natur&ëmwelt english-speaking section: september 2015 newsletter
TRANSCRIPT
English-speaking Section September 2015 Newsletter
Autumn 2015: a full programme for movers, shakers and viewers
The rentrée is always an important time in Luxembourg: time to switch on again after the long summer holidays and set to work with fresh élan. The English-speaking Section of Luxembourg’s nature conservation organisation natur&ëmwelt has plenty to offer, whether you’re a doer or a watcher – or preferably both.
For the practical conservationists we have apple picking and juice pressing; we have National Tree Day; and we have a Fit by Nature session in the wonderful old orchard near Bettembourg.
An apple on its way to juice…
For nature observers we can offer a Birdwatchday in Remerschen and a bus trip to see the Cranes at their autumn stopover on the Lac du Der in the Champagne.
So read on, and decide which items you think might suit you. And don’t forget please to pay your annual membership dues to natur&ëmwelt. We expect and require everyone who takes part in one of our events to be a paid-up member of natur&ëmwelt. Details are at the end of this newsletter.
Incidentally: those of you who have worked on Fit by Nature days at the Garlécksbierg nature reserve will be thrilled to see the photos accompanying this newsletter: they’re all taken at Garlécksbierg by the camera trap set up by our committee colleagues Marie Kayser and Mikis Bastian. The secret visitors are clearly grateful for our/your work. Keep it up!
Have a look at the secret nightlife at Garlécksbierg …
Contact us: [email protected]
English-speaking Section September 2015 Newsletter
Secret nightlife at Garlécksbierg …
A roe deer comes around… The badger likes it as well!
The wild boars seem to like it by night… And by day!
Contact us: [email protected]
English-speaking Section September 2015 Newsletter
Birdwatching in autumn 2015
By all accounts it’s been a very good breeding season for most birds in 2015: hot and dry, and plentiful food. But the migration season is now getting started, and there are two events we’ll be taking an interest in:
• Birdwatchday at Remerschen on 3 October
• The Crane stopover at the Lac du Der on 25 October
For the Birdwatchday, just come along to the brand new visitor centre Biodiversum (it’s not like any visitor centre you’ll have seen at other bird reserves: this one could be mistaken for a modern cathedral!) at Remerschen at 09.00 on Saturday, 3 October. We’ll be there, looking forward to meeting and greeting you. You don’t have to register, but make sure you have stout footwear. The guided bit will last until around 11.00, but feel free to stay as long as you like and have a good look around. We’re hoping the visitor centre itself will be open by then (it’s taken long enough...).
The Crane event, on the other hand, is something you will have to register for. You’ll be getting, or will have got, a separate invitation to this. (If you’re not on our mailing list yet, just go here). We’ll be setting off from Luxembourg City at 09.00 on Sunday, 25 October and arriving back at around 21.00. We’ll spend the day around the Lac du Der, which has become the principal staging post for Cranes using the western flyway down to the Iberian peninsula. These Cranes will have bred in Scandinavia, the Baltic and northern Russia and will have passed over or close to Luxembourg on their journey south. We’re betting on them being there in their many thousands by late October, in which case we’ll see them, especially at dusk, when they return in spectacular trumpeting flocks from the surrounding countryside to spend the night in the safety of the lake. We hope that they will have had a good trip, and that we will too!
‘Biodiversum’: cathedral, bomb-proof shelter, or ‘just’ a visitor centre?
Contact us: [email protected]
English-speaking Section September 2015 Newsletter
Getting ‘fit by nature‘ this autumn
Many of you reading this newsletter will have spent time helping to restore the low-nutrient grassland habitat of the Garlécksbierg nature reserve. To all of you: many thanks, including from the regular visitors to the reserve, captured on the camera trap our colleagues set up to monitor the comings and goings when we’re not there. There isn’t a Fit by Nature event at Garlécksbierg this autumn, but there are plenty of opportunities to get some serious exercise and help nature at the same time.
• On 10 October, there’ll be a 'Fit by Nature' apple picking and juice pressing event at the orchard ‘Altenhoven’ near Bettembourg, on the edge of Luxembourg city. There will be a separate invitation to this event, so remember to sign up in good time if you’d like to take part. And don’t forget that drinking local apple juice is the best way of conserving our remaining organic apple orchards.
• Our friends from the Bettembourg-Mondercange Section of natur&ëmwelt spend a lot of their time doing valuable conservation work in the magnificent orchard ‘Bongert Altenhoven’ near Bettembourg. This autumn they have another of their regular work sessions, and this year they have asked specifically for help from the English-speaking Section. It’s on 28 November. Register for it here.
• There are Fit by Nature events going on throughout Luxembourg from autumn to the start of summer. So if you want to keep fit and do something really worthwhile, check out the list of events and venues here.
• Many conservationists like to get involved in the annual National Tree Day events in the early part of November. Despite the name, National Tree Day events are spread over several days, or even weeks. The English-speaking Section isn’t organising an event of its own, but our colleagues at the Fondation Hëllef fir d’Natur (the Luxembourg Conservation Trust) will have full details of what’s happening beginning of November. Phone 29 04 04 - 317 for details of what’s on in your area. Your help in the national effort to plant more trees and hedges will be more than welcome!
Contact us: [email protected]
English-speaking Section September 2015 Newsletter
What's on?3 October Birdwatchday in Remerschen
10 October Get Fit by Nature: Apple picking and juice pressing in 'Altenhoven'
25 October: Cranes at the Lac du Der, France
28 November Get Fit by Nature in the Altenhoven Orchard
14 November National Tree Day
6 February Get Fit by Nature at the Garlécksbierg
All the events organised by the English-speaking Section of natur&ëmwelt can be found here.
There are several other activities related to the “Fit by Nature” initiative: check out the programme here.
What else can you do?
Thank you for reading this newsletter. As you’ll have seen in the ‘What’s on?’ section, there’s plenty going on, and we’re always pleased to meet and greet new people at our events.
The single most important thing you can do for nature and conservation in Luxembourg, though, is to become a member of the national organisation natur&ëmwelt, and to stay a member by paying your membership dues. (Remember that receiving this newsletter doesn’t automatically make you a paid-up member of natur&ëmwelt.)
You’ll find details of how to become a member here.
And if you want to take a more active part in organising and running our various activities, don’t hesitate to contact the English-speaking Section of natur&ëmwelt via the contact address given on each page of this newsletter.
If you are interested in events and activities related to nature and the environment in English you can join our mailing list by registering here.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Contact us: [email protected]