Flowers were abundant in number and variety in the Anthill Meadow, and the butterflies got the message and came out into the sunshine. There were large numbers of marbled whites flitting about as we worked, accompanied by meadow browns, large and small skippers, a ringlet and a large white.

Twelve of us got stuck into the business of cutting back new bramble growth to prevent it from invading the meadow, which it would so readily do. With such a wet winter and a wet spring, all plant matter has grown vigorously, especially brambles! We had a satisfying morning’s work in very enjoyable conditions and with very enjoyable company. 

A few of us helped Leo, the Assistant Park Manager, sow and rake in a mix of wildflower seeds around oaks in the Grove (pictured), the South Slope and near the Rose Garden [Eastern Arboretum?]. The sun shone as we worked, and the rain watered in the seeds as we left. In the coming weeks the flowers will attract pollinators, including a fly that parasitises OPM caterpillars. Birds will be drawn in by the pollinators and also eat the caterpillars.

Some more pictures here. 

We returned to the Anthill Meadow this month, after a break of four months working in various parts of the Grove. And what a muddy session it was! Following all this winter’s rain, especially February’s record-breaking rainfall, the ground was saturated. I don’t think any of us escaped a mud spattering by the end of the session. We did a hard but satisfying morning’s work, extracting bramble roots from the mud. Some of us reduced field maple saplings to hedge height, to vary the habitat levels at the upper edge of the meadow. We were rewarded with spring birdsong as we worked, a couple of chiffchaffs being particularly insistent. We’re looking forward to the meadow blossoming in the next few months and being abuzz with insects.

With 22 members responding to the call to dig into the brambles and bushes for old litter, we were able to split into three groups and cover much of the park. It’s amazing what people leave in the park, and we lost count of the number of bags we filled, but this team were pleased with their haul.  

The blackthorn, cherry, dogwood, field maple, guelder rose and hawthorn hedge pictured above was planted about six years ago. This year the saplings were big enough to lay. Robert Cole, of the National Hedgelaying Society, showed us how to saw about two-thirds of the way through the trunks near the base to leave a flexible strip that could be bent over at an angle. That live strip will allow the shrub to continue to grow and thicken up, thus creating a hedge that will protect the spring bulbs in that part of the Spinney. The hedge was finished off with supporting stakes held together with binders woven in the south of England style (different areas of the UK have different styles). The stakes and binders were all sourced from the park with the help of the John O’Conner ground maintenance team.

    It was a team effort: Mark Evison, the Park Manager, sanctioned the work in the first place (and admired the end result) and Rubén found Robert Cole from the National Hedgelaying Society website. Robert Cole, 22 Friends and three members of the John O’Conner team completed the work in a day and a half. Everyone enjoyed learning a new skill and had the satisfaction of seeing the result, which has been much admired by passers-by. Now we are all eager to see how it looks as the leaves appear. 

An unexpectedly large number of us (19) turned up to help to prune the fruit trees in the Railway Orchard and the Grove Orchard (picture by Helen Odozi). We had a good tutor in Rubén, who really did inspire confidence in us to have a go at pruning, exhorting us to enjoy it as well – which we did! At the end I think we all understood the importance of standing back to survey our work as we went along, to ensure that the right shape and airiness was achieved for each tree.

On a lovely warm and sunny November morning, 20 of us worked in the Spinney, at the eastern edge of the Grove, clearing an area of brash, bramble roots and self-seeded saplings, to give breathing space and light to the snowdrops, scillas and narcissi that carpet that area in spring. The area had become very overgrown, to the point where the spring flowers were barely visible.

The 20 of us included 13 volunteers from the Friends, some of the O’Conner maintenance team and Mark, the Park Manager, plus Leo, his assistant. It was a jolly team. We did disturb a delightful pair of wood mice and several frogs, but they soon found safety. That is the only trouble with improving a habitat for one thing, i.e. the spring flowers – it can damage the habitat of another thing, i.e. wood mice and frogs. It was good to see that those animals are thriving, though, and wood mice are such pretty, lively little things, with their big eyes and ears, and not often seen. Coffee and tea at break time made a welcome change from apple juice and, of course, proximity to a loo!

We were included in a photoshoot in celebration of the park attaining Green Flag status, in recognition of the Friends’ conservation work that contributed to the award. 

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!

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.

On a lovely sunny morning, 11 of us cut back bramble leaders, revealing the terrific crop of blackberries. It was hot work but much was achieved with a practised wielding of secateurs. There were still several butterflies flitting about, including the male common blue pictured (whose female is deceptively similar to the brown argus – see ‘Nature notes’ above). Many birds were seen and heard, including a flock of mixed tits (long-tailed, great and blue), with blackcaps, willow warblers and chiffchaffs amongst them. And there were still many flowers, the most plentiful being the pale lemon flowers of the hoary ragwort. We were sustained by some wonderful apple flapjacks that one of our number had cooked to share with us.

On a rather dismal and dank morning, 12 of us set to work to fight back the brambles in the Spinney (the woodland at the edge of the Grove). It felt more like battling in a primeval jungle, with the forest of briars and hogweed skeletons, and to top it all there were many froglets jumping around our feet. We found a buff-tailed bumblebee nest in the depths of a bramble, as well as very delicate, small white mushrooms on some woody debris – pinwheel mushroom (picture by Helen Odozi), common in deciduous woodland. We did make very good progress, reducing the bramble bank and improving the habitat for the snowdrops and scilla in spring.

  Please do remember to check out the Anthill Meadow this month, especially on a sunny day – the knapweed, willowherb and ragwort are in flower, and the butterflies seem to be doing well this year, despite the damp conditions. 

There being 13 of us meant that we achieved a lot, rooting out the stray brambles in the middle part of the meadow, and beginning work on the bigger clumps to the east of it. The ground underfoot wasn’t too wet, despite all the rain we’ve had this month, and it meant the bramble roots were relatively easy to pull out.

  Spring is slow to the meadow this year, with only blackthorn in full bloom and one dandelion, but the yellow rattle seeds we sowed last year have germinated in profusion – all five patches are covered in tiny seedlings. If we continue to sow yellow rattle annually, it should reduce the vigour of the rampant grass species. This will make it worthwhile to seed other species of wildflower appropriate to our heavy clay soil. 

An overcast day and a cold wind didn’t deter 18 enthusiastic volunteers wielding their litter pickers with gusto to dig this mountain of rubbish out of the undergrowth in the woodland and ditches at the eastern end of the park. 

On Thursday 9th Feb, a small group of Friends worked with Reuben, one of the O’Conners team, to prune the fruit trees in the Railway Orchard. This is  annual task undertaken by the Friends, each of the two orchards are pruned in alternate years (Springfield Orchard next year). Reuben is the expert guide who has the experience and eye to turn pruning into an art form. The benefits of pruning are to cut out weak growth, thin out central growth, allowing sunlight to reach all fruiting branches, and improve fruiting.

You may notice that the fruit trees now have permanent labels, identifying each trees, and paid for by the Friends.

We managed a really good morning’s work removing thick, thorny, woody old bramble leaders from the shrubs and trees at the edge of the grassy area near the Grove Café (with committee member Robyn’s red hat visible in the shrubbery). Untangling and pulling out the bramble leaders was hard work and a challenge, but once done the greenness of the shrubs was revealed. Half of a pollarded holly went, too, all to allow more light into the area behind and therefore encourage grass and flowers to grow. What made the morning was working hard as a team, in a sunny spot, on a crisply cold winter’s day, the twitter of birds all around us – all very purposeful, pleasant and convivial.

    While we were in the Grove, two oaks at the entrance to the Anthill Meadow were being crown reduced, to allow more sunlight onto the meadow, all the better for wildflowers to grow and yellow field ants and other insects to flourish. 

Our main job was to seed parts of the meadow with yellow rattle. We lifted the turf adjacent to areas we had seeded last year, and scattered the new seed liberally. Fingers crossed they germinate well. The lesson learned this year – yellow rattle seeds need moisture to germinate so, if conditions are dry again next spring, we’ll need to carry extra water to give them a drink. We also did some remedial pruning of the alder buckthorn and continued with the endless job of mattocking out bramble roots.

    The meadow was looking good, with anthill mounds very visible where we had hand-cut the grass. We saw one fungus (a fragile brittlegill) and a few plants in flower (bristly ox-tongue, common ragwort, mouse-ear, bramble and common knapweed). Birds seen and heard included carrion crow, jay, magpie, parakeet, robin, great tit, great-spotted and green woodpeckers, and wren. 

The meadow, like the rest of the Park is in poor shape, though, with all this dry weather, and then the heatwave, last week, must have put huge stress on plants and wildlife - blackberries are very small this year. There was no birdsong, the grass was tinder dry but, despite that, there were lots of butterflies feeding on the remaining knapweed flowers, ragwort (which seems to have grown super tall this year) and spear thistle. There were large numbers of gatekeepers, a few meadow brown, a small copper and a speckled wood. There was also a very handsome, Jersey tiger moth (photo left by Tony Jakeman) and a six spot burnet moth. 

It was a lovely morning to be working in the Anthill Meadow, not particularly sunny, but warm, which meant that butterflies, particularly, were about in very good numbers. Ringlets were everywhere, as were meadow browns, there were several marbled whites, a small (or large) white, several small skippers and a purple hairstreak. There were also a few dragonflies which we couldn’t name, as well as numerous bees.

The flowering plants identified were: bramble; cat’s ear; Oxford and common ragworts; knapweed; red and white clovers; bird’s foot trefoil, including a particularly large patch of it; stitchwort; meadow vetchling; yarrow; creeping cinquefoil; water figwort; rosebay (picture left) and great willowherb; creeping buttercup; spear thistle; imperforate St John’s wort; false oat grass. The yellow rattle has flowered and dropped its seed – hopefully providing a good crop for next year.

Birds heard or seen: not many, yesterday, a chiff chaff and a black cap provided a musical backdrop to the morning, and a green woodpecker was seen taking off from the ground, presumably having raided one of the anthills.

The meadow is coming to life with several flowering plants noted, insects flitting and buzzing around, with a backdrop of bird song – particularly a black cap. Of particular interest was the yellow rattle: we had seeded five patches of bared ground, last autumn, all of which had some plants (including ones in flower) but two that were thickly carpeted with yellow rattle. There were also patches of self-seeded yellow rattle from previous years plantings. In those latter areas thinning of the vigorous grasses was evident – very pleasing to see. The next step will be to consider introducing seeds of other flowering plants appropriate to the area. People in the know, have noted that the meadow doesn’t have a great variety of flowering plants.

The alder buckthorn was in flower, with tiny five-petalled flowers, and looks particularly healthy this season. A green caterpillar was seen on a leaf, possibly a brimstone’s. (picture left)

We concentrated our work on three main areas of the meadow: removing rosebay willowherb from the west part, where it would overshadow the yellow rattle when grown; clearing bramble from the path that connects the anthill meadow to the butterfly meadow; removing a sapling oak and lowering a hawthorn which were overshadowing the alder buckthorn. We continue to build up the hedge line with the leavings.

Nine of us turned out on a warm and sunny April morning. We had a backdrop of spring birdsong to our work in the anthill meadow, with blackcaps, chiffchaffs and wrens being the loudest songsters. We continued with the remorseless job of bramble root removal before the new shoots take off. The yellow rattle seedlings are doing well in the west side of the meadow, although they do need water after all this dry weather. The highlight of the morning was seeing a female brimstone butterfly laying her eggs on the underside of alder buckthorn leaves (one of their host plants). She laid each elongated egg on a single leaf – so tiny that they were barely visible (pictured, an egg laid last year). This season’s butterflies will appear in around July/August.

As our contribution to Keep Britain Tidy’s annual campaign, 23 volunteers wielded their litter pickers and scoured the park for some of the hard-to-reach rubbish that accumulates over the winter. The result was around 30 bags plus a small bike. Those who had participated in similar events over the years felt that there was less litter than normal – a tribute not only to the John O’Conner team’s good work, but also to the efforts of all the volunteers who kept the park clean last summer, several of whom continued throughout the winter. Our thanks to all the litter-picking volunteers. 

It was such a lovely morning, especially with the sound of spring birdsong ringing around the meadow, the chiffchaff the loudest of all. We had a good morning’s work with most of us mattocking bramble roots, before the new shoots get going. Richard did some good work on the alder buckthorn, cutting out a rotten broken branch, the reward – three brimstone butterflies flitting around the meadow. Tony released an elder from the clutches of ivy, and Stephen stopped the march of bramble over cherry and blackthorn. To top it all we could see that good numbers of the yellow rattle seeds we broadcast last autumn had germinated.

Insects noted: 3 brimstone butterflies – 2 males and a female (paler); a peacock butterfly; a few bumblebees and ladybirds.

Birds noted: blue and great tits; chiffchaff; robin; magpie; jay; crow; wren; wood pigeon; green woodpecker.

Plants in flower: only two – dandelions and the blackthorn. (Jane Hutchinson)

Attached is a photo of a very tiny, germinated, yellow rattle seedling, which Tricia took, while we were working in the anthill meadow. Fingers-crossed it has many siblings in the next few weeks.

Thank you very much for coming to the Anthill Meadow, last Thursday. We put in a good couple of hours work mattocking out bramble roots, in the central part of the meadow; removing and lowering saplings at the east end, along by the hedge line, adding to the dead hedge; and removing ivy from a couple of oaks in the hedge line.

Although it was a fine morning conditions underfoot were pretty atrocious, with all that surface water and mud, after all the rain we’ve had. I think several of us went home with mud be-spattered faces and clothing.

It’s always been a bit of a problem finding our patches of yellow rattle, in high summer, once the grasses and flowers have grown. Tricia worked out a way of finding the patches, by the ‘what3words’ App. She found the 3 words for each patch, and recorded them, which we now have in our phones.

We heard a selection of birds, including green wood pecker, dunnock, great tits, wren, magpies, crows.

Just to let you know that as the bramble cover in the meadow reduces we will have chances to work elsewhere in the Park. People seemed to enjoy a change of site, as when we worked in The Grove, to remove holly, and in the Cricket Scrub. If you have any thoughts on this let me know. There will also be opportunities to work with TCV and the O’Conners Maintenance Team, again, later in the year.

Jane Hutchinson

A small group of the Friends met up with Ruben of John O'Conner (Park Maintainance Contractors) to prune the fruit trees in the Springfield Orchard in The Grove. These are the trees above the large fenced Veteran Oak and below the 3-4-5 Playgroup. The trees had not had any work recently so quite a lot of cutting was involved to encourage fruiting and to keep the trees in good condition.

Some of the things that we learnt.... 

To cut off any slightly damaged branches first. This is, because as soon as they get weighed down with any fruit they are liable to break off. 

Next to stand back and assess which branches need to go. Those good for the chop are the ones that grow from the outside of the tree toward the centre crossing other branches. They stop air circulating and their fruit can be too each other and branches. 

Later cuts are made to both remove the tops of high and elongated branches as well as branches growing too close to each other. Also we had to try a give the tree an even look. After each significant cut Ruben demonstrated that we should stand back and look all around the tree before making the next move.

One extra point was not to cut back the stone fruits (e.g. plum) as hard as the others (e.g. apple) - they don't response so well to "rough" treatment.

Thanks a lot to Ruben for his patience and clear advice.

More pictures from the afternoon here.

Note sent out by Jane after the event nicely sums up the great success of this work party.

Thanks for turning out in great number, yesterday, on what was a glorious if chilly morning.

It was most enjoyable morning working with you all. It felt like good, spontaneous, team work, with 19 of us ‘friends’ and six TCV members.

I was just amazed at how much we got done. I never thought we’d clear all that brash and logs to the outer perimeter of the Cricket Scrub, as we did. It was hard labour to move all that stuff and some skill went into creating the dead hedges. There were several of us ‘friends’ with previous or current TCV experience, which helped hugely, and ‘teams’ developed to tackle different areas. It was great having TCV volunteers with their skills. I think we all worked well as a team under the guidance of Gerry – he knew what was needed and set us all off on our various fronts.

The so-named Cricket Scrub became canopy woodland with self-sewn trees, and, under Gerry’s guidance we are attempting to return it to a scrubby habitat, so that it remains inviting to birds, particularly migrating warblers such as the spotted flycatcher (pictured in the Mail Chimp).

The next stage will be to plant some hawthorns within the glade created, to provide the low-bush scrubby habitat needed. This will all need maintenance so no doubt we will return to the Scrub once or twice a year.

Background to this work party:

The Cricket Scrub is an area of bushes and trees between the main football pitch and the old racetrack.

Scrub is a valuable habitat in its own right. It has its own assemblage of plants, birds and insects. It should be a mix of dense shrubby material interspersed with open, sunny glades. In the park, we have been losing our scrub over the last few years, primarily as the trees grow and create woodland, so we have been losing an important component of our biodiversity. In the Cricket Scrub some of the tree cover has now been removed.

On Tuesday we moved the cut branches to the edge of the scrub so that in due course we can plant hawthorn and blackthorn to improve the scrub.

More pictures on this link.

Shading Holly Clearance in The Grove

Jane's comments:

I’d like to thank you all for turning out on what was a pretty miserable morning, on 7th December, although the rain held off, just!

There were 14 of us, plus three from O’Conners maintenance team, working on clearing a large patch of holly from the top of the old railway embankment, above the Railway Orchard. It was pretty hard and rough work but you all fell-to with zeal and cleared a pretty large area. Some of the holly was used to fill gaps in the dead hedge on the edge of the Spinney, but we cleared far more than we could use, so the brash left as a ‘habitat’ pile in the area we had worked.

The work was harder than I thought it would be as I hadn’t realised holly suckered in the way it obviously does. It was really messy pulling out what seemed to be small trees but were actually leggy branches that had rooted themselves. Anyway, Mark Evison was pleased with what we had achieved, including rebuilding the dead hedge. I may ask if we can do another extra session there, before the nesting season begins. 

The work in the Anthill Meadow changes as the seasons change. Our November schedule consisted of planting yellow rattle seeds, an annual plant that parasitises the roots of some grasses, reducing their vigour and so allowing more flowering plants to thrive. We scraped off the turf in six small areas, loosened the soil, broadcast the seed then tamped it down. We sowed the seed more thickly this time compared to previous years, in the hope that we’ll have an improved germination rate. I did see a robin on one of the patches and couldn’t tell whether it was after a worm or the seed! A beautiful sunny morning brought everyone out (there were 17 of us) and therefore much bramble was cleared as well. 

More grass cutting and removal this session. During our break for drinks and chat, we were watched over by a robin sitting in a hawthorn bush. We continue to make a great difference to the area by reducing the fertility of the soil and allowing more wildflowers to predominate in the area. The weather was kind as well. 

We were lucky to have a lovely warm and sunny morning for the second of our sessions cutting the grass at the western end. If you were passing last Tuesday morning, you would have seen a line of 11 of us on our hands and knees, using garden shears to take the grass almost to ground level (pictured). As usual, all the cuttings were placed on the dead hedge bordering the meadow, so that any creatures caught up in the cuttings could stay local. 

Lucky with the weather, after a poor-ish spell, we had sunshine. We continued work on the west side of the meadow with a special attention to cutting leaders (long straggly bits of bramble) to stop them rooting.

Some tree reduction work took place to reduce shade coming from the Lower Path side took place.

After a cool-ish start, quite warm weather for bramble bashing! We made a good job of progress working on some encroaching bramble on the western side of the meadow. We heard parakeets, crows, two types of woodpecker whilst working. Large numbers of butterflies were seen, but they were restricted mainly to Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns. A Jersey Tiger moth also put in an appearance as well as the odd dragonfly. 

This month’s work party was mainly about cutting back bramble leaders to prevent them touching the soil and taking root to form new plants. We worked along the hedgerows surrounding the Butterfly Meadow. It is looking particularly verdant this year, after all the rain we’ve had – such a contrast to last year’s drought conditions. This means that grasses dominate the habitat but wild flowers have managed to keep their heads up, too, with willowherbs dominating. It was a bright, sunny morning, which brought out the butterflies, mainly along the sunny, northern edge: gatekeepers in large numbers, meadow browns, large skippers, green-veined and small whites, peacocks and one red admiral. Also several six-spot burnet moths and a wonderfully striped cinnabar moth caterpillar were seen.

The Butterfly Meadow is blooming with vetches, stitchworts and clover, and knapweed and willowherb just beginning to open. Working there last week was a delight. A few yellow rattle flowers continue and seed heads are developing nicely. There are a variety of grasses, too. At this stage in the year we are tinkering around the edges, removing bramble leaders and self-seeded, small saplings, so as not to damage the sward. Several butterflies were seen, including a marbled white and purple hairstreak, both firsts for this summer in Herts and Middlesex. An anthill was disturbed, unfortunately, but it was interesting to see the yellow field ants busy relocating their pupae (pictured). 

The Friends are still continuing the removal of grass from the western end of the Butterfly Meadow, but also tackling bramble and sapling removal.

This session we spotted some fungi including Fragile Brittle Gill and False Chanterelle.

Continuing the grass removal work......

The Friends started on their annual cutting and removal of grass from a section of the Butterfly Meadow. This helps reduce the fertility of the area and promote the wild flowers growing in the area.

Up to 6 volunteers have been working in the Butterfly Meadow since this has been allowed. The work mainly involved bramble clearance and tree sapling removal. This picture from 1st September.

For our deep clean this year we concentrated on the woodland area above Alexandra Palace Way (Blandford Hall Area). As usual lots of stuff was found hidden often deep in the bramble. This didn't faze our volunteers. Tables and chairs were amoung the "treasurers" found. Picture shows part of the haul.

A big thanks to all that helped out.

Mud pushed the Friends to move their Conservation Work from the Butterfly Meadow.....

We met by the Park Visitor Centre where we had some whips (saplings) to plant in the new growing hedge across the path from the centre. We replaced some perished saplings and extended the line closer to the path.

The weather? poor, damp, but this didn't put off a good number of volunteers of all ages from turning up. Other jobs included tying up shrubs next to Meson House.

An overcast day for our work in the Butterfly Meadow so no distractions.... In fact only one flower was seen. On the bird front things were more Spring-like with Blue Tits, Great Tits and a Wren all singing. Also seen were Crows, Blackbirds, Robins and Parakeets.

As to the work, a significant of bramble was removed further improving the habitat.

Back again next month.

The Friends joined TCV BAT South in digging up oak saplings from below the Rose Garden and from the Butterfly Meadow and then replanting them (picture left) to help re-form the line of oaks running down into the old Deer Enclosure. This is in order preserve and re-create an old line of oaks along a field edge predating the park's existant.

In the afternoon, we planted some saplings to fill in gaps along the border of the pitch and putt area. (lower picture)

Fifteen of us gathered to continue work in the Butterfly Meadow. A lot more of the top vegetation was removed from the area as well as a little bramble removal and some reduction of the shade in the area.

This time of the year, there was not much flowering except for the odd piece of knapweed, bristly ox-tongue and cat's ear.

A little of the fungi was still around mostly Brittle Gills.

Up in the sky, a sparrow hawk was chased off by a crow and 2 peregrine falcons were seen in the distance.

Ten Friends waited patiently to be let into the Butterfly Meadow - fenced off in advance of the fireworks. When a spanner was finally located, we set about our second month of cutting back the vegetation. This helps in maintaining and decreasing the fertility of the site - an important step in promoting wild flower growth and discouraging the courser grasses. A good measure of the fact that the site is not too fertile is the lack of nettles which survive in fertile soil.

We made good progress and piled up the grass at the bottom of the meadow. This time of year not many flowers left, we only saw Cat's Ear, Red Clover and Knapweed blossoms.

On the other hand the site was a fungi cornucopia. The classic fungi, fly agaric was seen in some numbers. This is a symbiotic mycorrhizal fungus on birch and conifers although there is little sign of these trees here. Another related fungus seen (similar white spots on top) was blusher. 

Bracket fungi seen included turkey tail, southern bracket, Ganoderma resinaceum. Also seen were common puffballs  (pictured left) - which delighted us by puffing out spores when touched.

That was not all by far - some of those photographed included sulphur knight, deceiver, fragile brittle gills, candle snuff, matt bolete, a Cortinarius and a Psathyrella. (Thanks to Andy Overall for most of the fungi ID.)

The Friends returned to the Butterfly to do some manual cutting and clearing of the grass and dead wild flowers in order to keep reducing the fertility of the soil. (This benefits the wild flowers.)

A dozen of us attacked the grass in very mixed weather. Mostly overcast, some rain and a little sunshine.

What did we see while working there? 5 types of butterfly - Comma, Small White, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral and a couple of Small Coppers. Also several grasshoppers and crickets including Roesel's Bush Cricket. A Common Darter dragonfly perched on one of our tools.

The Friends worked in "The Spinney", the area in The Grove opposite the Park Visitor Centre. We were joined by TCV (The Conservation Volunteers) who worked with us in removing saplings and small trees to allow the light in and encourage flowers in this area. 

The cut down trees were "processed", the side branches were removed and the wood divided into different sizes. There is future plan for a pond. 

The wood generated will be used to create a fence around the area starting at the end of August when a Corporate Group will be brought to The Grove led by TCV.

During the day a frog and a toad were seen as well as speckled wood butterflies and wasps. A nuthatch serenaded us during the morning.

For once the weather wasn't bright and sunny so a special thanks to the brave volunteers who came to the Butterfly Meadow to battle the brambles.

The weather did improve a bit later and there were even a few birds heard. The wild flowers are perhaps at their peak with the ragwort and knapweed attracting the butterflies.

Warm weather for our bramble work this month, but we had the advantage of being joined by volunteers from TCV. 

With the growing wild flowers in the meadow, we tried to avoid too much disturbance to the newly growing vegetation. The work progress well as usual and we were to see that many butterflies chose to go with the name of the meadow and grace us with their prescence. We saw Green-veined White (picture), Meadow Brown, Large Skipper, Ringlet, Painted Lady (there has been quite an influence of these migrants this year), Marbled White (a first view for some) and Speckled Wood. Later in the day after the end of the session Comma, Small Heath, Small Skipper and Red Admiral were also seen.

Also seen were a few dragonflies, a female black-tailed skimmer and a male Emperor.

We are continuing to make a real difference to this area with continually increasing wild flowers and animals.

The pictures linked to were taken in the Butterfly Meadow, but all on the same day.

It was warm, sunny day for the eight of us to try and keep the bramble in check. There is now a crow that regularly patrols the area looking goodies and he/she was there. Other wildlife included bees, quite a lot of cardinal beetles flying around and two types of bug, the dock bug and bishop's mitre bug (lower picture). As to  the wild flowers, many more were now in evidence including meadow vetchling, bird's foot trefoil, the first of the knapweed, red clover, cat's ear, creeping cinqfoil, compact rush, creeping buttercup and red campion.

The volunteers had a really good go at the bramble and Mark Evison, the Park Manager came along to offer his thanks.

It is called the Butterfly Meadow (by us) so which ones did we see? Small white, orange tip, holly blue, small copper, speckled wood and lots of brimstones.

Thanks as always to all our helpers.

Ten volunteers came to work in the Butterfly Meadow on a less sunny day with a few showers. Unfortunately in the recent sunny periods the brambles had grown quite a lot and great effort was undertaken to dig the new and old ones out. Other work consisted of cutting back some of the shading trees at the top of the meadow.

When a bit of sun arrived towards the end, we spotted orange tip, speckled wood and brimstone butterflies. Nursery spider and harlequin lady birds were around as well as a yet unidentified caterpillar. Bird song from chiffchaff and blackcaps as well as an overflight from a bird of prey which might have been a hobby....

Flowering plants included lesser stitchwort, red campion, dandelion and sheep's sorrel.

Good news was the germination of some of the yellow rattle sown in November.

Mostly sunny, but there was a chill in the air when the clouds went over. 14 volunteers turned up to help attack the brambles. Can you spot 11 of them in the picture on the left?

Only one flower out in the meadow area - dandelion, but we still managed to catch a glimpse of a peacock butterfly. 

Some excitement as possible germination of Yellow Rattle was observed. Elsewhere Rosebay and Great Willowherb were poking up through the earth and large clumps of knapweed were in evidence.

Birds are beginning to make their presence felt with Great Tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Dunnock, Parakeet, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Carrion Crow, Robin, Wren (loudest) and Chiffchaff (most persistent).

A baker's dozen or so of Friends turned up to attack the brambles this month amid the unseasonably warm weather.

No butterflies, but a Satellite moth was seen (pictured left), and, at the end of our work session, a 7 spot ladybird came to investigate a knapsack strap.

We cleared a lot bramble and our work was aided by TCV who continued on into the afternoon.

As always, we had Jane to thank for some needed refreshing juice and energy-giving biscuits.

The weather, again, was kind to the Friends with a cold, but sunny and windless morning. We welcomed two new volunteers to our group of eleven.

The work included further bramble and sapling removal. Also blackthorn on the edge of the area was further trimmed in order to promote regrowth and provide both habitat for birds and to give more opportunities for encouraging the Brown Hairstreak butterfly to come and breed in the Park.

No sign of any flowers in bloom this month, just catkins growing on the Alder tree. By next month, there should be the first signs of 

Spring appearing, come along and join us. Birds, however, were in evidence with Song Thrush, Parakeets, Crows, Great Tits, Blue Tits and Robins were all heard. The highlight was a Kestrel (left) that came and perched over us.