Welcome to Alexandra Park
in North London
Alexandra Park is a delightful mixture of informal
woodland, open grassland, formal gardens and attractions such as the boating
lake, cafés and the pitch-and-putt course. It covers 196 acres around Alexandra Palace in North London.
The Friends of Alexandra Park is a voluntary group that promotes the use of the Park, encourages the conservation of its wildlife and protects the Park from unwanted development.
 We are very pleased to hear that Alexandra Park has retained not only its Green Flag and Heritage Awards for 2018, but has received silver gilt awards in the Large Park (over 25 acres), Large Conservation Area and Heritage Garden categories from London in Bloom. This is due to the effort of the Park Manager, Mark Evison, the Trust's staff and volunteers, the Park Contractors, John O'Conner and ourselves! Picture courtesy the Park and Palace Trust.
Friends Upcoming Events
Talk: The Plight of the Bumblebees Wednesday, 14th November 7:30pm for 8pm
 "The Plight of the Bumblebees" is the title of the talk. The challenges facing our bumblebees will be highlighted and also some advice will be given on how we can help to safeguard the future of these important pollinators.
We will meet up for a drink and a chat from 7:30pm with the talk starting at 8pm promptly.
To book please email AllyParkN10@gmail.com stating how many places are required.
Members Walk: Sport in the Park
Saturday, 17th November 11am to Noon
 Meeting at the BBC Tower.
Conservation Work Party
Wednesday, 21st November 10am to 12:30pm
 The trees will be barer maybe allowing us to see any birds a bit more easily although don't expect any butterflies... Do join us if you are free. No special skills required; enjoy exercise, plenty of fresh air and good conversation. Bring gardening gloves and secateurs if you have them, but if not we have a variety of tools you can use. We usually work from 10 am to 12.30 pm, but come for as long as you want. Meet at the Butterfly Meadow, if you know it, or at the finger post where the path from North View Road meets the Lower Road at 10 am. Friends' Recent Past Events
 Outside the hut was the remains of a Yellow Stainer (pic from a better specimen) then the sharp eyed spotted a very small Frosty Bonnet in the moss on the horse chestnut just outside. On the log just across the path was Smoky Bracket. After a couple more finds, we moved over to the large Holm Oak (pictured) where we found three different types of  Just across the path from the tree was a large number of Conical Brittlestems. Also worth a good look were three Upright Corals (left). We headed right towards the Garden Centre seeing the grotty remains of a Beefsteak fungus. Then we had a look at the shredded bark on one of the Rose Beds which yielded several different fungi including Brown Rollrim. However, by this time, Andy's app. had warned of the rain and the rain had come... Spotted a group of Sulphur Tuft before seeing a large mass of Honey Fungus at the base of a Horse Chestnut and a couple of Shaggy Inkcaps looking good - this picture, though, taken just one day later. We persisted, with water still falling from the sky.... We crossed APW  We tested the weather (picture left) and decided on one last look to see a Peeling Oysterling before retiring to the Park Visitor Centre for warming tea and biscuits.  One the smaller trees/large shrubs is the Elder which gives us both elder flowers and elder berries earlier in the year.
Even though most have gone, still the most striking of trees in this area are the tall Lombary Poplars.
In terms of fruiting trees, the most obvious along this stretch
 We were pointed several large oaks which may pre-date the park. Any horse chestnuts were harder to spot as they had mostly lost their leaves already.
One of the surprises was the number of small elm trees (first picture) growing vigorously before succumbing to Dutch Elm Disease later in life.
We were shown the equalising pond at the western end of
 We crossed over the old racecourse and there we could admire the purple colours of the dogwood in the opposite hedge.
On the same side, we looking into the cherry plum, blackthorn, goat willow and grey willows the made up the boundary. All these trees would have grown up since the closure of the racecourse in 1970.
The last of the last ended with a reviving cup of tea in the Boating Lake Cafe.... Thanks to Adrian assisted by Robyn for leading the walk
 On the work front, there was more cutting back of the grass which some people enjoyed (picture) and others were rooting out the bramble on another lovely sunny day.
 We looked first at Pear Rust in the Railway orchard - orange colouration on one side and a strange growth on the other, a gall caused by a fungus. The party then moved off to leave The Grove and cross Alexandra Palace Way.
We observed a gall on the ash keys of a Golden Ash which were caused by mite and then proceeded to look at the first of many galls on oak all caused by gall wasps, the first was a spangle
gall on the leaves.
Some of the other galls seen on oak leaves were oyster galls, smooth spangle galls and silk button galls.
Gall on the acorn was found knopper gall and one on the acorn cup caused by Andricus grossulariae.
Away from the oaks, there was a mite gall caused by Aceria
macrochela on Field Maple and one caused by a midge, Iteomyia capreae on a willow.
We finished the walk looking at a couple of mite galls on a willow on the South Slope. The willow red bean gall and one caused by Aceria tetanothrix.
After the official end, we passed by a Silver Maple and saw the mite galls pictured left.
A special thank you to Kate who spotted the marble galls...
A list of the galls found and a little extra information can be found via this link.
The Conservation Volunteers
October 2018  We cut back the bramble in a series of (mostly) semi-circular arcs. A wood blewitt fungus was discovered deeply buried under the bramble. Sunshine helped the cause and work behind the barrier proceeded at a good pace. (The fence was resealed after the work.) The next conservation session in the Park will be on Wednesday, 28th November. Meet at 10am. To book or for more information contact Tom Nandi our BAT East Project Officer, email t.nandi@tcv.org.ukor call on Tel: 07917 267 573.
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