Friends of The Lizard Newsletter, Page 2, Autumn 2002

Busy but frustrated!

I am still dashing about the county, spreading the word about CKFM PURE GOLD RADIO, and gathering support for our efforts. But these are frustrating and uncertain times, and we are having to be very patient.

As I explained in a previous Newsletter, the Radio Authority announced in May this year that its Working List for new-area radio stations included Cornwall, and our county was placed 6^th on a list of 12. OK, we thought : that could mean we will be asked for our application somewhere around mid 2003. But things are never simple, are they ? The whole process is being complicated by the fact that the Radio Authority is due to disappear and be absorbed in a new Communications regulator called OFCOM, probably in January 2004. And the Radio Authority is saying that unless it can go from asking for applications to awarding a licence before it closes its doors, it will probably not even ask for applications in 2003 ! But we might just make it before the doors are closed, so if you are a supporter, prayers might help!

We are beginning to hear about groups getting together to bid against us for this licence. It was always going to happen, but we hear now about at least one group, which will be fronted by a well-known TV personality and one-time national radio voice who has no known connection with Cornwall at all. There will be others, of course, and I am frequently asked how the system works to allow people like myself and my CKFM team to do all the hard yards, get Cornwall onto the Radio Authority list in the first place, and then have to face competition from people who ride into the picture on our backs. All I can say is – the system stinks. It is unfair, ludicrously cumbersome, expensive and riddled with frustration and uncertainty for anyone who starts the ball rolling. So, comes the next question : why are we doing it? Simple really. It has to be done. The county has only one commercial radio station, serving a huge area and 500,000 people, and the clamour for a new radio voice, rooted in the county, and providing a new fresh sound, is almost deafening.

Support for CKFM PURE GOLD grows by the day, but I can never get too much. So please – if you belong to a group, club, association or society (other than Friends of the Lizard of course !) and you would like me to come and do a presentation on CKFM please call me on 01326 290 240.

I would be delighted to hear from you.

J.G.

The CKFM website may be found at: http://www.ckfm.co.uk

Beekeeping on the Lizard
A talk given by Rodger Dewhurst

To those of you who couldn’t make it or forgot to come, you missed a treat. A really fascinating illustrated talk on bees with a bias towards the Lizard, you did not need to be a beekeeper yourself to enjoy this event. Roger’s enthusiasm is infectious. He talked to us about the Cornish black bee, which although a bit smaller is a native and particularly suited to the climate here.

They are hard workers and are out and about nearly all year round, very hardy and are not so prone to succumb to our damp climate as the crossbred Italian or New Zealand bee which are prone to collapse without any particular cause.

Our native black bees will also keep a few drones throughout the winter ready for an early start the next year, whereas other breeds will chuck them all out in autumn. There is usually food hereabouts in winter and they will even fly in drizzle and also produce brood, something the bees with yellow stripes would not be able to do, they just shut down for the winter.

There are four other products from bees besides honey. Wax, used for making polishes and candles, Pollen and Royal Jelly used in health products. Propolis which is an antiseptic and can be made into linctuses and ointments. The bees gather propolis from plants such as escallonia, pine and other sap producers and use it to clean out cells for re-use, stop up cracks and defend against draughts, it is popular in central Europe in medicines. Greek scholars will recognize the translation as ‘before the city’.

The ensuing lively discussion was augmented by an excellent buffet with wine, tea/coffee etc.

Choughs on the Lizard

Since the report in the National Trust’s Spring Newsletter, that Choughs had finally returned to Cornwall, there has been more exciting news. During early May, a brood of four Chough chicks hatched successfully – the first to do so in Cornwall for fifty years. A pair of Choughs had originally nested in a cliff cave on Trust-owned land in the west of Cornwall last Spring and had been under 24-hour surveillance by local volunteers and RSPB staff to ensure that they remained undisturbed. Observers reported a change in the birds’ behaviour patterns in early May and an RSPB warden was able to verify the number of chicks shortly afterwards. The birth of the chicks is a cause for great celebration – both for the Cornwall Chough Project (a partnership between the National Trust, the RSPB, English Nature and DEFRA) and for the Cornish people everywhere.

The gradual decline in Chough numbers throughout the last century has been attributed to several factors: loss of grazing along Cornwall’s coasts, the use of more intensive methods of agriculture and persecution (thanks to their rarity value). Their return vindicates nearly ten years of hard work by the National Trust and its partners to provide suitable nesting and feeding habits. This has been achieved through agreements made with local landowners and farmers to manage their land for nature conservation, supported in some areas by DEFRA’s Countryside Stewardship Schemes. Choughs forage on grassy cliff tops, grazed by cattle and ponies; their food is mainly insects and other small invertebrates.

Three of the chicks have now fledged successfully and there is an air of cautious optimism that is the start of a slow but steady re-colonisation by Choughs of their traditional breeding ground. The project is now looking for long-term funding to support a project officer to work with landowners to ensure further sites are prepared. The National Trust, the RSPB, English Nature and DEFRA wish to acknowledge the considerable help from local people and volunteers who watched over the nesting location to prevent disturbance and to ward off egg collectors.

For details of Chough walks on the Lizard call the Chough Hotline on 01392 453755.

National Trust – Cornwall News, Autumn 2002

Notice of Deposit of a Revised Statutory Plan

Under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1990, Kerrier District Council has revised the proposals for the statutory Kerrier District Local Plan. If, and when, these revised proposals are adopted they will form part of the Development Plan for the area of the Kerrier District of Cornwall. The Development Plan forms the basis for decisions on land use planning affecting that area.

We are currently scrutinising this document (all 1361 pages) to determine the impact it has to the Lizard Peninsula, and we will, where appropriate make representations to Kerrier District Council in accordance with our adopted objectives.