Welcome to the Village Link website. We’re a small not for profit organisation staffed by volunteers and cannot justify the expense of an SSL certificate. This certificate is what changes a web address from http to https. Google will soon change how they label sites; instead of labelling sites with a certificate as secure they will label sites without one as insecure. We keep this site as secure as we can and is as secure as it ever has been. Please do not be put off!

Take a little time to browse our pages and discover what goes on where and when in our area. Within our pages you can also find out who does what locally. If you would like to contribute anything to any of our pages, including your favourite picture from where you live in our area, please follow the links on the Contact Us page. We would love to carry all the info for your local club or association and best of all, it’s all for free!

The map on the left is fully navigable plus you can zoom in and out by using the controls in the top left corner and if you view the larger map you can enter street view by dragging the little yellow person onto the map to where you want to view and go for a virtual walk around our streets and lanes.

 If you have any problems with the navigation elements within this web site, please review your ActiveX controls.

Platinum Jubilee:  Events Round Up

Seventy years ago, a young Princess Elizabeth took on the responsibility of becoming monarch to our nation. This June we will celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, a chance to rejoice in a long reign and a time to reflect on the changes that have taken place over that period. The Village Link communities are busy planning their celebrations and we feature their adverts on the front and back cover. Please make a note of these dates and events in your diaries!

Cottesbrooke celebrations will take place at the Village Hall on

Community support for Ukraine

It’s been heartwarming to see so many of our villagers contributing to aid collections and deliveries to support Ukrainian refugees. If any readers have also signed up to the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ hosting scheme, the quickest way to pull the refugees through the system is if you have a name of the person you are sponsoring. A charity called RefuAid is currently in Poland working to link refugees up with suitable homes in the UK, side by side with the UK government. It might ease their sense of isolation if displaced families know others who are also hosted locally. Contact kate@refuaid.org who is the operations manager out there. Another option for putting hosts and families together directly is the website: www.ukrainetakesshelter.com

Sunday 5th and there is more detail on the Cottesbrooke page. Cold Ashby is organising a Platinum Tea for those residents over 70 on Friday 3rd, and a family celebration on the Playing Fields on Sunday 5th.

Thornby are holding a street-style party at the Old Rectory on the Sunday and Hollowell & Teeton are having a tea party on Saturday 4th followed by a Jubilee after party.

Creaton are combining their celebrations with their annual Open Gardens event on Sunday 5th.

In Guilsborough, the Witch & Sow pub is holding a BBQ with live music on the Saturday. On Sunday 5th there will be family sports on the GPFA Playing Fields in the morning and a Street Party from midday. On Thursday 2nd June, at St Etheldreda’s there will be an Outdoor Church Service for the Uplands Group. Many of these events still have to be finalised and you will be hearing from your village Jubilee organizing teams over the next couple of months.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND …. BIRDS

In this, the second in the Village Link series on how climate change is affecting where we live, the County Bird Recorder and Hollowell resident, Jon Cook tells of the plusses and minuses of this catastrophe for the birds.

Several changes evident in recent years would suggest that climate change is having a significant impact on bird populations. Some of these changes are obvious, while others are revealed by study of more detailed data, for example arrival and departure dates for migratory birds and nesting dates for breeding species.

Many summer visitors such as Swallows are returning earlier from their winter quarters. Species such as Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, formerly only present as summer visitors in the UK, are now present throughout winter. Many of our resident birds are laying eggs much earlier in the year. Several species have expanded their range northwards and become commoner here, for example Cetti’s Warbler and Little, Great and Cattle Egrets, formerly rare species which have become established in our county and indeed across much of the UK. These examples are representative of a poleward shift in the distribution of species. On the face of it, these changes would appear to be positive in terms of local biodiversity, and a recent British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) study stated that 25% of British breeding species have benefitted from climate change.

An increasing body of evidence however suggests that climate change is having a significant impact in other less positive ways. The same BTO study found that 25% of British breeding species were negatively affected. There is evidence that climate change has adversely impacted populations of vulnerable upland and seabird species. A global decline in migratory species has also been noted, potentially as these species are particularly vulnerable to negative impacts. In the UK, 20 of our 54 species of long-distance migrants are in decline, particularly in southern Britain. The Cuckoo is a good local example of this, a formerly widespread summer visitor now scarce away from a handful of strongholds in the county.

Many formerly common species have vanished or become extremely scarce from Britain, and while this could be related to climate change, the causes are likely to be complex, including habitat loss, persecution, degradation, reduced food supply and other human pressures. The UK all-species Wild Bird Index, which represents population change across 130 species, shows a 10% decline since 1970 (Defra 2020).

Also remarkable is the speed with which many of these changes have occurred, with a measurable and notable impact per decade. While some of the changes described are examples of a species capitalising on an opportunity, for example better availability of food or milder winters - there are others which would suggest a species responding to stress or pressures elsewhere in their natural range.

Mitigating measures such as tree-planting for net-zero carbon emissions may help reduce the climate impact and may also create valuable wildlife habitat, but insensitive planting could be harmful to natural habitats. The requirement for biofuels may require expanded areas of cultivation to meet the demand, potentially reducing wild habitats. Cost-of-living increases and energy shortages are likely to add further to the challenges we face and create further pressure. This would appear to paint a gloomy picture, but through scientific research and robust decision-making, supported by public interest, it should be possible to protect the natural world in integrated, connected ways that achieve benefits for both nature and people.

Sources:

Pearce-Higgins, J.W. (2021): Climate Change and the UK’s Birds. British Trust for Ornithology Report, Thetford, Norfolk.

Bellew, H (2017): 6 Ways Climate Change is Impacting Birds in the UK. rspb.org.uk

Egret at Pitsford Reservoir

The Nene Consort, an established recorder group in Northamptonshire (previously based in Creaton and with players from our villages) is looking for new members. We play a variety of music and are looking forward, hopefully, to getting back to performing later in the year. New members must be willing to play, or learn to play, different instruments.

We meet on Wednesday evenings in Brixworth and if you are interested, please contact Mary Cooper: cooperm1@btinternet.com or 07977882493

ARE YOU A RECORDER PLAYER?

The Uplands Hub is a new facebook group for residents of all our local villages. Request to join, and use it to share news of your village / club events and activities. It is not a ‘for sale’ group (there are other groups for that). For information contact Lisa Phillips on 07895 009099 or link up online!