May work day - update

Sunday 10th May 2009. Yet again we were lucky with the weather. In the morning we worked with EWT to reorganise their composting bins at the rear of the visitors' centre.

In the afternoon we moved on the Queen Ann's Well and did some tidying up and cleared a load of rubbish and sediment that had accumulated/been dumped over the years. What a lovely wet and smelly job that was ! We also cleared some of the ivy from the outside walls of the walled garden and some Buddleia that was growing near the gates. Both of these plants could seriously damage the walls if left unchecked.

May Work Day

Our next work day is on Sunday May 10th - we hope to see you then. Meet as usual in the visitors' centre for 10am(ish) start.

April work day

Firstly apologies for the delay in adding this info to our blog.

We were very lucky with the weather this Easter Sunday. Although only a few 'friends' were able to turn up we had a very productive day litter picking. This was done in conjunction with a very informative 'wild flower walk' led by Benjamin Sanderson from Havering Council. Some of us actually visited parts of the park we hadn't seen before !

As well as this walk some of us walked around the ponds and also the meadow which had recently been cut by Havering Council. It will be interesting to see what appears now the long grass etc has been removed.

We were also pleased to see that Havering Council had improved the dipping platform by the damselfly pond. Access is now much easier and it is a lot bigger. This will make it much more accessible for the Essex Wildlife pond dipping 'expeditions'.

There was one thing that spoiled an otherwise perfect day in the park - and that was the smell of diesel fuel which occaisionally wafted up our nostrils. Apparently there had been a diesel spill in or around the Council Depot near to the visitor centre. This was caused by someone attempting to steal fuel and in the process spilling some. There are now signs up in the park warning people to keep pets etc out of the water/ditches. Unfortunately there were no signs on the day we were there and I understand that several people had complained about the smell and one little boy who fell in one of the ditches had an irritable rash for a while. His parents were unaware of the spillage and thought they had a fuel leak in their car on the way home. When they got home they realised it wasn't the car, it was their son! He's all ok now.

April work day

Sunday 12th April is our next work day. This is Easter Sunday. Also on this day there will be wildflower walks from the visitors' centre and various other activities organised by The Essex Wildlife Trust.

Spring at Last

Apologies for the pictures being all over the place - still practicing ! I'm sure there must be a way of labelling them but I haven't found it yet. All the above were taken in Bedfords Park between 16th and 18th March 2009.

Work Day - Sunday 8th March 2009

This work day we started by cutting back the hawthorn by the dipping platform to enable work to be carried out on its repair and extension to it. We then attempted to clear the ditch towards Lower Bedfords Road so that the water could drain away faster but the drain under the track is blocked. If the council haven't cleared it we may have a go at clearing it next time.

We also marked out, with arrows fixed to the trees and logs, the path that we have created over the last year or so. It is off the track (to the left) between the damselfly pond and the main (cow pond) lake. This path passes two other ponds which cannot be seen from the main track and it meanders through the woodland and comes out to the south of the cow pond.

We then cleared an old overgrown path to the north east of the cow pond.

After lunch we did a 'litter pick' at the bottom of the hill by Spring Wood. This area was in a disgusting state after the snow in early February. As well as the usual plastic bottles and bags there were loads of plastic 'for sale' type signs and various other plastic objects used as toboggans. There were also two car bonnets that had been used for a similar purpose. We were quite amazed that all of this 'rubbish' had been there for over a month ! We got soaked doing this as the heavens opened and the wind got extremely blustery.

Our next meeting is on sunday 12th April which is also Easter Sunday. There will be various events taking place on that day including wild flower walks. Please try to come.

Below are a few pics from the day ............. as you can see, nice and sunny to start with !

MARCH 2009 WORK DAY

We will be meeting up in the visitors' centre for 10 am(ish) start on Sunday 8th March. Hopefully the ground will be a bit drier this time.

Hope to see you there.