Our experience of the John Muir Award

To research the village we used John Painter’s thoroughly knowledgeable book on Wilstone as well as the internet, we explored Millhoppers Nature Reserve following the Poplar walk, bird watched at Wilstone reservoir, walked the canals as part of our daily dog walks and found out more about how the locks work.

The third element to conserve the village found us on the slightly random topic of dog poo and had us designing posters to stop owners from either leaving it on the ground or bagged and in trees. Wilstone has several poo bins dotted around the village and yet we still have a problem. Did you know that dog poo can make us humans sick and even kill other animals both wild and livestock? There was a fairly recent case of a young calf dying an incredibly slow and painful death having swallowed bagged dog poo that then swelled inside their stomach. So our advice is to please bag it and bin it; don’t leave it on the ground for someone to step in or leave it in a tree; it can slowly constrict the growing tree too. As an added reminder we have produced some posters which are dotted around the village for all to see. We have also started an online petition asking others to support us in our quest to make poo bins more available - check it out here www.change.org/p/rachel-nicola-friedli-dog-owners-to-put-poo-in-bins

The last element of the award to share our experiences is what we are doing here so below we have produced two word searches with words that are important to Wilstone both now and in the past.

Did you know?

In WWI children at Wilstone school collected 250lbs of blackberries to boost their rations
There were three straw plaiting schools at the height of the hat industry in Luton. Children as young as three were involved
The Waddesdon Estate still owns a patch of land at the back of Wilstone Reservoir
The Aylesbury arm of the canal rises 94’ 8” from Aylesbury to Marsworth using 16 locks
Wilstone reservoir is own by the Canal & Rivers Trust but is managed by the Herts & Middx Wildlife Trust. It is one of the best birdwatching spots in Southern England