Sheldon Village

Website Changes

Sheldon Village — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:56:22 +0000

Some of our more “eagle eyed” readers may have noticed a few changes to the website recently. Whilst this probably isn’t the most interesting post for the vast majority of our readers, some of you who also run village websites might like to know what we’ve been up to.

Gone is the rotating header image as it was no longer supported with the current version of WordPress that runs this site. This has the added benefit of reducing our monthly bandwidth costs, as several images were served every time a web page was loaded.
Twitter has recently changed the way it allows users to access their API. As such, we’ve replaced the old Jetpack Twitter widget with a funky new rotating widget.
We are now using Google Fonts to serve a better looking open-source font, Open Sans, across the whole website.
Our images galleries are now using Jetpack to improve their layout.

Let us know what you think!

What’s in the Moth Trap 2013! #1

Mark Witherall — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:02:57 +0000

I managed to get the moth trap out for the first time this year on the 1st of May followed by another night on the 5th of May. Predictably only a few species were caught. After the prolonged winter it is likely that some species are emerging later than normal. All the species caught were new to the village, by way of not having trapped at this time of year before here. I will update the species spread sheet on the side bar shortly.

Species are as follows:

1st May: Hebrew Character, Clouded Drab and Early Grey;

5th May: Hebrew Character, Clouded Drab, Common Quaker and Small Quaker.

Small Quaker

Clouded Drab

Common Quaker

Eary Grey

Hebrew Character

Badgers on Camera!

Mark Witherall — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:05:44 +0000

We have been experimenting with camera traps around and about recently and have managed to get some footage of our nocturnal wildlife. In this video clip a couple of local badgers have been captured in infrared night-vision mode. More footage to follow soon.

Sheep killed by uncontrolled dog

Sheldon Village — Sun, 05 May 2013 17:17:45 +0000

We’ve just been informed of a boxer-type dog having killed one of the Gregory’s breeding female sheep, worth hundreds of pounds. The incident happened at approximately 14:30 hours, in the fields between Deep Dale and the top of the village.

We understand that a witness saw an adult couple with the dog, which was running free off the lead. Whilst the dog was mauling the sheep, the owners were heard to shout a name similar to “Tyson”. The witness then attempted to speak with the male owner, but we understand that they both just walked away in the direction of Magpie Mine.

This incident has been reported to Derbyshire Police, and we would ask anyone with any information to contact us.

Legislation

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act requires people to keep their dogs on leads around wildlife between 1 March and 31 July and at any time near farm animals.
Section 1 of the Protection of Livestock Act makes it a criminal offence for a dog to worry livestock on any agricultural land.
Section 3 of the Animals Act imposes a strict liability (i.e. there is no defence) on the keeper of a dog where the dog causes damage by killing or injuring livestock.

Vandalism in the village

Sheldon Village — Sun, 05 May 2013 15:39:13 +0000

Whilst cleaning the village noticeboard the other day (which was paid for by a grant from the Peak District National Park Authority), Sheila H noticed that somebody had vandalised it by carving their name, and various other works/pictures into the woodwork.

We hope that the damage is just superficial, but it will cost time and money to repair. This isn’t the first time that property in the village has been vandalised, and we are certainly noticing an increase in antisocial behaviour (e.g. parking, litter, noise, trespassing, dog attacks).

The National Park Authority talks of sustainable tourism, but the sad reality is that tourism has a detrimental impact on the lives of the residents of our village and the wider National Park.

Those of us who are lucky enough to call Sheldon “home” are very happy to share it with visitors who respect our property and the surrounding countryside.