Jess kyle

November 8, 2016 Jess kyle Funding

Friends of Garthorne Road minutes and funding

The latest Friends Group minutes are now available for all to view. At this latest meeting the Friends discussed how they should spend their £2500 funding on. The grant is specifically to improve the entrance to the site, but there are a lot of options open to them.

The funding has come as part of the Kenneth White legacy. Kenneth White, ‘was a widely published author of local environmental, social and geographical issues.’ He sadly passed away in 2012, but bequeathed some money to Lewisham’s Nature Reserves. It was agreed by the Lewisham Biodiversity Partnership that part of this money should be used as grants which for local Friends Groups could bid for to make improvements to their site. The first of these grants was awarded to the Friends of Garthorne Road to improve the entrance to the nature reserve and make it more welcoming.

August 22, 2016 Jess kyle Butterflies, Nature's Gym, Volunteer

Nature’s Gym workday at Garthorne Road

2 Alix and Helen — Creating butterfly scallops

The Nature’s Gym spent a happy few hours in Garthorne Road last week (18th August 2016), creating butterfly scallops in the woodland. Even as we were working we saw meadow browns and large whites and a few others that refused to keep still, so we couldn’t identify them. This is an on going management plan and hopefully will result in more butterflies and with any luck some flora. We did uncover some purple loosestrife and rosebay willow herb, and I think there may be a number of other dormant plants just waiting to be uncovered!

Why create scallops?

Woodlands are fantastic habitats for wildlife and including the 40 species of British butterfly. Open space is the most important part of a woodland for butterflies, especially on its edge habitat where the warmest conditions are to be found. Many woodlands have lost this vital habitat, but they are easy to recreate. The best woodland edges support a varied habitat structure. Cutting scallops creates a varied, zoned edge structure and also reduce shading along the adjacent ride and have great potential to improve any existing ride side butterfly habitat. They will increase the overall structural diversity of the woodland and provide sheltered herb-rich grassy areas.

We have followed the ‘Linear Cutting Regime’ with offset scallops) – which creates a far more varied habitat. For more information on scallops and why they are a great way to create new habitats, you might find this leaflet from The Butterfly Conservation Trust useful.

(Lots more information can be found on the Butterfly Conservation Trust website)

Other wildlife found in Garthorne Road

The rarely seen, tree climbing reindeer of Garthorne Road

July 26, 2016July 26, 2016 Jess kyle Friends Group

AGM 2016 minutes available

declaration_independence John Trumbull — The Constitution was agreed and signed!

The Friends of Garthorne Road held their AGM on 19th June 2016. At the meeting the Constitution and Committee were confirmed. This is great news and a huge step forward for the group. Congratulations to everyone involved.

They have a lot of exciting plans for the Summer, including Open Days, surveys and work days to help improve the site and find out what lives there! They would really like to smarten up the entrance to the site, because it can be difficult to find and isn’t very welcoming. Keep an eye out here for future developments.

April 6, 2016April 6, 2016 Jess kyle Great North Wood

Spotlight on Garthorne Road Nature Reserve – Wood Warbler

Recently, I was sent some articles from the Chair of the Friends. These articles were in the former Friends of the Great North Wood newsletter The Wood Warbler. The Great North Wood once stretched from Deptford to Selhurst. The largest remaining area of the Great north Wood is Dulwich Wood and Sydenham Hill Woods, both managed by London Wildlife Trust.

I am not sure how old this ‘Spoltlight on….. Garthorne Road Nature Reserve’ is, but the information is correct, including the overall management aim ‘to maintain a mosaic of habitats.’!

There are a number of other articles which you might find interesting. These are about the same tract of railway (New Cross – Forest Hill) and the water courses of the Great North Wood.

A Railside Green for 2000
Spotlight on New Cross Gate Cutting (Brockley Nature Reserve)
The Great North Wood Water Courses 1
The Great North Wood Water Courses 2

March 31, 2016 Jess kyle Uncategorized

New Friends of Garthorne Road meeting

board meeting

The friends we will be having a second committee meeting on
Date : Saturday 9th April 2016
Place : Devonshire Road Nature Reserve
Time : 10:30am

…

We have a busy agenda from deciding on the consittution to when the reserve open.The meeting will be open to all

If you are intrested in been a committe member or volunteering please leave a private message in their Facebook Page or contact the group.

February 15, 2016 Jess kyle Friends Group, Meeting

A formal meeting to establish a committee for FO Garththorne Road

There will be a formal meeting to establish a committee it will be held Devonshire Road Nature Reserve on Saturday 27th February at 3pm. At the meeting we will elect the following committee posts; Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Media & Communication and four other Committee members. We will also to agree to a Constitution (which I have two different copies of) and also set the agenda and timetable of work to be carried out at the reserve. As mentioned below and in an earlier post we would also like to establish a rota of people who are willing to open the site once a month If you are interested in becoming a committee member or would be keen to help in other ways, please email the group.

Where: Devonshire Rd Nature Reserve, 170-171 Devonshire Road, SE23 (The entrance to the site is opposite Tyson Road).
When: Saturday 27th February 2016 at 3pm

Friends Group off to a successful start
The group was set up by Jess Kyle(Lewisham Conservation) with the help of Ernie Thomason in late 2015 and we had a inaugural meeting on the 23rd January. Plenty of happy people braved the cold winds to join in with a walk around this wonderful site. Jess wanted to say a big thank you to everyone that came and for all the enthusiasm. She have high hopes that we can establish a group and get the site open on a more regular basis. On the day Jess recommended that we start the process by having a open day once a month to help build capacity. If we increase our numbers it will be easier for us to establish a group and become constituted.

January 27, 2016January 27, 2016 Jess kyle Friends Group, Open Day

Friends Group off to a successful start

It may have been a chilly morning, but plenty of happy people braved the cold winds to join in with a walk around this wonderful site. A big thank you to everyone that came and for all of your enthusiasm. I have high hopes that we can establish a group and get the site open on a more regular basis. On the day I recommended that we start the process by having a open day once a month to help build capacity. If we increase our numbers it will be easier for us to establish a group and become constituted. I know this may sound scary to some, but it is an important step if we want to bid for money that would otherwise be unavailable to the Council.

Ernie had this to say about our next steps;

“A big thank you to everyone that came along on Saturday it was a good turn-out of residents and others taking an interest and also would like to thank Jess for coming on her day off, I hope to have further conversation with Jess concerning proposed workday, tools and access to the site, I would also like to try and get a possible workday on a Saturday in mid-February on to take out some of the encroaching Holm Oak which shading out the native wildflower species and open up some of the woodland to allow light in and use the felled wood for path edging, hand rails and possible dead hedging. If you have any ideas please come forward with your suggestions, also organize and meeting to set up a committee.

I am going to the Lewisham Parks Forum which is a group of ‘Friends of’ networking together, It is been held on Monday 1^st February Honor Oak Pub, upstairs 7pm, St Germains Road SE23. Anyone who wishes to become a committee member feel free to come along.”

January 18, 2016 Jess kyle Friends Group, Open Day

Inaugural Open Day for Friends of Garthorne Road – 23rd January 2016, 10am

Join us on 23rd January 2016

A message from Ernie!

Hi Members

Thank you for the excellent support and all the members that have joined the group so far. Please spread the word and share this group, has I already mentioned that we had not formed a committee yet, if anyone is Interested in putting their name forward please either by leaving a message or letting me know at the meeting below.

I have organised an on-site meeting for Saturday 23rd January at 10am, with Lewisham Council Jess Kyle (Conservation Officer) to discuss future workdays. Please come along as it is a closed site you will not be able to gain access after 10.05 am.

December 10, 2015December 10, 2015 Jess kyle Friends Group, Open Day

Garthorne Road Friends Group gains grounds

The wonderful people of SE23 have been very enthusiastic about the creation of a Friends group for this fantastic site. We have had a great response from local residents who are keen to take part. We have even found someone who is prepared to lead a guided walk! We hope that something can be organised for Spring 2016, so keep an eye out for future posts and tweets.

If you are interested please contact me and I will add you to the mailing list. Don’t worry, you will not be inundated with emails – it is just so that I know to email you when the guided walk is organised and so that you get information on how the Friends Group is progressing. You can either email me or leave a message on this blog.