See below for up-to-date NEWS and our next Practical Session.
Practical Sessions:
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Volunteering is a great way to meet people, learn new skills, keep fit and contribute something to your local community. Why not join in on one of our Practical Sessions?
You can help in different ways ranging from practical conservation, recording the plants and animals on the site or help promote and manage the project as part of the Friends group.
It doesn't matter if you're young or more mature, we especially welcome families, but under 16's need to come with an adult for Health and Safety reasons.
Practical Sessions are held on the third Saturday of each month, except August and December.
We meet by the pond gates at 1.30pm and finish about 3.30pm.
It's best to wear a long sleeved top, bring a waterproof if it looks like rain, and have sturdy shoes or trainers. Gloves, tools and training are provided. We usually finish with refreshments - hot /cold drinks and biscuits!
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Saturday 18th February 2012
21 supporters and 2 hours hard work and despite the rain, we got plenty done!
It was a special day as we began planting our Jubilee trees, there’s 6 million free trees being planted all over the United Kingdom to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. We planted rowans, birches, oaks, hawthorns, hazels and others. Lots were planted in Twisty Thicket and towards the footpath where we’ve been coppicing recently. There were some more planted between the walkway round the large pond and the fence. I think we planted about 50+ today - I didn’t count them all at the end as I needed a cup of tea!
Jack and Emily did the honours with our special Royal Oak tree, this is a sapling grown on one of the Royal Estates. It was planted on the triangle of land at the viaduct end, between the apple tree and the path into the reserve. We plan to build a seat around this tree, so that after another 60 years, there’ll be a lovely place to sit in the shade.
Two groups set about clearing the areas where the Activity Trail stations will be sited. This involved clearing the area of brambles, small bushes and scraping the earth bare (see News below).
A couple of supporters litter picked so by the end of the session the whole Reserve looked a great deal better.
We had the usual cups of tea at the end of the session, served from the van as the wind was cold and it was beginning to rain harder. We had homemade buns and shortbread – it’s definitely worth coming for the quality of the refreshments!
We didn’t see much wildlife today but recorded what we saw of birds, flowers, fungi, amphibians and animals. I was excited at spotting a Redwing earlier in the week (I had to look it up in the bird book). We haven’t had any sightings of Munty lately, so if you see her, do let us know.
That’s about all for now! I hope you all have a good month –
Jane
Communications Officer
NEWS:
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who voted for us so we won the Grand Award of £1,000. It means we will be able to purchase the kits to build a further 2 stations, but we have a lot of planning and form filling to do before we can actually get stuck into building them, we’ll keep you informed…...
The AGM is only two and a half weeks away – it’s on Thursday 8th March, 7.30pm at the Parks Depot in Waterhouse Lane. Do come along and hear John Taylor talking about ‘Bumblebees – the unsung champions of the countryside’
Bring your friends and family, there’ll be free refreshments – wine and nibbles, so it’s going to be a good evening. I’ve attached the poster so you can print a couple and display them – this could encourage some new supporters to join us on the Reserve.
OPEN DAY is on Saturday 19th May - lots more details to follow soon.
Our March Practical Session will be on Saturday 17th March so hope to see you all there.
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Saturday 21st January 2012 Practical Session
Hi everyone.
I don’t know what it is about January, but we had a fantastic turn out! I counted 32 people, but there may well have been more! We welcomed Nick, and Catrina, Jack and Emily, and Manoah and also more of the Springfield Guides, Alanah, Amber, Amy, Isobel, Helena and Kate – all of whom came to help for the first time. We even had a donation of delicious cakes from Robert and Prue! Everyone’s hard work made a real difference to the Nature Reserve in the space of 2 hours.
One group set about clearing the areas where the Trim Trail (to be known as the Activity Trail) stations will be sited. This involved clearing the area of brambles, small bushes and scraping the earth bare. We’ll start building next month. (*see note below about Voting)
Another group did a lot of coppicing, sawing and felling trees, then cutting the logs and chopping up the smaller branches which were taken to the composting area in a lot of wheelbarrow loads!
We litter picked – it’s the best time of the year to reach all those places which are inaccessible once the brambles and nettles grow. Some of the younger supporters are becoming experts in collecting decorative pieces of china and interesting bottles.
There was probably other activities going on, so apologies if I’ve not mentioned your hard work, I just know the reserve looked a lot different by the time we packed up at the end.
We gave out leaflets to passers by, asking them to vote for us to receive a Chelmsford Grand Award of £1,000. This will help us build the Trim Trail.
If you haven’t voted yet – please do so NOW or by the 31st January – we are relying on everyone to support us as much as possible, so please encourage all your family, friends and colleagues to vote! And if you have already voted – a bit THANK YOU!
We need all the votes we can get to beat the other two groups we are competing against. The Essex Chronicle is doing a feature on the Grand Awards, so look out for us in next week’s edition. They sent a reporter and a photographer to the session today to find out more about us – I think they were impressed with what we were doing, so let’s hope we collect some more votes as a result of the article.
Remember – everyone will be able to use the Trim Trail for FREE – and this can be fun, increase fitness and encourage more people to enjoy the Nature Reserve.
We had the usual cups of tea at the end of the session, with the addition of cakes! We didn’t see much wildlife today but recorded what we saw of birds, flowers, fungi, amphibians and animals.
That’s about all for now! I hope you all have a good month, James took some photos, so check out the website in the next few weeks and see what’s new.
Jane
Communications Officer
The Friends of Marconi Ponds Nature Reserve
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| Thursday 8th March 2012 AGM |
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| Saturday 17th March 2012 Practical Session |
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| Saturday 21st April 2012 Practical Session |
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| Saturday 19th May OPEN DAY |
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