We’ll be working with the John O’Conner team in the Spinney (the wooded area opposite the Park Visitor Centre), clearing the brambles and saplings that suffocate the lovely spring bulbs in the area – snowdrops, scillas and various daffodils. No special skills needed. Bring gardening gloves if you have them, although we have spares to lend. Refreshments provided. Meet by the Park Visitor Centre.

Meet by the Park Visitor Centre.

For more details email  AllyParkN10@gmail.com

Members' Walk and Social. Details will be emailed out to members. Not yet a member? Details on how to join here (just £5/household).

The Friends will have a stall at the Ally Pally Farmers' Market in order to engage with the public and sell copies of our 2025 calendar. Come along and pick one up.

We’ll be working in The Grove pruning hollies. No special skills needed. Bring gardening gloves if you have them, although we have spares to lend. Refreshments provided. 

Meet by the Park Visitor Centre. 

Impressive sun for our Fungi Walk after rain the day before, couldn't be better. Clifford Davy took us from The Grove to the area below the Rose Garden via the Western Arboretum before finishing on the south slope. 

Clifford explained the two main types of fungi. Ascomycetes have the spores in the middle and shoot them through the skin whereas basidiomycetes drop the spores from gills or through pores.

We had many fine finds including yellow brain, velvet shank, young King Alfred's cakes and the notorious honey fungus before hitting the acid grassland. There we found large numbers of slender parasols before seeing a couple of different waxcaps including the honey waxcap.

The cedars provided spectacular rustgills and large numbers of tawny funnels before we finished late on with the best find of the day, a beeswax bracket (top left) - a rare find in London.

More pictures from the walk here.

A comprehensive list of the fungi seen on the walk prepared by Clifford.

Around 20 of us gathered at the top of Nightingale Lane, and Adrian started off by encouraging us to think about how the park’s trees had reached the hedge around the Cricket Pitch (the area we focused on). Which trees had been planted and which had self-seeded? And how about ‘planting’ by squirrels and jays? Some natives – such as dogwood, white willow, crack willow, hornbeam and many others – are likely to have self-seeded. But the Lombardy poplars and a river birch (unfortunately dead) will have been planted. We did see some lovely autumn colours – the deep-red dogwood leaves, the yellowish willow leaves, and the almost-black poplar leaves.

The late September work party had to be cancelled due to heavy rain, but to make up for it we had three in October. On the first two, nine of us, on our hands and knees, cut grass with garden shears, mimicking grazing animals (after a fashion). It sounds gruelling but the weather was so pleasant that it was a pleasure to be outside enjoying the extended Indian summer. This part of the meadow now looks like a lovely, undulating, manicured lawn. On the third session we were back to the task of uprooting brambles in the central part of the meadow; the overnight rain had made the ground soft and easier to work. The rain had also brought out an array of fungi that we had fun trying to identify, including a couple of penny buns (ceps) that we weren’t brave enough to take home to eat!

A sunny day for our walk, which we started in the Rose Garden. We walked down the hill looking at the trees, listening for the birds and inspecting the fungi at our feet. A weeping silver lime tree near the bunker in the Blandford Hall area was admired, as it was doing its trick of turning its leaves around when the sun gets too hot (pictured – look for the whitish leaves). This is thought to reflect more of the sun and thus lessen overheating. We took a little time to search out some galls, with examples seen of artichoke galls on both oak and yew – though they are caused by different species on each.

Six of us gathered for a peaceful morning drawing (and photographing) in the warm glow of the September sun sweeping across the South Slope. The array of picturesquely positioned clusters of trees and smaller details such as bark, drying grasses and a clump of ragwort glowing gold in the seasonal light caught the attention of our group.

With Gerry’s move to the Lake District, this was the first bird walk without a ringing demonstration for many years; thankfully, there were still plenty of birds to see. Meeting at 8 am in the Grove car park, we were soon enjoying good views of two vocal nuthatches and a great spotted woodpecker. We then headed across the slopes below the palace, where a green woodpecker fed inconspicuously on the grass and there was a mixed flock with at least two chiffchaffs alongside four species of tit and another nuthatch. Moving down to the cricket pitches, Markus alerted us to a common buzzard overhead. Our enjoyment of this infrequent visitor to the park was not shared by the local peregrines, who thrillingly swooped on the larger bird and quickly moved it out of their airspace (photo by Greg Smith). Although it lasted no more than 30 seconds, this was perhaps the most spectacular sighting we have ever had on a Friends’ bird walk.

September is the time of year when we cut the grass in one section of the Anthill Meadow. So, on an unseasonably warm and sunny morning, nine of us spent a couple of hours on our hands and knees cutting grass with garden shears to great effect. Fred, our 10th member, used an Austrian scythe to do the job with great panache. Why, you might ask, do we hand cut the grass? To avoid damaging the ant hills, the residences of the yellow field ants, an unusual feature in any urban park but reasonably common in ours. The anthills are a relic of Alexandra Park’s previous history as grazed farmland. These anthills and the meadow are part of the mosaic of habitats that contributes to the biodiverse nature of Alexandra Park.

The band was again blessed with hot weather and set up in the shade of the pines. The audience had the benefit of chairs recently bought for the Friends’ use by the palace, so at one point around 50 people were listening intently to the music, also from the shade of the pine trees. 

Once again an extra during the interval was provided by the Beginners’ Band, and for some it was their first concert. London Metropolitan Brass has an excellent record of teaching people of all ages who are new to their instrument or returning after a long break, and the Grove concerts give them an opportunity to experience playing in front of an audience.