A buzzy summer at Lower Sharpham Barton

Our partners at Ambios on Lower Sharpham Farm have had a busy (buzzy?) summer.

In August they welcomed 8 colonies of bees from Exeter University. Each hive contains 10 marked bees, and their resident students monitor the colonies each night to track how the population grows and declines over time.

Their sheep are also doing well – the lambs being reared for the Share in a Sheep project have certainly grown nicely over the past few months.

Said Ambios' Jack Skuse: "We recently put them through the foot bath to help protect their hooves. We also took the opportunity to give them a good check over to make sure they are all in good health, and clipped away the wool around their rears - known as 'dagging' - to help prevent fly strike."

It's not too late to join the farm's Share in a Sheep scheme to secure some beautiful organic lamb whilst supporting the work they do for nature conservation and people with learning difficulties.

As part of Ambios' aim to help the ROC people learn more about the wildlife in our area, they've installed a screen in the Linhay building at the farm, showing a live feed from cameras hidden in vole and mouse boxes, bird feeders and stealth cams used for the badger and bee projects.

You can connect with Ambio on Facebook here and on Twitter here.