Corsham is adjacent to a network of footpaths through beautiful countryside, including the long distance Macmillan Way.
There is an active walking community with several walking groups and the annual Corsham Walking Festival in June. The Cotswold Volunteer Wardens also offer a programme of local free guided walks – www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/visiting-and-exploring/guided-walks/
Corsham Climate Action usually organises walks for the Corsham Walking Festival, providing opportunities to meet us and see what we are up to. These walks are usually free, find out more at the festival website – http://corshamwalkingfestival.org.uk/
Previous year’s walks
‘HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT’
This is an easy 2 hour walk of about 2 miles, departing from Springfield Community Campus, led by Peter Harper.
We’ll be looking at ferns, mosses and lichens, most of them on walls that you might walk past every day, and some in local woods. There are small tough ferns, like the rustyback and the maidenhair spleenwort, and many tiny species of moss that are easily identified when magnified. Lichens are not really plants at all, but fungi with tiny plants inside them that produce food from sunlight. They were probably the first organisms to cover the land, and are absolutely everywhere. It is said they cover 6% of the earth’s surface and have been here for at least a billion years.
In each of these groups are a handful of common species you can quickly get to recognise, and learn a few jaw-breaking Latin names to amaze your friends. Diploicia canescens, we’re coming for you!
‘LIVING ON THE SUN’
An easy 3 hour walk of about 4 miles, departing from Springfield Community Campus, with Adam Walton and Peter Harper
The sun provides the energy needed to sustain all life on earth, in its great diversity. Explore the varied and sometimes surprising ways humans and wildlife use this energy for life. As we walk around Corsham we will find local sustainable uses of the sun’s energy, such as providing electricity through domestic and commercial solar installations, which reduce our dependence on the fossil fuels that drive climate change.
Plants use sunlight too during the process of photosynthesis by which plants produce sugars for energy. Plants in turn are a food source for invertebrates and other creatures – including us. We will explore local food production and other sustainable uses of the sun’s energy while visiting a community orchard, allotments, back garden bee hives, the wildflower garden at Springfield Campus and a private garden with green roofs and rainwater collection – cleverly designed by www.jillfenwick.co.uk. We will see Corsham Climate Action’s recent tree planting and find out more about the hidden biodiversity in path borders and pockets of secret wilderness, under the expert eye of Peter Harper, a leading environmentalist from Bath University.
Sustainable, clean transport options will be explained by Spindles Bike shop – www.spindlesbikes.co.uk, who will introduce us to electric bicycles and the ‘20 Is Plenty’ campaign. Fuel for walkers will be provided in the form of delicious free snacks from Corsham Fairtrade. Those wishing to litter pick during our walk can bring gloves, a bag and litter picker if you have one. Hope to see you there!