Whistle stop tour of November!

November has been a rather wet and chilly month, with some unusually warm spells, which again has flown by!

Part of the displays available at the mammal weekend.

We kick started the month with our mammal weekend. At the event, we had members from the Harlow Badger Group and Essex Bat Group with displays and lots of information for our visitors! The weather wasn’t particularly in our favour, with rain, rain and more rain forecast but nonetheless a few visitors wrapped up to learn all about these and other mammals found in the Parndon Wood area.  We also showcased some of our favourite clips from our camera traps featuring a whole host of mammals from within the reserve. Have a look at the DVD next time you’re in!

Our delicious afternoon tea!

 November was certainly a month for new events, with our first ever Afternoon Tea held on Friday 13^th. Although seen as unlucky for some, the weather held and our visitors enjoyed some delightful treats along with some late Autumn sunshine!  With the success and good feedback received, we are now planning on holding this event on a monthly basis, so the 2^nd week of each month is now booked for our Afternoon Teas! The next one is due to be held on Friday December 11^th, so make sure you book in advance if you’re looking to enjoy a festive afternoon tea!

As the weather turns colder, we try to help the feathered residents of the reserve and held a make your own bird feeder weekend at the end of November. Visitors got stuck in to make a tasty treat for their birds to take home with them. Delicious! This activity is available throughout the winter months, so if you missed the weekend, just ask staff on your next visit and they’ll help you to make a fat ball too!

A slightly sorrowful sight

The new revamped bug hotel!

Throughout the wintry weather, our volunteers have been working as hard as ever. They spent a few days clearing out reeds and weeds from the large pond overlooked by the main hide, so now you can see the pond! Now that most of the leaves are fallen from the trees, towards the end of the month we started our coppicing work! It may look like we’re cutting down trees but coppicing is a process where, by cutting the tree at ground level when there are no leaves, the tree is able to regrow. This woodland management technique has been used for hundreds of years. Although previously used to supply the area with a continuous amount of firewood, we coppice our Hornbeam to provide a variety of habitats for a variety of life, helping to maintain a high level of biodiversity within the reserve. Not only have our lovely volunteers done all of this work, we also managed to fit in time to refurbish our bug hotel! It’s been looking quite sorry for itself in recent months, so was long overdue a face lift! We completely took it apart and refilled it. Have a look at it on your next visit and see how many more nooks and crannies we’ve made for wildlife to live in!

The wildlife sightings have been quite normal, however we were amazed to see butterflies having a final flutter in mid-November! The mild weather has brought them out extremely late. We’ve also had visitors seeing the blue pheasants again, a fox and a selection of fallow and muntjac deer. A female sparrow hawk was spotted in the non-intervention area too, as well as lots of woodpeckers and woodland birds. Now the leaves are fallen, the birds are much easier to spot! 

Greater spotted Woodpecker looking for some food in a fence post