More than 200 bird watchers flocked to East Devon District Council's Seaton Wetlands nature reserve to see a rare vagrant bird, a Least Sandpiper, on Wednesday August 3.
The Least Sandpiper was first spotted on Black Hole Marsh on Tuesday evening (August 2). After its sighting was announced by a local bird watcher, the council-managed reserve was visited by bird enthusiasts from far and wide. Visitors included regular local bird watchers as well as visitors from further afield including Essex, Hereford and Norfolk. The Least Sandpiper, which has inadvertently travelled from North...
BBC Radio Devon presenter and local personality David ‘Fitz’ FitzGerald revealed all at the local headquarters of the charity Samaritans - or at least, he revealed two new signs urging people in distress to ‘Talk To Us.’
Fitz was at the central Exeter base of the Exeter, Mid and East Devon Samaritans to unveil the vivid green signs. They help identify the building for people who want to have a face-to-face discussion instead of the more traditional telephone calls, emails and texts answered by the 100 volunteers who run the local branch of the service.
Join Newton Abbot Racecourse to celebrate 150 years of racing at their 150th anniversary fixture on Wednesday 10 August.
To mark this special occasion there will be a free goodie bag for the first 200 adults and a free gift for the first 200 children through the gates on the day, as well as free face painting for children in the Family Enclosure.
Racing starts at 14:10 and gates open at 12:10. The last race is 17:10. Tickets are available at the racecourse’s online ticket store until 17:00 on Tuesday 9 August.
Tickets are priced at £18 for the Paddock Enclosure and...
Otter Nurseries recently stepped in to help a village fete with a donation of flowers to give a much needed boost to the annual plant stall.
The stall at the Buckerell fete is always a popular attraction for locals, but this year due to ill-health and less than favourable weather conditions for growing, it was in danger of being understocked.
A local resident approached Otter Nurseries, and the team agreed to support the event by donating a considerable number of bedding plants.
General Manager, John Giblin said: “At this time of year we sometimes have surplus stock...
A vital first step towards Exeter’s homeless charity, St Petrock’s, providing faster access to emergency accommodation was made with the recent grant of £100,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation.
Mel Hartley, project manager at St Petrock’s, explains “We’re extremely grateful to the Garfield Weston Foundation for this donation which will help us purchase a property, allowing us to support clients quickly off the streets and into temporary accommodation.
“We know that early intervention is crucial in helping prevent those people new to homelessness from becoming...
Exeter, Mid and East Devon commercial radio station Radio Exe has just received its highest ratings.
Independent figures published today by Rajar/Ipsos MORI/BMRB show that 29,000 people tune to the station each week and they’re listening for longer. It
means that station has now overtaken two national stations, Classic FM and BBC 5 Live, to achieve its highest share of listening in the area.
Among the other key highlights:
Overall listening to Radio Exe has increased by nearly half (47 per cent) in the past year
RECORD crowds attended the 39th Dartmoor Folk Festival, held in the foothills of Dartmoor at South Zeal, near Okehampton from August 5 to 7.
Local and national artists entertained those who went along to the event, most to sell-out audiences.
The festival included concerts, dances, a Dartmoor Fayre, a ceilidh, folk service, craft displays, music hall, pub sessions, a ramble on Dartmoor and music, song and dance workshops.
The packed programme of events also included a dedicated children’s festival.
Hotly-contested competitions included the Dartmoor Broom...
Phase two has started in earnest on the Exeter flood defence scheme at Cowley which will reduce flood risk to more than 3,000 homes and businesses in Exeter.
The project is managed by the Environment Agency with support from project partners Exeter City Council and Devon County Council.
It is a huge undertaking and the scale of the project is now clearly visible from the road as these pictures show.
Exeter has a long history of flooding, going back as far as the 13th century. The current flood defences were built in the 1960s and 70s after devastating flooding...
This summer holiday Libraries across Devon are challenging children of all ages to take part in their Summer Reading Challenge – part of a national programme coordinated by The Reading Agency.
Inspired by the works of Roald Dahl, and to celebrate his 100th birthday, this year’s theme is “The Big Friendly Read” and is aimed at children aged from 4 to 11. “The Big Friendly Read” is running in libraries across the Devon and it is completely free. Children are challenged to visit their local library and read 6 books through the holidays to earn rewards and on completion they receive a...
Residents in Devon are being invited to have their final say on future plans for quarrying in the county for the next 17 years.
The last public consultation for the new Devon Minerals Plan has been launched by Devon County Council this week.
The plan was developed following several rounds of consultation and informal engagement and examined by a Government inspector in May.
Following this, the County Council has drafted almost 200 modifications to address objections to the plan and the further consultation is now required on these modifications so the inspector can...
