predominates, and is particularly important during the breeding season, with windfall apples and berries taken more in the autumn and winter. The nature of the fruit taken depends on what is locally available, and frequently includes exotics in gardens.

Meadow Park at East Leake is the home of numerous birds and members of the Friends Group carry out their own check on the species that can be found there.

While house sparrows and starlings may be the UK’s most commonly sighted birds, a closer look at Big Garden Birdwatch data shows that numbers have in fact dropped dramatically since the Birdwatch began in 1979. House sparrows are down 53 per cent, while starlings are down 80 per cent. It’s a pattern echoed by two more garden favourites, with blackbirds and robins down 46% and 32% respectively.

The reasons behind these declines are complex and continue to be investigated, but fewer green spaces, pollution and a changing climate are just some of the challenges faced by garden birds.