Summer flowers

A wide variety of summer flowers  has appeared along the Brook Wood path. The new slope below Morris Homes has been sown with wild flower seed and amongst those appearing are Sweet Chamomile, Cornflower, Long-headed Poppy, Corn Marigold, Field Poppy. Images, by Roger Foden, appear below. Other interesting records were a Marsh Thistle six feet tall! And healthy colonies of Ragged Robin and Meadow Vetchling. However, the meadow below Townfields is being regularly partly mown due to concerns about dog leavings, which means there will be no large numbers of Gatekeeper butterflies there this summer as the bulk of the interesting wild flowers which have flourished there for a generation undisturbed are now being mown in the cause of progress . . . . 

Other records on the day of the Work Party tackling invasive Himalayan Balsam on 14th July were singing Blackcap and Chiffchaff, calling Great Spotted Woodpecker, a fledgling Song Thrush, and further down the valley below Mill Hill Lane, a party of three Jays, and Brown Hawker and Banded Demoiselle dragonflies. - George

Path to the flowers!

As predicted, the nice new path in Brook Wood at the Townfields end presently leads to the nicely flowering Large Bittercress colony. Following this are some pictures of the flowers, plus 7-spot Ladybirds, and pictures of the paths in the sunshine this morning. Yet another nice thing, though, was the comment of the passing dog walker who asked whether "The Trail" was muddy this morning!  It exists!  It was real to him!Don't miss it!

Above is the whole Bittercress colony in the marsh . . . 

And below is the seat to enjoy it from:

 - which you can reach like this, along this beautifully surfaced section of path where the natural materials have been re-used to make useful seats and screens,

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and where at one point a partly felled hazel sapling has even been transformed into this great living hedge:

Again, don't miss it! And congratulations to everyone who has worked to make this possible  - George

Display time

The new paths, benches and chipping floor created by the Careforce group are a fine display in Brook Wood of what can be done. Even better, the path now extends past the marsh in which the colony of the attractive Large Bitter-Cress is just coming into flower - well worth a visit in the next couple of weeks, to see the elegant white flowers with their pretty purple-tipped anthers. There is even a bench in just the right position to sit and admire the display and listen to Chiffchaffs and many other singing birds.  - George

Spring life

Not much time to report recently but while marshalling a sponsored run on the Rail Trail I enjoyed watching the two local Buzzards soaring in display over the brook valley yesterday, obviously in response to two other Buzzards who were passing over much higher above. Also between Wheelock station and the bypass some nice Sweet Violets are in flower, paler than the common species.  - George

Winter Walk

An SWWG committee walk through Brook Wood generated some interesting ideas yesterday. Yet it was even nicer to see about 45 redwing flying around, and hear the robins in full swing, as well as calling bullfinch and grey wagtail. There are already hazel catkins growing and spring is not far away!  - George

Birds about!

At last week's family event (below), 15 sorts of bird were counted, including two Goldfinch overhead. Today many birds are moving. Having already (on the Environment Trail blog) recorded 29 Lapwing and 5 Buzzards flying towards Brook Wood, I headed down valley to see if the Buzzards or more birds were there. At both ends of Brook Wood were parties of Long-tailed Tits. Not only did I see these, I probably saved a life! At Townfields I had just started listening to them when a big female Sparrowhawk flew up, with great views, and away! Oops - no breakfast for her here today!  - George

Saturday 29th Brook Wood Family Event

It started out as a beautiful autumn morning and there were plenty of birds flitting around the woods; which means I'm sure it won't be long before the plentiful supply of bird feeders that were made are being put to good use!

Another popular activity was putting up the bird boxes that had been built at the Eco event in the summer.
This included the children using a compass to ensure the boxes were facing the optimum direction...

During the morning the weather deteriorated and we had a little rain so we spent some time huddling under the gazebo...

But it didn't dampen anybody's enthusiasm for artwork and we had a real gallery by the end of the event, some of it from the youngsters, some from the young at heart!!!

Look out for our next family event early in the New Year.