Festival in the Forest

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Jess kyle
Music fun at Devonshire Road

Music fun at Devonshire Road

The Friends of Devonshire Road are holding a small but superb music festival at the Nature Reserve, packed with great music, great food and great drink! An afternoon of eclectic music from 6 bands is followed up by four great headline acts; kicking off with the irrepressible Steve ‘Bolts’ Bolton, followed up by country rockers The Cavendish Set, brought to a state of near-ecstasy by the wonderful Siobhan Parr and Martin Brown and finally blown away by the high energy sound of London based Irish band Hungry Grass. And all for six quid! 

Filed under: Event | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Nature’s Gym among the Bluebells of Beckenham

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Jess kyle
Bluebells in Beckenham Place Aprk

Bluebells in Beckenham Place Park

The smell of the Bluebells was amazing

The smell of the Bluebells was amazing

The Bluebells in Beckenham were looking fantastic when Nature’ Gym visited yesterday.  The smell of the flowers really hit you as you stood among them.  It certainly was a great day to out volunteering in the park!  It is also very encouraging for the volunteers to see bluebells on patches where they had dug up brambles earlier in the year, it really made all that work worthwhile!

Banging in the posts to create the hedge

Banging in the posts to create the hedge

The volunteers were at Beckenham to create some dead hedges to block off the desire lines through the woods.  They started off by banging fence posts in to the ground and then collected wood to weave around them.  Anything can be used to weave between the posts as long as you don’t disturb existing habitats!  You should also leave ‘dead wood‘ piles because these are also very important habitats.

Weaving brambles and branches in to the hedge

Weaving brambles and branches in to the hedge

These hedges not only make use of cut bramble and sycamore, but they can also make great wildlife habitats. Even while we were there a robin started taking an interest!

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Nature's Gym | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Edible High Road, Saturday 18 May 2013

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Jess kyle

This May,  SE23 will be transformed into an Edible High Road  as part of the Chelsea Fringe garden festival.  50  Forest Hill and Honor Oak businesses have sponsored 70 fruit trees, including The Horniman Museum and Sainsbury’s.

Edible High Road map

Edible High Road map

Special Guests: We’re very excited to announce that Celebrity Gardener Matthew Wilson will be cutting our ribbon!  He is Channel Four’s ‘Landscape Man’ and a Gardener’s Question Time panelist.

A local Saxophone Quartet and the Holy Trinity School Brass Band will be performing.

Special Activities: There will be tours of the new Albion Millennium Green Orchard and the fantastic Dig This Nursery from New Cross will be giving away vegetable seedlings. To top it off,  you can explore the fruit trees using our brilliant Trail Map

Edible High Road

Edible High Road

The event has been organised by Lewisham Gardens and  The Forest Hill Society, and sponsored by Shannon’s Garden Centre and Winkworth &Co Estate Agents.

Filed under: Event | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Evening tree ID walk

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Jess kyle

Join the London Wildlife Trust to celebrate 30 years of conserving Sydenham Hill Wood’s trees as a part of London Tree Week, 11th – 18th May 2013. Sydenham Hill Wood Project Officer Daniel Greenwood will guide attendees around the Wood, identifying trees in leaf and offering an insight into the part they have and will continue to play in our natural and cultural history. This is a free walk, donations are welcome.

Meet inside the Crescent Wood Road kissing gate.

Sydenham Hill Woods

Sydenham Hill Woods

Filed under: Walk | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Festival of Fieldwork – Horniman Museum

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Jess kyle

Help the Horniman Museum celebrate the Centenary year of the British Ecological Society with an innovative family learning festival of ecological fieldwork which combines expertise of Museum staff and skills of professional field ecologists. Experience first-hand some of the activities that these scientists undertake in order to monitor and make sense of the environment.

Join the Horniman Museum for their Festival of Fieldwork

Join the Horniman Museum for their Festival of Fieldwork

Events include

Surveying at Night: Moths on the Wing
Saturday 15th June 9.15pm – 10.30 pm

From Dusk to Dawn: Bats After Dark
Friday 21st June 9.15pm  – 10.30pm

From Dusk to Dawn: Dawn Chorus Walk
Saturday 22nd June  5.00 am – 6.30am

Tree Doctors: The Health of Our Trees
Saturday 29th June 10.30am- 12.00pm

Small Mammals: Furry Friends or Urban Pests?
Saturday 6th July 10.30am – 12.00pm

Close Encounters of the Crawling Kind: Bugs in Our Gardens
Saturday 13th July 10.30am – 12.45pm

Booking Information

Book tickets online, £4 per participating child, adults go free.
A family event for children accompanied by adults, suitable for ages 7 +.
Call 0208 291 8690 for more information.

Filed under: Event, Training | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Education sessions for local schools

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Jess kyle
Education sessions with Lewisham's Nature Conservation Department

Education sessions with Lewisham’s Nature Conservation Department

The London Borough of Lewisham is keen to encourage the use of the nature reserves for outdoor learning and would like to work in partnership with schools to provide classes.  We are able to offer facilitated sessions to local schools to complement Key Stage 1 of the national curriculum with our Conservation Officer on a number of sites throughout the Borough. As your school is located close to one of our local sites we would like to offer you the opportunity to visit the site and to take part in these sessions.

 We try to create lesson plans around the current curriculum and where possible incorporate any themes into the session that will assist with the pupils learning and development in the relevant Key Stages.  If there is an aspect of the curriculum that you would like to incorporate in to outdoor learning or if there is anything that you would wish to add or modify, please let us know and we will try to accommodate you where possible.  Sessions can include pond dipping, habitat walks, life cycles and mapping.  Many of the sessions will cross reference with a number of subjects; Geography, Sciences, Mathematics and English.

The sessions will be subject to availability, however we will always try to meet your needs.  It is however, also possible to book sites and run your own sessions, in some cases we are able to supply trays and nets for your use along with worksheets.  If you are interested in taking part in a session or if you would like to discuss this further please feel free to contact us.

 

Filed under: Education | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

A lovely day for a dip in the river

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Jess kyle
Bankside management in a sunny Ladywell Fields

Bankside management in a sunny Ladywell Fields

On a bright and sunny Tuesday our volunteers headed to Ladywell Fields for a dip in the river.  There was quite a lot to do, so some donned waders and cleared the Ravensboune of litter, while others concentrated on bankside management.  Between the 4 of them the volunteers in the river pulled out 6 bags of rubbish in just a few hours.  The volunteers working on the banksides were clearing nettles to allow other plants to grow.  This will lead to more diverse flora along the river.

Taking a breather from clearing the river

Taking a breather from clearing the river

This event was part of the successful Rivers and People  Project which is now in its third year.There are many other events held as part of the project and may ways in which you can get involved. Please visit the Rivers & People pages to find out more.

Filed under: Rivers, Rivers & People | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 47 other followers