GET INVOLVED

We have a schedule of events for the year ahead. Join us on one of our practical days which offer the chance to learn new skills and get your hands dirty doing conservation tasks. Come and learn more about species in the park on our wildlife walks or become part of the Friends Committee which meets to discuss the functioning of the group.

FoSNCP hold a practical workday on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month to undertake conservation projects within the park.

At present we’re meeting at the council compound – the locked gates right by the tramline, on the vehicle access road at 10 AM. We usually finish around midday and enjoy a hot drink & biscuits.

Training and tools are provided. Please wear clothes suitable for outdoor activity and the weather, bring your own gloves if you have them.

We recommend sturdy footwear. Activities are subject to change at short notice.

If you would like to register to join us, please contact us by email – friendsofsncp@gmail.com. We can then let you know if we can offer you a space on a Saturday morning.

WORKDAYS 2023

For previous years – see the archive!

January 14th 2023

On a very soggy and windy day, our group of volunteers headed towards a little wooded area between the mound and the car park. This area has a wonderful display of primroses in early spring but they need room to breathe. As we cleared the overgrown brambles, we soon discovered the primroses. Hopefully, by clearing a wider area, this will allow the primroses to spread and develop into new clumps.

January 28th 2023

For today’s workday, one group of volunteers made their way to the woodland area next to the cemetery path. We’ve reported on our conservation work in this area over a number of years in previous reports. We’ve planted whips of native species every year for the last 6 years and just over a year ago, London Wildlife Trust planted more substantial trees. Both FOSNCP and The Conservation Volunteers have created dead hedges bordering this developing woodland area. The dead hedges are made using hazel stakes mainly coppiced from Kings Wood and coppiced branches and vegetation collected from around SNCP. The dead hedges protect the trees from  ‘over enthusiastic’ mowing and provide a natural habitat for wildlife important to the biodiversity of our nature reserve. To continue the work on the hedges, our volunteers dragged willow branches from a pile recently coppiced by TCV. It was heavy work dragging them from one side of the woodland to the other and then adding them to the hedge. Our efforts were rewarded when a vole was spotted moving in to its new home.

Our other group of volunteers continued the work of The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) creating low willow hurdle fences along part of the Seasonal Path. We planted hedging whips in this area in December & we wanted to provide some protection to this planting. We also want to protect one of the meadows from so many dogs running through the hedge area, bordering the meadow.

February 11th 2023

February 16th 2023

March 11th 2023

FoSNCP worked in conjunction with TCV and LWT (London Wildlife Trust) on tree planting this week finishing with our workday today. As part of their Great North Wood project, LWT donated a mixture of mature trees and smaller trees/whips (rowan, beech, hornbeam among them) to add to those they donated and planted last year. Volunteers from LWT, TCV and FoSNCP braved the snow on Wednesday to plant some of them in the meadow next to the cemetery. On Thursday, more poplars were added to the area on the other side of the path next to the lake. The other tree planting project took place in areas around the brook next to Harrington Road. As a designated Local Nature Reserve, SNCP must have areas set aside where wildlife can thrive undisturbed. As explained below, the brook always was one of these areas and we hope that it will be once again. To protect the area and create a natural habitat, we planted hedgerow trees such as hawthorn and dogwood roses in staggered double and triple rows. 

We continued the work of The Conservation Volunteers, creating a fence along the path edge, where new hedging trees were planted. The idea is to ‘reclaim the brook’ by Harrington Road tram stop for the wildlife in our nature reserve. In years gone by it was possible to see ducks and even water rail in this area. Sadly we don’t see them here any longer as the brook is frequently accessed by people and dogs. The fence is a ‘Found Fence’ constructed from branches & other dead wood that we found lying in the vicinity.

March 25th 2023

We were a bit low on numbers today so rather than splitting into two groups for different tasks, we concentrated on the one. We returned to the meadow near the cemetery path where our growing woodland can be found. We had to reposition some of our recently planted trees where the clay soil was retaining too much water. We also finished securing the remaining trees to posts with hessian ties – essential given the gusts blowing that day. On our way back, we passed by the entrance to the wetlands where a very large tree had fallen across the path following the recent strong winds. We managed to saw the branches off to clear the path and put the cuttings in our dead hedge at the ‘beach’ edge of the lake. The main trunk is still lying across the stream but that is a job for the Council.

April 8th 2023

Despite the long bank holiday weekend, we were fortunate to have around 14 volunteers which meant we could cover several tasks. Two groups had the job of collecting and preparing logs ready for TCV’s work in SNCP next week. Making use of fallen trees, we measured and cut logs to size. TCV will use them to make log walls as natural barriers around the lake as well as creating habitats for bugs and insects.

A few of us were tasked with clearing some of the brambles that were beginning to overhang the path which runs alongside the tram track, towards Harrington Road. We were careful to just snip off the overhanging vegetation as we were aware that it is bird nesting season. It was apparent that walkers had already begun to break off overhanging brambles & we wanted to tackle this task before the growing season got too far advanced.

April 22nd 2023

Our volunteers split into three groups today for three different tasks. The first task was to open up the path that runs directly from the tram track crossing to the playground. This is a very pleasant route because the trees and bushes form an arch over the path but it has become overgrown and limited the height for those walking through. We used loppers and a long handled saw to cut it all back. A second group of volunteers went in search of giant hogweed near the Harrington Road brook and along the cemetery. Having found a couple of clumps of this invasive species, great care was taken to remove it.

May 13th 2023

May 27th 2023

June 10th 2023

June 24th 2023

July 8th 2023

One of our annual tasks is to do maintenance work on the culvert that fills the lake. After you walk past the ‘beach’ area of the lake and turn left, you cross the bridge over the culvert. The pool is visible on the right where water flows from another culvert into it and then through to the lake. The flow of water becomes inhibited by the build up of silt in the concrete culvert caused by overhanging branches and fallen leaves. This is a particularly messy task and we are grateful to The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) for the loan of their chest waders so that we can get stuck in (literally – the silt is quite thick!). The lake is full of water at the moment but having cut back and cleared the vegetation blocking both sides of the culvert, the water will flow more easily when the water levels get low.

July 22nd 2023

One group of volunteers (those who had remembered their wellies!) headed to the stream adjacent to Goals on the Elmers End side of the park. This stream is very seasonal in terms of water levels and usually dry in summer but the mud is thick and sticky, hence the need for wellies. The lack of water gives us the opportunity to cut back overgrown vegetation and rake up leaves and bits of wood from the bed of the stream before the autumn rains start to fill it up. The reason for doing this is to prevent as much silt forming as possible caused by the leaves and wood mulching down. As well as cutting back vegetation from the sides, two volunteers, wearing hard hats, worked together using the pole saw to cut overhanging branches with the purpose of letting in more light as well as reducing the chance of leaves falling into the stream.  You can see by the photos what a difference this morning’s work made.

Six of us headed down the path that runs alongside the tram track from Harrington Road to near the compound. It is quite a winding path in places & so it is good for as clear a sight-line as possible to see people coming towards you from round a bend. Clear lines of sight are safer for walkers & cyclists. Indeed a couple of fast moving cyclists met us, so we explained what we were doing & they promised to slow down. Another walker commented about how much she hated stinging nettles – we cut down plenty of these! We worked to reduce the height of the vegetation growing alongside the path, using shears & loppers. Previously a farmer was regularly trimming back the vegetation but now that the tree branches are overhanging in places, he no longer does this task.

August 12th 2023

A few weeks ago, a willow tree fell down across the path near the ‘beach’ area of the lake and was cleared by Parkrun as it was blocking their route. Today‘s workday task was to cut up the tree and use the logs and branches to construct a hibernaculum. This is a safe habitat for hibernating creatures such as frogs and toads to spend the winter. We filled the hibernaculum with the brash (the foliage left behind from the willow tree). We packed the rest of the brash into our dead hedge which acts as a barrier to protect the wildlife on the lake as well as a habitat for bugs and other small creatures.

August 28th 2023

September 9th 2023

September 23rd 2023

Continuing our work of the last few weeks, we finished the last of our hibernacula for a while. We returned to the area on the other side of the tram track near the Westgate Road entrance to the park. We prepared stakes made from hazel coppiced at Littleheath Woods by cutting them to size and using an axe to point the ends. After putting the stakes into the ground, we filled our hibernacula with the rest of the arisings from the path maintenance work. We now have three hibernacula in this area providing safe places for hibernating creatures as well as tidy storage areas for the arisings.

October 14th 2023

The first task for the main group of volunteers was to head to the lake to finish off the task begun by TCV on their last workday in SNCP.  Some months ago, TCV created a dead hedge to protect the reed bed at the lake. They recently cut back the willow in the reed bed and added the arisings to the hedge as well as extending the length of the hedge.  More hazel stakes were needed to complete this so some volunteers from FoSNCP collected them from Kingswood in Selsdon and brought them to SNCP. They then completed the dead hedge with the extra stakes and processed the coppiced willow to create a barrier to protect the reed bed and the birds that nest there such as Reed warblers, Sedge warblers and Water rail. The dead hedge will also provide a habitat for insects.
A smaller group of three volunteers filled the last of the hibernacula mentioned in previous reports.

October 28th 2023

November 11th 2023

November 23rd 2023

December 9th 2023

Our volunteers continued work started by TCV (The Conservation Volunteers) on their workdays in SNCP. The location was the Elmers End side of the lake and the task was coppicing willow. Coppicing is a way of managing woodland going back many years. Originally used to provide a ready supply of firewood and timber, nowadays it is used as a way of increasing biodiversity in the woodland by creating a range of habitats for wildlife that thrive there. Coppicing can rejuvenate trees and help them live longer as well as letting in light to encourage growth of woodland flowers. We used the arisings from the coppiced wood  to build up and repair the dead hedge around that side of the lake. The aim is to protect the wildlife on the lake by deterring dogs and illegal fishermen from getting to the water’s edge.