The Friends are holding their annual Bake off with prizes and also reserve Open Day come and have a look around to see the wildlife and bring a picnic along if you want.There will be some children activities such as hunting mini beasts as well a Tree Trail sheet as well.
Suggested donation £2
Please note there are no toilets on the site.Sorry No Dogs or BBQ’S please.
The Garthorne Road Nature Reserve is run wholly by volunteers. Any profits or donations are used to maintain or improve the Nature Reserve and provide educational events for the local community. Donations to the reserve is welcomed.
The next workday we will be making some paths safe for the Open Day and cutting back invasive species. After lunch either volunteer tree ID training or conduct butterfly transect recording the number of species on-site.Please bring lunch and drinking water and wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty and sturdy shoes (preferably steel toe cap boots).
The Friends of Garthorne Road Nature Reserve are continuing their conservation workdays to maintain and preserve the nature reserve and increase the biodiversity.If you have any questions please contact the Conservation Co-ordinator Ernie Thomason at ernestthomason@talktalk.net or garthorne.reserve@gmail.com
Please note there are no toilets on the site you are welcome to find a bush!.Tickets will be offered on a first come first serve basis. There will be a waitlist so if you book 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’ll continue to maintain the following precautions:Volunteer numbers will be limited.
Please do not attend if you have symptoms of COVID-19 or have been asked to isolate by the NHS Test and Trace.If you do have Covid-19 symptoms or need to isolate and get tested, please inform us should you test positive after recently attending a volunteer session. We will then inform other attendees (anonymously) and advise/take the necessary safety precautions.Hand sanitiser will be available.We will maintain distance during tasks and refreshment breaks as much as possible, unless the specific task at hand requires closer contact, in which case, the use of masks is advised, but is ultimately at individual’s discretion.Contact with shared items (including tools) should be minimised and where possible,Many thanks and see you soon!Ernie (Conservation Co-ordinator)
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
The rarely seen, tree climbing reindeer of Garthorne Road
Hi there and welcome to our new site. We hope that this blog will help us generate interest in this fantastic site and encourage local people to visit and take part in events and open days. We can not do this alone, so if you are interested, please contact Lewisham’s Nature Conservation Officer, Jess Kyle who will be able to give you more information.
We really hope to establish a friends group for this site and will be writing more about this in due course.
Garthorne Road Nature Reserve 