Goodbye from Me!

What a wonderful September we've had! The weather has (for the most) been an extension to summer so we have seen some lovely warm days!

Members from Essex Bat Group

This month we had out Arts in Nature event, followed by a spot of Afternoon Tea and then finished off the month with our Mammal Weekend!

For our Arts in Nature, we had some fabulous artwork produced. This weekend saw visitors making their way around the trail, collecting interesting bits of feathers, leaves and twigs, before sticking them onto a college to create some wonderful art pieces!

Members from Harlow Badger Group

Our Afternoon Tea was delicious as ever, with folk tucking into some gorgeous cakes and sandwiches whilst enjoying the sunshine. Then, at the end of the month, we held out Mammals of Parndon Wood. This was a

Some of the Mammal Crafts made at our Mammal event

wonderful weekend, which saw members from Harlow Badger Group and Essex Bat Group pop over to give talks about some of the mammals found in the area. We were also lucky enough to have a live Bat brought in to show visitors, courtesy of Essex Bat Group.

 As well as all the stalls and information available inside the centre, we had a trail hunt which saw visitors trying to identify some woodland mammal tracks and mammal themed arts and crafts. Visitors were also able to watch some of our favorite camera trap and visitor taken video footage of foxes and Deer spotted mooching about in the reserve.

Becca our new Manager

This month has also seen a new member of staff join our team! Becca is due to take over from myself, Josey, as the new Conservation Centre Manager, from October 1st. I'm sure you'll all make her feel as welcome as you have made me feel and it is exciting to hand the role over after these last few years. It has been a lovely experience working with and meeting you all, and I feel that I have made some life long friends here. For my part, i'm off to see a bit of the world but I shall more than likely return in a volunteer position in the future! It was also a lovely surprise to have the new nature trail named after myself. I just want to say a huge thank you to you all for being wonderful and so enthusiastic about the nature reserve, it's so great to see that nature and the great outdoors is still so important to folk!

Becca will also keep you posted about the monthly going's on at the reserve, at the new blog location which will be: http://parndonwoodnaturereserve.blogspot.co.uk/

Opening of the new 'Travell Trail' with staff and the volunteers who made it possible. 

The end of the school holidays approaches!

One of the Pippistrelle Bats on show at the
bat walk!

A Dragonfly Nymph cast

We started the month with our dragonfly weekend. Loads of dragonfly and damselflies were spotted over the weekend, not just by the ponds but also hunting for insect prey over the bramble bushes around the reserve. We also had a few nymph casts we found in the ponds on display for visitors to see what the young look like, along with images showing how they ‘hatch’ into their adult form.

August also saw our final bat walk! This was a fantastic night with about 100 of you turning up! A huge thank you to the Essex Bat group for all their help, with the night raising over £100 for the Harlow Bat hospital which is based at the reserve.

A  Dragonfly emerging by the pond!

Our volunteers have been sweating it out in this hot weather creating something new for the reserve….a fantastic new trail is due to open soon! Creating a new trail is difficult at the best of times, but the volunteer team have done a fantastic job carving it through the undergrowth. Coming soon for 2016!

Something new, opening later this year!

With the temperatures continuing to rise towards the end of the month, the water levels in all of the ponds have dropped significantly. This led the Warden to decide to pause pond dipping activities until they rise again. Visitors can still walk up and look into the pond, but nets are not available to hire until we get some rainfall!

Our top wildlife spots this month include a small family herd of fallow deer. One of our visitors caught some superb footage on a Thursday evening of the group, complete with a few fawns, popping down to the main pond for a drink. Lots of grass snakes have been spotted enjoying the sun, and unusually, some fungi have also sprouted too! We've been finding lots of Tawny owl feathers around the path this month, so keep a look out for those too!

A Tawny Owl feather, one of quite a few
found this month.

We also have advertised some vacancies this month. We are looking for some enthusiastic Halloween sccarers to help us make our visitors jump at our Halloween Spooky Walk event. Our Conservation Centre Manager - Josey - is also leaving at the end of September, so the position is looking to be filled too! The position is available for either one individual on a full time basis, or 2 individuals as part of a job share, on a part time basis. Check out our website for more information on both of these positions.

Let the Summer Holidays commence! July 2016

We can’t believe it is the summer holidays already! Where has the year gone?!

One of the Bats to see at our Bat Walk

This month we had quite a few events occurring. At the very start, there was our tree weekend. Visitors were able to either download or borrow our free tree spotter sheet to use in the reserve and to also join us on a tree walk. During this walk, we looked at ways in which to identify trees in both the summer and winter months and looked at the different uses the trees within the reserve can have. The walk was so popular we were asked to run it again a few weeks later for a group who were unable to make the weekend!

We also had our first Bat walk of the year! This is always a great event and proceeds help to support the work carried out at Harlow Bat Hospital. Members of Essex Bat Group popped in to kick start the evening with a talk all about Bats and also were able to show visitors one of their own Pipistrelles! Very cute! We then grabbed out detectors and headed out into the reserve to see our own wild bats whizzing around, gobbling up insets. There were absolutely loads of Bats and some visitors caught some great footage of the evening!

Our 8th Green Flag!

It isn’t just bats we celebrated this month, but also Butterflies, without butterfly spotting weekend and, at the end of the month, our annual Bee weekend! This year as a brilliant weekend! Harlow Beekeepers Association popped down to showcase our bees with some live hive demonstrations and also offered honey tasting to visitors. Candle rolling, a bee fact trail and arts and crafts were also a go with some brilliant art being produced! We also started to sell our own Parndon Wood Honey! It’s extremely popular, getting through almost 50 jars of honey! If you want some you’ll have to be quick!

Our wonderful volunteers have been as busy as ever, clearing away some of the brambles which are trying to take over in the reserve to open up some of the vistas. It’s hard work clearing brambles but they do a wonderful job! So wonderful in fact, that their work contributed to us gaining our 8^th Green Flag Award! These awards are given to the finest parks in the country, so it’s a huge achievement to have gained out 8^th one! Well done!

One of the Live Hive Demonstrations at the Bee Weekend

Local Honey for Sale at the Bee Weekend

Star spots this month ranged from Reptiles to baby animals! We’ve had regular sightings of our grass Snakes basking in the summer sun, as well as a pair of Fallow Deer, each with a fawn at foot, spotted in the reserve. The buzzards have been active too, as have the woodpeckers. Keep your eyes peeled for this year’s fledglings as they explore the reserve, lots of young Green Woodpeckers have been spotted hopping about in the Oak trees and usually give themselves away by making a squeaky call. 

Our own Parndon Wood Honey for Sale!

June - the start of British 'Summer' time...

Our campfire flag made for Father's Day Survival Day

Well, June was the beginning of the British Summertime….only we think the sun forgot the memo!

At the start of the month, summer looked promising and we had a lovely Bat weekend. Members from Essex Bat Group popped down with loads of information and a few special friends to show you and to talk everything about bats. Great for the kids to see and they will also be joining us for our Bat Walks later in the year!

We also were lucky enough to have some wonderful weather for he father’s day weekend events. On Saturday, we had a delicious afternoon tea, whilst on Sunday we had a father’s day survival day! Great to see so many families turning up to participate in the best dens built, the best family flags made and of course, who could light the best fire. We supplied the hot chocolate and marshmallows and forest popcorn and a few of you even brought your own sausages to cook, delicious! We had a great time and we hope you all enjoyed yourselves too! Excellent work on the fire lighting with (we think) all of you managing to light your own fires too! Well done!

Lots of Toadlets spotted this month on the trail!

We had planned to hold our first Bat walk of the summer this month, but unfortunately, the weather turned against us. On the 23^rd – the date we had organised for the walk – the heavens opened for what seemed like the entire week, with thunderstorms rolling over the reserve too! Not ideal weather to have a Bat walk in and not great it you are a bat either! IT was a sad decision, but we decided to cancel that walk. Our next Bat Walk is now scheduled for 21^st July, so we hope to see you all there!

Our volunteers have been working hard in all the weather too! The mixture of rain, followed by sun, followed by more rain is great if you’re a plant and this as lead to our brambles and ferns growing at a tremendous rate! We recorded about 1ft of growth on the Brambles in only 1 week! The volunteers have been bashing these down to open up views and keep the pathways open, so excellent job and a huge thank you to their hard work!

Our natural woodland craft picture made
 by threading leaves and grasses
through hessian material.

Some of the natural crafts produced
this month from the Birthday Parties

Although the weather hasn’t been exactly summery, we have had some great wildlife spots, with lots of Grass Snakes being spotted basking in the sunlight between the showers. The many school groups we have had in this month (we were fully booked for school visits and only have 1 day left available in July!) have been tuning their forest ID skills, looking out for Hornbeam and Oak trees, learning about the bugs and minibeasts that live on them and in the ponds, looking at the Toadlets around the trail. Quite a few newt tadpoles are being discovered whilst pond dipping. These are beautiful critters, and once looked at, are safely and gently returned to the pond. We also found a few female stag beetles too!

Russ Collins June photo competition winner!

Steven Browning with this fantastic runner up shot!

This month's photo competition was themed around the insects in the reserve. As ever, we had some fantastic entries and are pleased to announce R. Collins as the winner, with his great bumble Bee shot, with S. Browning as the runner up with this fab shot of an insect on a leaf. Great photos!

 

All in all a busy but good month, we just hope the rain stays away for the next bat walk in July!

Details for our next Bat walk in July

May - when the pond dipping opens!

Bugles,some of the many wild flowers growing in the reserve

May saw the re-opening of our pond dipping area after a period of closure over spring and winter. This coincided nicely with our free Pond life and Amphibian weekends, at the start and the end of the month, which allowed visitors to get up close to the life in the ponds and learn about them. Pond dipping is now available until the end of September/October, with nets being £1 to hire.

With the longer daylight hours, mixing with some showers and warmer weather, our brambles are shooting up, growing over a foot in a single week! This is giving the volunteers lots of work to keep them down and to also clear patches and open up the vistas. By clearing the brambles away in patches, we can create habitat piles with the plant matter and also open up the forest floor to encourage wild flowers to grow!

Something slithering in the undergrowth...

The habitat piles are already a hit with our wildlife, with a huge grass snake being spotted basking by one in the middle of the month. Keep your eyes out on a sunny day, and if you’re quiet enough, you too may spot our serpents.

A few of the signposts within the reserve were given a quick spruce up this month too as we had out green flag inspection. The Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for publicly accessible parks and green spaces in the UK. We have won it for the past several years, and hope to win it again for 2016/2017. Fingers crossed!

With the weather being very warm and sunny, the leaves in the trees have really opened up and become very lush, which makes wildlife spotting a bit trickier. However, the interesting spots this month include:

·         Grass snake

·         Greater spotted woodpecker near the trail with nest

·         Moorhen chicks

·         First dragonfly of the year!

The Blue Tit Family just after hatching. They fledged at the end of May. 

Our nest box camera has seen some action, with a family of Blue Tits hatching at the start of the moth. Mum and Dad worked exceptionally hard to bring up 8 chicks, all of who fledged on Wednesday 25^th May. Will there be a second brood this summer though? Keep your eyes peeled on the screen in the classroom!

April with all of the weather!

Male Blackcap caught on the bird walk.

April really was the month we saw all the weather from all the seasons arrive! We kicked off the month with our bird weekend, which we hosted with the RSPB. This involved a free trail hunt, learning about our wonderful birds, binocular hire and a guided walk in the afternoon each day. On the walks we saw a huge range of birds, including a Sparrowhawk hunting a wood pigeon (amazing site to see!), tree-creepers, green woodpeckers and nuthatches and even a vole joined us for a short time!

We also had our last Afternoon Tea until Father’s Weekend. Lots of delicious cakes, scones and sandwiches consumed once more! If you missed our last few months of Afternoon Tea, fear not! We have one more on June 18th and shall restart them once more on a regular basis later on in the year.

This month also saw the Warden, Josey, head to Sherrads Hatch Nursery to help them build a bug hotel. A Fantastic bug hotel was built with help from the students, who loved filling it with woodland materials! Can’t wait to see what moves in!

Green Woodpecker spotted on the Bird Walk

April marks the start of the busy period for schools visiting the reserve. Towards the end of the month we welcomed 145 students through the gates, all eager to learn about the woodland and wildlife in Harlow. Most of the time they were lucky with the weather, however there was one group who were fortunate to experience brilliant sunshine, hail, snow and rain, all within a few hours!

Our volunteers have been working hard to open up some of the vistas within the reserve by clearing away some of the huge numbers of brambles. By piling up the left over waste, we create habitats for reptiles to bask on, birds to nest in and rodents to live in too. What will you see in the new views?

Other interesting wildlife spots this month include a family of Blue tits setting up home in our bird box with a camera. Unfortunately, it looks like the camera has got some moisture in it, so the picture being transmitted isn’t always the clearest. We have a camera to replace, but shall wait until the family and their chicks fledge. In the closing days of the month our resident moorhens showcased 3 fluffy chicks on the main pond, so keep an eye out for those!

And a nosey Nuthatch also spotted on the guided bird walk!

Signs of Spring in March

Tasty Treats at our Afternoon Teas

Spring finally arrived this month, with a good few sighting of the sun throughout March!

We started the month with a delicious afternoon tea for our Mums on Mother’s Day. We were fully booked for the event, with mums being treated to some delicious cakes, scones and sandwiches! The weather was also fantastic, with the sun shining allowing visitors to wonder around and look at our lovely wild flowers starting to pop up.

Long-tailed tit gathering nesting material.
Credit: Carol Gifford

Some of the best spots this month have been focusing on our birds. With the trees only just starting to think about popping some leaves out, the birds are easy to see and are doing some fantastic courtship displays of bobbing up and down, flapping, diving and more! We had a photo submitted into our competition showing a long-tailed tit gathering some nesting material, foxes were spotted as was a weasel! (credit to Carol Gifford) At the very end of the month a very special young Muntjac was spotted in the reserve, who stayed with us for a few weeks.

A Fox spotted at the start of the month.
Credit: Carol Gifford

We also got creative and messy, with our Arts in Nature weekend! This is always a big hit with the kids and we are always amazed at how creative they are! We had some beautiful animals made of leaves and twigs, some woodland men and lots of other creations! We popped some up on our ‘wall of cool’ so make sure you check it out on your next visit!

The elusive Golden Eggs!

At the end of the Month, we had a very special visit form the Easter Bunny! He sneaked into the reserve before good Friday and hid some eggs around the trail! Loads of you turned up to find them, with some of you even managing to find the golden eggs! Well done to those of you with keen eyes as they were hard to find! In total, about 940 of you turned up throughout the weekend and ate some chocolate eggs, so the bunny was very tired afterwards!

The volunteers have been busy too, cutting pathways within the reserve to allow us to inspect the boundary easier. They’ve been working very hard, even in soggy weather, so a huge thank you to their work too!

 This month's photography competition was given the theme 'Signs of Spring' and we are pleased to announce the winner is Jon Clempners' Primrose shot! The theme for April is 'Parndon Wood Wildlife', so get out in the reserve and get photographing! Good Luck!

March's photography winner, Jon Clempner, with the theme 'Signs of Spring'