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Andy’s been busy throughout April and May producing the BBC’s Springwatch Project in South Yorkshire. This is all part of the BBC’s ‘Breathing Places’  campaign to get more people interested in wildlife and getting involved in nature.

Andy got stuck in with his wellies and broadcasting for the BBC live from Mexborough in South Yorkshire with the S.W.A.T. (Springwatch Action Team) over the weekend of 7th & 8th June 2008.  You can read more about the project at www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/nature

You can see all the The BBC’s Breathing Places Springwatch SWAT  events by going to www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces

When was it?

Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th June June, 0900 am – 4.30pm

The Mexborough Allotments site on Adwick Rd mexborough just along the road from Montague Hospital. The site is accessed on foot via a lane which runs from Adwick Road.

What was it?

It was a day of conservation volunteering and transforming a derelict allotment site into a wildlife garden for children & families . Members of the public were invited to come along and help do a variety of activities to improve the site. These included barrowing wood chippings and gravel, laying paths, clearing nettles, building raised beds, planting flowers, shrubs and trees and creating a giant sundial.

Who was involved?

BBC Radio Sheffield, The Mexborough Allotments Society (The Land of Learning Welly Brigade), Doncaster Council, Local Schools & Families, CSV Volunteers, Local Police PCSO’s local volunteers.

Kate Linderholm won a Bronze Award for her Documentary about the floods for BBC Radio Sheffield.

Andy says: ” It was a cracking good night mixing with some of the UK’s Radio legends and my own radio hero’s.

“I managed to schmooze a bit with the likes of Chris Moyles,  Colin Murray, Tony Blackburn, Christopher ‘King of the Jungle’ Biggins and Sarah Green ex-Blue Peter presenter. I aslo managed to meet one of my all time news hero’s and veteran war correspondent from ITN Mike Nicholson”.

“Al Murray was a great sport and I even got Jonathon Ross to chat to my wife Carol back in Sheffield on the phone in one of those surreal moment, says Andy”.   Ah well there’s always next year and well done to Kate Linderholm and all the winners at the 2008 Sony’s.

For the BBC in South Yorkshire, Andy has produced the Dawn Chorus project. He spent a very chilly couple of mornings from 0330 to 0600 am in one of Sheffields most ancient and large woodlands, Ecclesall Woods.

Ecclesall Woods is a 400 year old heritage woodland with its own working sawmill and bird sanctuary on the South Western edge of Sheffield .

Andy recorded the Dawn Chorus there with local ornithologist and bird lover Jim Clarke. You can see and hear Jim’s commentary and the raw Dawn Chorus itself by logging onto: BBC Website Link

The station also has a nomination for Kate Linderholm’s excellent flood documentary for BBC Radio Sheffield.

The awards ceremony is to be held at London’s Park Hotel on Monday 12th May 2008, when the final winners in all categories will be revealed.

See the Sony website for more details about the Awards and the 2008 nominations http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?year=2008

Flooding, Water and the Landscape Conference

Sheffield Hallam University – Monday 17 March 2008 – Thursday 20 March 2008

This landmark conference was organised by Dr Ian D. Rotherham of the Tourism and Environmental Change Research Unit at Sheffield Hallam University, in partnership with the Biodiversity and Landscape History Research Institute.

The theme was‘Flooding and Water Management in the Landscape’, and it was held at Sheffield Hallam University from Monday 17 March to Wednesday 19 March 2008. On Thursday 20 there was be a linked site visit to Bowden Housteads Wood and Sheffield’s Manor Estate, to look firsthand at Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes in practice and indeed at the consequences of failure.

Paul Hudson, the BBC’s correspondent on weather and climate change gave an evening presentation, and BBC Radio Sheffield’s Andy Kershaw discussed local action and flood crises.

The conference covered the lessons of history and landscape change for the future, and the impacts of climate and other environmental changes. This was a significant event and the proceedings will be published shortly.

We had shared themes with colleagues affected by floods in Europe such as both eastern and western Germany. We shared experiences of landscape-scale responses, with a truly international flavour.

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, ADAS, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Assembly, and Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM) supported the event.