A CLIMATE change event organised by Chagford Parish Council attracted considerable interest, reflecting a commitment to the caring for the environment.

The event at Chagford’s Endecott House comprised many stalls with various organsiations with environmental roles. Enthusiastic visitors and stallholders buzzed with ideas and information on planting trees, a petition to Devon County about traffic control in Chagford, the possibility of a local minibus network to reduce individual car use, volunteering as river watchers, becoming wildlife wardens, eating more locally produced food, how to volunteer to join a litter-picking programme and how to calculate your carbon footprint.

Jill Millar, parish councillor and one of the event organisers, said: ‘The wildlife stall attracted almost everyone with questions provoking thinking about how our climate is changing and affecting wildlife. Questions posed included how many cuckoos have you heard in the last year or two? How many curlews are on Dartmoor? How often do you have to wash the insects off your car windscreen these days compared with when you were young? You may think that less insects is a good thing, but they are food for so many birds. The consequence being fewer swallows and martins. In 2019 the parish council declared a climate and ecology emergency and formed a working group, named Chagfutures, to tackle local environmental challenges and support action. Chagfutures asked residents last March what they most valued and what most worried them. Major issues included wildlife, the health of the river Teign, litter and plastic, traffic and the cost of living.