Tag Archives: greenwich

Volunteer Morning – Saturday 5th April 2025

Yesterday’s volunteer morning was, yet again, impressively well attended. A large number of committee members, members of the local “Good Gym” and volunteers set to work on the morning’s tasks in warm and sunny weather.

A few weeks ago many young saplings were planted and these all needed to be watered. It was good to see that the soil was still quite moist despite the lack of rain.

It was noted that the pond level had dropped quite a bit from last month. By trimming back a hazel tree, we were able to plant 2 extra silver birch saplings in the space created.

In a small clearing on the upper part of the woodland, nettles and brambles were dug up to allow for grass “plugs” to be planted to create a more diverse flora.

Of course, with the warmer weather and brighter days, we are being rewarded with previously established plants such as primroses magically spreading to new areas.

By digging out brambles, this will allow the more delicate plants to thrive. And, of course, it wouldn’t be the same without our mid-morning coffee and biscuits break!

Finally, the fruit trees in the woodland are starting to come in to flower or they’ll have their buds opening in the next few days, such a delicate site.

Volunteer Morning – Sunday 12th January 2025

Our first volunteer morning of the year saw a large turnout but, wow, it was very cold! The main focus of the day was to plan for the year ahead, using the knowledge from Russell Miller’s site visit several weeks ago.

Topics and thoughts discussed were very varied, ranging from tree removal, coppicing of hazels, planting of more native bulbs and perennials, cutting back of ivy, removal of invasive plants and “tidying” up of deadwood to make it more beneficial to nature.

The accompanying photos show that the previous night was very cold, in places the frost looked like fresh snow! It was definitely below freezing as the pond had frozen over. But, the hazel catkins were in flower and tree leaf buds were present on an elder shrub.

Volunteer Day – Saturday 7th August 2021

What’s going on with the weather? It’s very rare that we get such horrible weather. This morning started off looking pretty grim, a brief 30 min dry spot quickly became a torrential downpour by 11:30. Added to a rumble of thunder and some lightning, it was decided to end the event early. There might be a mid-week event volunteer event later this month, keep a lookout on here. We had hoped to continue with the butterfly counting event, but in the brief time we were on site this morning, not surprisingly we didn’t see a single butterfly.

This morning in The Glade


No matter that the rain was pouring down, the fruit trees are starting to produce some good size apples and pears, let’s hope we can have an Autumn open day event.

Ripe and ripening blackberries and growing Bramley apples.

Needless to say, the pond needs no topping up with any water. It’s looking very well at the moment. The below picture shows some bulrush plants and flowers on the pond margins.

Bulrush plants.

Open Evening – Wednesday 21st July 2021

Our evening’s butterfly count results showed quite a various number of different species present. People recorded large whites, small whites, green-veined whites, commas, jersey tiger moths, red admirals and speckled woods.

Below is a photo of a jersey tiger moth captured by one of the evening’s volunteers.

We will continue the survey once again on the next volunteer morning on Saturday, 7th August, starting at the usual time of 10:00. You can download the app or ID chart and come along and do a survey www.butterfly-conservation.org

What will you find in the woodlands?