MOUNTMOUNT && WARLEGGANWARLEGGAN LIFELIFE MAY / JUNE 2017 Number 100 Non-Parishioners 50p Welcome to our centenary issue. The first issue was in September 2000; editor was Jackie Smeeth and in charge of layout and printing Annie Ovenden. The main headline was - “MOUNT POST OFFICE TO CLOSE AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER” Snippets from the inside— Warleggan YFC came 3rd at the County Rally held at Pencarrow House Tam & Zak Hill tied the knot on 5th August Warleggan Carnival was still going strong with Brenda Hancock as President There was a bus service into Bodmin—Monday to Friday— operated by First Western National and financially supported by Cornwall County Council—(Those were the days! Ed.) The Bodmin Mobile Library was still operating in the area AND prior to Warleggan being twinned with Narnia we were twinned with Bathsheba, Barbados!! - (That would be an oversubscribed twin- ning trip! Ed.) PARISH CHANGES At the recent Parish Meeting AGM the following officers were elected :- Chairman : John Keast Secretary & Treasurer : Andy Martin Vice-chairman : Emma Thomas Thanks were expressed to Pat Phillipps for her time, patience and fair- ness in dealing with parish matters during her term as Chairman. THE JEWEL THAT IS TRESLEA Living on the edge of Treslea Downs, I have walked it by a myriad of routes at least once a day for more than 20 years (dog walking is my excuse) yet I never get tired of Treslea. Roughly 81 hectares provide ev- er-changing views and a patchwork of habitats that home many plants and animals. I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of time working on the area of Bodmin Moor north of the A30 designated as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of its special types of vegetation and species. Treslea is not part of the SSSI despite being better than many of those commons. As residents of Mount and Warleggan, I think we are blessed to have this delight on our doorstep. If you walk from Mount across to Higher Bury you could pass through more than ten different habitats, depending on how you meander: na- tive broadleaved woodland, wet willow woodland, small areas of birch scrub, gorse, bramble and bracken scrub, several types of heathland, valley mire (bog), and upland grassland. Should you have the time and patience you may be lucky to see (or find some evidence of) dormice, adder, slow worm, lizard, grass snake, glow worm, cuckoo, sky lark (I heard one last year after a few years’ ab- sence),woodcock, snipe, stonechat, yellow- hammer, linnet, grayling butterfly. There are also plenty of interesting plants including a range of orchids, a rare type of Eyebright, pale butterwort, sundews and Cornish Blad- derseed. Two years ago I decided to make records of observations during my walks and send them to the Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (or ERCCIS). I use the records centre regularly as a source of information for work but have now signed up to the open ac- cess, on-line system (ORKS), which anyone can use to make contribu- tions. Records give ecologists a better understanding of where and how animals and plants are distributed in Cornwall currently as well as de- tecting changes over time. This information can then be used to formu- late priorities and policies for conservation. You can submit any type of record through ORKS: birds, fungi, spiders, butterflies and plants or even mammal corpses from road kill or natural mortality (much easier to tell the sex when they aren’t running away!). Dead things washed up on the beach can also be included, such as the slightly mangled common dolphin we found last year. If you know what you are looking at (and sadly I often do as I make a point of collecting unusual offerings when I find them), even poo can do the job. You can also provide an accurate location for your record using the mapping facility. Lots of records for very common plants are not that useful, but repeated sightings for mammals can help build a picture of population sizes and even territories. When I offered to become a volunteer recorder for Treslea the ERCCIS co-ordinator paused, sighed and said ‘Ah yes, the Jewel that is Treslea’. I could not have put it better myself. I confess that my recording has been erratic but I made a New Year’s resolution to be more consistent, to try and record a wider range of things and to publicise what I see during the year through this magazine. I would love to hear from anyone else inter- ested in making records for Treslea, or anywhere else locally, or from anyone good at identifying something specific (birds, for example, as every year I need to re-learn all the bird songs and try to add one more species to my repertoire). Pam Leppit MOUNT CHAPEL Following our Mothers’ Day service every mother in the congregation re- ceived a Polyanthus generously supplied by Henry. On Good Friday we had a wonderful evening of entertainment by the Whitsand Harmony. The chapel was beautifully decorated, each window depicting the Easter story. During the Easter Sunday service, lead by Tamsyn Gates, the children enjoyed an Easter egg hunt. The members were delighted to hear the news that May has now returned home following a spell in hos- pital after breaking arm; her presence at chapel has been much missed. We look forward to seeing you all at the Warleggan Jubilee Hall on Sat- urday 13th May at our annual plant sale—10.00am—12.30pm. MOUNT CHAPEL ANNUAL PLANT SALE JUBILEE HALL SATURDAY 13TH MAY 10.00—12.30 Plants / cakes / bric-a-brac / raffle / tea / coffee / pasties GET THERE EARLY TO GRAB A BARGAIN!! WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL WEEKLY VIEWS FROM THE FIELD “life, red in tooth & claw” 03.03.17 A visit to the family in North Yorkshire this week has left us chuckling as usual. Many of them are involved in farming and it's relat- ed businesses, one being a cousin who drives what we refer to as the "knacker wagon." It must have an official title, but this is what we have always called the vehicle which collects fallen stock from farms. It's a fairly secure job, there being nothing more certain than death in this world. While chatting to him, it was mentioned that our local wagon had turned up once with a dolphin on board, much to the surprise of the moorland farming community, as we don't see many in these parts. His most unusual collection job surpassed this in every way, having been an overweight giraffe. Rest assured, they don't get many of those in the Yorkshire Dales either. The logistics of loading up such an ungainly carcass must have been quite a challenge, but was no doubt undertak- en with the ghoulish sense of humour that such occasions call for. He would have liked to salvage the skin and put it to good use, and the suggestion of a stair carpet was deemed to be the most practical, tak- ing into account the size and proportion of the available material. This had not been possible, which is probably for the best. 15.03.17 We know it's a bit late, but some vegetable seeds have fi- nally been placed in the soil. We're blaming that perennial scapegoat "the weather" for the delay, but the criminal activities of a certain rab- bit have made us reluctant to plant crops only to see them eaten to the ground the following day. We can't be sure he's gone, but we haven't seen any evidence recently, and the current veggies seem to be flour- ishing, so fingers crossed he's turned over a new leaf. Any leaf will do, so long as it's not in our garden. 05.04.17 One of the greatest challenges when you're the on-call midwife for a flock of sheep, or herd of cows, is catching the patient. It's often best to allow her to bring a friend along for moral support. This backfired badly once with a cow, who attended a "maternity clinic" for some major work with the bull in tow. Having a ton of boyfriend ob- serving procedures was not a calming influence, but we lived to tell the tale, and so did the cow. BREAKING NEWS!! Our newly elected Cornwall Councillor is MARTIN EDDY Congratulations WARLEGGAN HISTORY GROUP NO MEETING AUGUST 24th May 6.30pm— Great Hammett, St Neot—visit this 27th September ‘Country Houses ancient farmstead and almost com- of Cornwall’ - illustrated presenta- plete Bronze Age hut—hosted by tion by Paul Holden of National David & Ruth Wherry Trust 28th June Guided tour of Trelawne 25th October ‘The History of Barton Looe PL13 2NA—hosted by Wrought Iron’ - Bob Hill Carole Vivian 22nd November 7.30pm ‘Who Do 26th July Guided tour of St Austell. You Think You Are?’ - John Keast Meet at the Museum, Market NO MEETING DECEMBER House, St Austell (opposite Holy Trinity Church) - hosted by Valerie APART FROM MAY/JUNE/JULY Jacobs ALL MEETINGS ARE AT THE JUBILEE HALL, MOUNT BRITAIN WITHOUT CHRISTIANITY – WHO GAINS? A Talk by David Derrington JUBILEE HALL, MOUNT Wednesday May 17th 7.30 pm FREE ADMISSION Donations towards restoration of St Bartholomew’s Church Tower David Derrington is an inspiring and engaging speaker. Born in West Penwith, a Trevelyan Scholar at Oxford University who has spent a lifetime lecturing on Philosophy and Comparative Religion AN EVENT NOT TO BE MISSED! PARISH LUNCH WEDNESDAY 24TH MAY Please book with Gill 821 494 FAULTY TOWER The bad news is that it could cost in excess of £160,000 to re-roof and repoint the St Bartholomew’s Church Tower and to restore the bell chamber.