Summer Programme – A Close Look At Nature
Becky took part in our Summer of Nature Recovery 8-week traineeship last summer, and in this blog she reflects on how the hands on learning during the plant and bird identification sessions enabled her to gain confidence and practical skills for observing and recognising wildlife. As we moved into weeks five & six of the […]
What is nature recovery? – A trainee’s perspective
What did I think nature recovery was prior to Ambios vs what I think now having been a trainee? My time at Ambios has been eye-opening for my understanding of nature recovery. Perhaps this shouldn’t have come as a surprise, I have enrolled in a ‘Nature Recovery Traineeship’. What was once a naïve assumption that […]
A Day in the Life of a Nature Recovery Trainee
It’s hardly possible to recount what A Day In The Life looks like, as if to fit the daily experience of life here in the farm into a prescriptive chronology, when in actual fact each day is a particular magical, insightful, fun mix of learning, exploring, connecting. If I were to describe a day here […]
Reflecting on Six Weeks of Change, Connection, and Renewal
Sitting on the log bench at the top of Badger Field in the early morning light, watching the mists drift up and down the valley, watching the sun finally, finally tip over the edge of the clouds into a blue sky, we decide that this moment feels like a pivot point. The year gently turning. […]
Rooting to Rise
On a bright and crisp morning, we milled in the sun excited for our Community Forest tree planting session to begin. Jess joined us and invited us to the yurt to share a presentation to put our day’s activities in context. She shared the rationale for the project and the process the team went through […]
From Bales to Boogie: A Magical Night at the Lower Sharpham Farm Barn Dance
If you were to have seen the barn in the run up to the event, you would have been hard pressed to have imagined what would come. Bales piled high, remnants of apple pressing strewn everywhere, scraps of wood scattered in corners. And yet, from that mess, came magic. In the days prior, everyone on […]
Birds, Plants and Mud – The Saltmarsh Project
The Summer of Nature Recovery trainees had the pleasure of hearing from Isabel Carlisle of the Bioregional Learning Centre (BLC) about the work being done on the Saltmarsh Project on the River Dart, which has been running for 2.5 years. What is the Saltmarsh Project? A partnership between the BLC, Environment Agency, Duchy of Cornwall […]
Restoring Nature 2024
Friday – Setting up the barn Transforming the barn from a working agricultural space into a festival venue is a big team effort. Before we begin, the ground is cleared of manure from our herd of Belted Galloways. The manure will nourish the soil in our vegetable garden for years to come. Next, it’s all […]
Reigniting the orchard
Orchards are not only historically significant sites but also culturally and environmentally valuable habitats. They used to be widely spread in the UK until the 1950s when fruit became commercially available. The loss of these wildlife hotspots has contributed to the large decline in pollinators that would have benefitted from the fruit and flowers. A […]
A year in the Ambios Garden
We are very lucky to have a one-acre organic garden at Ambios, which is visited and worked by a big range of people. The garden grows food for the team, serves as an educational space for learning about growing and many other topics, and is also a place many people come for mindfulness practices and […]
