Police are appealing for information after items of jewellery were stolen from a house in Beech Park in the West Hill area of Ottery St Mary.
The burglary happened between 8.45am on Friday 26 May and 2.30pm on Sunday 29 May while the occupants were away on holiday. A glazed rear door of the property was smashed using a long handled axe.
Police are advising members of the public to ensure that gardening tools and items such as ladders which could be used to assist offenders in gaining access to a property are properly secured at all times.
A national charity which aims to improve the quality of life for people and communities in the UK through its work with arts, environmental and community welfare organisations has given a major boost to one of Devon’s most important wildlife projects.
The Peter De Haan Charitable Trust has provided £150,000 of funding to the River Otter Beaver Trial – an East Devon project which is measuring the impact of England’s only breeding population of wild beavers. The funding will be used to support the next three years of the project.
Despite recent news headlines that a local beaver population had ‘disappeared’ from their East Devon home, a local wildlife charity is now claiming that it has evidence that they are very much alive.
In November the BBC reported the concerns of some local people that they had not had sightings of beavers on the River Otter for some weeks.
This ‘disappearance’ was then reported by national newspapers. However, Devon Wildlife Trust has now come forward with evidence which shows that the beavers are still there, although they may have relocated their homes, known as lodges,...
Police are appealing for witnesses following an injury road traffic collision in Ottery St Mary.
The collision occurred at around 5.28pm on Thursday 5th November, in Strawberry Lane Ottery St Mary between a dark coloured Audi A3 vehicle and a female approved marshal who was controlling traffic at the Tar Barrel event.
An altercation allegedly occurred between the driver of the Audi vehicle and the marshal, resulting in the driver accelerating through the road closure.
On doing so the female marshal was dragged along by the vehicle for a few metres before falling...
When beavers appeared on the River Otter, most people welcomed their return to Devon.
A similar public response was seen in response to Scottish reintroductions to the rivers Tay and Knapdale. They also sparked a debate about the potential benefits of restoring wildlife.
For example, could beaver dams be a natural way to reduce flood risks?
Could pine marten reintroductions help control unwanted grey squirrel populations? And could peat bog restoration improve drinking water quality?
All of these issues will be explored next week in a national conference in...
District Council consults local people for their views on the creation of a new West Hill parish council
East Devon District Council is to begin asking local residents for their views on whether West Hill should have its own parish council separate from Ottery St Mary Town Council. A first period of public consultation – part of a ‘Community Governance Review’- is due to start 12 October 2015 and will conclude on 12 January 2016. A leaflet and questionnaire, together with a map showing the possible West Hill Parish Council boundary, will be sent out to all households and interested...
Bishop Sarah has ordained four new priests, and in doing so became the first woman bishop in the Church of England to lead an ordination service.
Bishop Sarah ordained Leisa McGovern and Sheila Walker, in Ottery St Mary, and Glyn Lewry and Jill Purser in Sampford Peverell.
The four clergy have spent a year in the parishes as deacons but now they are ordained priests by Bishop Sarah, they will be able to take weddings and lead Communion services.
Dame Sarah Mullally was consecrated as the new Bishop of Crediton by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Canterbury Cathedral...
Officers from Ottery St Mary are reminding people to take their personal items with them after further reports of parked cars in the area being broken into and valuables stolen.
A silver ford Fiesta parked at the rear of McColls shop, Westhill, was broken into at around 4.40pm on Saturday 28th August. The owner was shopping at the time and the passenger side window was smashed. A handbag and food shopping was stolen from the foot well at the rear of the car. The crime number for this incident is CR/060454/15
A second break in has been reported, also in the West Hill area on...
One of East Devon’s most long-lived independent shops has been fundraising for Devon’s newest wild animals. Staff at Roberts, Ottery St Mary’s venerable hardware and homeware shop, decided to support the River Otter beavers by setting up a fundraising book and DVD stall in the store. Donated items raise funds for the River Otter Beaver Trial, the Devon Wildlife Trust-led project that convinced the Government to allow the beavers to stay in the wild – and is now monitoring the beaver population and its effects for the next five years. Anna Feeney, who works at Roberts, had become a keen...
Devon Wildlife Trust has expressed ‘delight and relief’ at the re-release of five healthy beavers on to a Devon river.
The news comes after the animals were temporarily removed from the wild in February for testing for disease.
The release took place on Monday 23rd March in the evening at a location on the River Otter, close to Ottery St Mary, East Devon. Speaking from the scene, Devon Wildlife Trust’s Peter Burgess said: “Today’s re-release means that these beavers are back where they belong, in the wild on the River Otter. We’re delighted and relieved that they’ve coped...
