News

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Friends Group

Garthorne Road Nature Reserve wins Green Flag Award

https://greenflagaward.org/Green Flag Award Community Winner

Garthorne Road Nature Reserve is pleased to announce and been recognised and awarded as a Green Flag Award Community Winner. This is a key criterion for the Green Flag Community Award as it looks to how well the site relates to and encompasses the local and wider community.

  • Welcoming Place
  • Healthy, Safe and Secure
  • Well maintain and Clean
  • Environmental management
  • Biodiversity, Landscape and Heritage
  • Community Involvement

After 18 months that have seen our parks and green spaces play a vital role for people through lockdowns as a place to relax, exercise and meet friends and family safely, the news that Garthorne Road Nature Reserve has achieved the Green Flag Award is testament to the hard work and dedication of the Lewisham Council Conservation team and the reserve’s volunteers in maintaining and open the reserve that make the green space a great space that everyone can enjoy.

The reserve joins Darces Wood in Sydenham as well wider diverse sites as the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, Woodhouse Park in Peterlee and Chiswick Old Cemetery in London.

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Friends Group

Network Rail and Mitie workday

We was privileged to getting assistance from Network Rail and Mitie employees to clear the historically amount of fly tipped rubbish from behind Beadnell Road houses consisting from garden waste to bedframe to even an old oven and bits of motorbikes. We manage to fill a 10 yard skip which can take about 100 rubbish bags. Also some very angry wasps other wildlife found was several Slow-worms and a new species never recorded on the site Common toad and Sparrowhawk. A big thank-you to the team for all their hard work and Amanda from Network Rail for organising the event.

  • Common Toad
  • Common Toad
  • Female Sparrowhawk
  • Slow-worm
  • Slow-worm
  • Guarding the gate
  • The poser
  • One of a couple of dumped water tanks
  • Beadnell Road entrance
  • Bagging up old discarded books
  • More bagging up
  • Digging deep
  • Still on guard
  • Digging even deeper
  • The team
Workday and wildlife photos with kind permission from Amanda Holland

Female Sparrowhawk photo by Ernest Thomason

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Friends Group

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Taskday

volunteer taking out invasive species

Saturday 30th November 2019

11am – 3:30pm

The Friends will be taking out invasive species such as Snowberry and Holm Oak and will creating a dead hedge to encourage Hedgehogs and invertebrates to use. Also planting a Hornbeam tree.

All the workdays run from 11am – 3:3:30pm with a break about 1pm, bring food and drink if required. Please let us know so we can provide sufficient tools for the number of volunteers expected and please let as know when at the gate by phoning or texting Ernie (Chair and Taskday organiser) or you are coming at the last minute on 07707023359 as the gate is kept closed due to licence conditions by Network Rail.

We have gloves in limited supply, please bring gardening gloves if you have them and wear appropriate clothing and footwear for the weather and safety (No sandals please). The program of taskdays is subject to change or cancellation at short notice due to weather conditions and other matter out of the control of the friends groups. Tasks maybe swapped between workdays as necessary and maybe subject to weather conditions and will be cancelled at sometimes very short notice due to high winds or rain is forecasted

No Barbeques or dogs please

You can follow us on

Website: Garthorne Road Nature Reserve
Facebook: Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve
Twitter: @garthorneroadnr
E-mail:garthorne.reserve@gmail.com

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Friends Group

Reserve Open Day

Saturday 16th October

2 – 5pm

Guided walk with a local nursery

The Friends are opening the reserve for the last time this season. Come and explore and discover the wildlife. We have a self guided tree trail or a children’s mini beast hunt.

Also author Chris Schuler will also be at the reserve to launch his new book about the Great North Wood which Garthorne Road Nature Reserve was once part of it and contains historic maps and environmental evidence, The Wood That Built London charts the fortunes of the North Wood from its earliest times: its ecology, ownership, management, and the gradual encroachment of the metropolis.

Copies will be available for sale at £15 normally £19.99. (cash only please)

3 –  5pm

For further details contact us:

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Friends Group

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Bake-off and Cake Sale

Saturday 18 September 2021

Help us to raise money for interpretation boards around the reserve.

There are two trophies to be won – Best Baker and Best Junior Baker. It would be helpful if you could email us in advance at garthorne.reserve@gmail.com letting us know if you plan to enter and in which category you want your cakes judged

• Entries can be either large cakes which we can slice on the day, or cupcake/muffin style cakes in individual cases or wrappers

• All cakes should be brought to the reserve between 13:30 and 14:00 on Saturday 18 September. Judging will take place at 14:00 and it will be followed immediately by a presentation ceremony at which the winners will receive their trophies

• We will be selling cakes during the rest during the open day (14:00-17:00) to raise money towards interpretation boards for the reserve

Kindly sponsored by Sebastian Roche Estate Agents

For further details:

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Friends Group

Reserve Open Day

Saturday 21th August

2 – 5 pm

No pre-booking required

The Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve  are once again opening up the reserve for the public. Come and explore this quiet wildlife oasis bring a picnic and do the tree trail or mini beast hunt.

Suggested donation £2

We are co-vid safe but please wear a mask if queuing occurs and keep your distance from other visitors.

Are you interested in helping out?. We have regular workdays to maintain the reserve ranging from cutting the paths to controlling invasive species and building dead hedges for mammals.

2nd Saturday of each month, ours next one is:

11th September

16th October

We open the reserve to the public from April to October and are looking for volunteers to help us?.

PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND IF YOU HAVE SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19

Hand sanitiser will be available

We will be maintaining a 2m distance at all times.

Garthorne Road Nature Reserve it totally run and maintained by volunteers in partnership with Lewisham Council,  are you interested  in getting involved in the Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve (FoGNNR) volunteering as a  committee member or assist in managing the reserve on the  monthly workdays which are either on a Saturday or Sunday you can stay for as little or the whole day as you wish? garthorneroadnaturereserve.com/about/

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Butterflies, Events, Friends Group, Great North Wood, Insects, Open Day, Volunteer

Reserve Open Day

Saturday 21th August

2 – 5 pm

No pre-booking required

The Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve  are once again opening up the reserve for the public. Come and explore this quiet wildlife oasis bring a picnic and do the tree trail or mini beast hunt.

Suggested donation £2

We are co-vid safe but please wear a mask if queuing occurs and keep your distance from other visitors

Are you interested in helping out?. We have regular workdays to maintain the reserve ranging from cutting the paths to controlling invasive species and building dead hedges for mammals

2nd Saturday of each month, ours next one is:

11th September

16th October

We open the reserve to the public from April to October and are looking for volunteers to help us?.

PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND IF YOU HAVE SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19

Hand sanitiser will be available

We will be maintaining a 2m distance at all times.

Garthorne Road Nature Reserve it totally run and maintained by volunteers in partnership with Lewisham Council,  are you interested  in getting involved in the Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve (FoGNNR) volunteering as a  committee member or assist in managing the reserve on the  monthly workdays which are either on a Saturday or Sunday you can stay for as little or the whole day as you wish? garthorneroadnaturereserve.com/about/

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Friends Group

Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve

The Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve is having their next conservation taskday on the following dates. Volunteer  numbers is limited to 10 on first come basis.  

Saturday 10th July

Saturday 14th August

Register on Eventbrite

Please don’t book on to two consecutive session so that everyone gets a chance to volunteer. There will be a waiting list if the session get fully booked if you booked  a ticket but something comes up and you can no longer attend please cancel your ticket on Eventbrite so that it will become available for someone else.   We will be doing a range of jobs from controlling invasive species, path edging & dead hedge creation. I hope to do some further volunteer ID training sessions at workdays.

We are Covid safe and have prevention measures in place. Please follow these guide. Because it is a closed site to the public making it easier to maintain social distancing. We’ll be running volunteering a bit differently to keep everyone safe and will be maintaining the following precautions:

Please do not attend if you have symptoms of COVID-19  

Please avoid using public transport if you can

Hand washing facilities and hand sanitiser will be available

Please bring your own gardening gloves if you have them? otherwise we will supply you with an clean washed pair of gloves.

We won’t be providing hot drinks or biscuits so please bring lunch and drinking water

We will be maintaining a 2m distance at all times

We will be limiting volunteer numbers to 11 including the leader per workday

We will disinfect tools before and after each session    

Please wash clothes that you wear to the sessions regularly

We have be doing some heavy tasks and will require steel toe footwear and they will also be some tasks available that don’t require these but if you have some please bring them. and wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty and sturdy shoes (preferably steel toe cap boots)

Please note there are no toilets on the site but you are welcome to find a bush!

If you are going to be late please either text or phone me on 07707023359

We hold ours workdays on the second Saturday of each month throughout the year and the tasks varies month by month from small tree felling to doing surveying for butterflies during the Spring and summer. We have Co-vid prevention in place to protect the volunteers

The friends open the reserve to the public from April to October on the 3rd Saturday of each month April-September and are looking for volunteers to help us?.  

Garthorne Road Nature Reserve it totally run and maintained by volunteers in partnership with Lewisham Council,  are you interested  in getting involved in the Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve (FoGNNR) volunteering as a  committee member or assist in managing the reserve on the  monthly workdays which are either on a Saturday or Sunday you can stay for as little or the whole day as you wish? garthorneroadnaturereserve.com/about/  

Please see the Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Privacy Policy: garthorneroadnaturereserve.com/about/privacy-policy-for-networking-for-friends-of-garthorne-road-nature-reserve/  

      ·       Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve Beadnell Road, London SE23 1AA
A Oasis in the calm of Forest Hill