Local Students Help in the Park - Friday 19th February 2010

We were very fortunate to have some help from students of Havering Sixth Form College in clearing litter and debris left behind by people who had been taking advantage of the snowy conditions recently. As well as the usual bits of plastic 'for sale' signs there were the remains of various plastic box lids, some of which were quite hard and almost like pieces of glass. The pictures show some of the 'rubbish' collected during the morning. This 'event' was organised by Benjamin Sanderson, Countryside Projects Officer Environmental Strategy from Havering Council. Many thanks Benjamin and the students for their help.

March Work Day

Our next work day is on March 7th, which is the FIRST Sunday so that we do not clash with MOTHERS' DAY on 14th. As usual meet at the visitors' centre for a 10am start.

Work Day Update for Sunday 14th February 2010

Buried drainage pipes in channel, some broken

Large pieces of stonework, also buried in channel

Stan gets all excited over his new set of wheels !

And finally, water flows into the pond - success!

Well, we really excelled ourselves this time. We got the muddiest ever! We cleared the channel down from Queen Anne's Well to the pond in Nursery Wood. Great fun and lots of getting stuck in the mud. The ground downhill from the well was really waterlogged and this channel should help with the drainage. We found a few old bits of pottery land drain and a pair of very large wheels, with tyres, which looked like part of a farm trailer.

We've checked since, and with all the rain, the channel is doing its job.

Bird life in the Park!

The following birds have been spotted recently in the park:

Firecrest M & F

Redwings - 170+

Sparrowhawk (frightened the redwings)

Magpies - 42

Song Thrush - 3

Mistle Thrush

Chaffinches

Great Tits

Long Tailed Tits

Coal Tit

Nuthatch - 2

Wren - several

Dunnock

Collared Dove

Stock Dove

this is just an example of the bird life in Bedfords Park