Speeding through February!

Primroses out in bloom. 

February has flown by for us! We started the month by welcoming in a volunteer group from Harlow College. The students helped to complete a huge litter pick of the reserve, cleared out the ditches and helped move some fencing materials into the newly coppiced area. Tough work but they did a great job!

We also had our visitors popping in to make a bird feeder for their own gardens. Lots of fun and mess to be had by everyone, with the kids having a great time getting their hands stuck into the feeder mix! If you made a feeder and hung it in your garden, let us know if anything interesting comes along for a bite to eat!

We also had our 4^th Afternoon Tea, which was nearly fully booked! Lots of tea was drunk and cakes and scones and sandwiches were enjoyed by all. Everything looked delicious and went down a treat. The weather was also lovely, with the primroses opening up beautifully in the sunshine!

Practicing our fire lighting skills...and tea drinking skills.

February also saw half term activities, such as a pre-school fairy-tale themed fun day! Hundreds of you joined us for a free trail hunt, messy play and arts and crafts. Although it was a bit muddy on the trail, it didn’t stop the youngsters from running around and enjoying themselves, finding the fairy-tale characters along the trail. Glitter and mud is quite an interesting combination to try and remove from the chairs in the classroom though!

Baking on a campfire at the training week. 

For staff, February saw the Manager, Josey, heading up to Cumbria for a training week on Forest School. With the practical assessments completed, we’re hoping to start running regular forest schools at the reserve as an afternoon club, so watch this space!

Visitors have been busy spotting some great wildlife this month, with a possible sighting of a Kite over the reserve. We’ve also started to see the birds carrying out their courtship behaviors, with the woodpeckers drumming throughout the reserve and thrushes singing within too. Frogspawn has also been spotted, so we’ll grab a bit and set some up in the visitor center for you to see how the tadpoles develop.

February’s photography competition winner is Carol Gifford, with a beautiful shot of the Oak trees in silhouette against a blue sky. Wonderful! The theme for March is ‘Signs of Spring’, so get snapping for your chance to win a 2-4-1 coffee and cake voucher! Be it buds on a tree or birds gathering nesting materials, there is lots to see out there!

February's photo contest winning entry!

A year of Blogging!

It’s January! Start of a New Year at the reserve so, Happy New Year to all! It's also a year sine we started blogging!

One of the noisy foxes!

As with the norm this time of year, we’ve been busy with our woodland work as always! With the warmer weather and mild winter, we’ve had, the trees are starting to bud and the sap inside is threatening to rise early, so our conservation volunteers are rushing to get the coppicing work finished around Harlow! The work within the reserve finished last month, however we now are needing to protect the coppice stools with fencing from the Fallow and Muntjac deer.

(The problem with the Deer is that their grazing of the stools whilst they’re trying to re-grow could kill the trees!)

Luckily though, most of the coppice is now fenced with a dead hedge and a larger, deer fence, so hopefully the trees are safe now! Our volunteers have also been processing the wood into logs and stacking them up Nordic-style! Have you seen the log stacks in the coppice area?

Nuthatch on the move

January was almost the only time Winter has really made an appearance with Snow! On our Hibernation themed weekend, the snow had fallen and visitors were greeted with a beautiful snowy wood. The Reserve is beautiful at the best of times, so looked simply gorgeous in the snow! I love the snow, not only because I’m a big kid, but also because it’s fantastic to show up footprints and tracks in! Whilst opening up in the morning I spotted Fox, Fallow ad Muntjac Deer, Pheasant, Squirrel and rabbit to name but a few!

Our feeders are certainly popular!

January is a great time to spot wildlife as the trees are skeletal and there isn’t much undergrowth to hide in. This month’s top spots were: Tree creeper, Nuthatch, Buzzard and the Foxes, who this time of year are busy claiming their territories. We’ve had local school groups enjoying the reserve during the winter months too, who were lucky enough to spot the foxes and several different bird species.

A Tree-creeper spotted by the conservation cnetre

The Bird were out in full force towards the end of the month, just in time for our Big Bird Watch, to coincide the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch. We had our very own Parndon Wood Bird Spotter Sheet available to download for free from our facebook and website, which lists the most commonly spotted species. Over the weekend, birds who were spotted were: Heron, Wood Pigeon Collard dove, Black Bird, Jay, Crow, Jackdaw, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Pheasant, Robin, Dunnocks, Green Woodpecker, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Coal Tit, Nuthatch and Tree Creeper, most of which were spotted outside the centre on our bird feeders!

We also had some building work done on the centre, with bran new, shiny, double grazed windows put into the classroom! They look SO much better than the last lot, and keep the wind and weather out, unlike their predecessors! The clear glass also lets in a lot more light and you can now see the trees around the centre too! Lovely!

Our monthly photography competition crowned a new winner too. With the theme set to ‘Winter Wonderland’, Dan Purdy was this months’ winner with a shot of a Robin in the Snow. February’s theme is simply ‘silhouettes’…good luck!

January's winning entry for the photo competition!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

As we enter the last few weeks of 2015, we still have plenty to do before we relax over the festive season!

Our volunteers hard at work.

Our volunteers worked extremely hard to finish our woodland management programme of the coppicing work. A relatively large area of the wood has been transformed! Not only were the Hornbeam trees coppiced successfully before the Christmas break, but a wonderful dead hedge was constructed with the smaller brash materials from the work. This is to dissuade visitors from entering the coppice, as well as to act as a barrier to our deer, who would graze and eventually kill the trees!





Brilliant work!

One of Santa's naughty elves!

Looking for a cuddle

It wouldn't be December without seeing Santa! In his busiest time of year, Father Christmas took a break from sweaty shopping mall grotto's to relax in our woodland grotto! He met lots of our visitors (some of which admitted that they may have be bordering the good list, but which were told there were a few days left until Christmas and that if they tried, they could get safely on the good list!). Our visitors even helped Santa to gather his naughty elves up by finding out which ones had run into the forest with our Elf Trail.

Now because the reindeer needed to save their strength for the work on Christmas Eve, Father Christmas brought some lovely Donkeys along for the weekend. We're still not quite sure who was happiest, the younger visitors to be able to get up close and stroke the Donkeys or the Donkeys to have a stroke constantly throughout the weekend!

The big man himself!

With the warm winter we've so far experienced, we have noticed some unusual sights for this time of year. Some of our wild Primroses are starting to bloom (usually an early spring flower!) as well as some blossom spotted within the reserve! Will winter arrive in early 2016? Only time will tell but we do hope that, if a cold snap does occur, it doesn't dessimate our wildlife who all seem to be a few months early!

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

Fantastic Fungi in October!

October we are saying is the month Winter arrived...

The Month started off quite Autumnal and the reserve looked absolutely beautiful! When the sunshine arrived, the colour of the leaves really made the reserve look painted in gold!

Cleared Aspen Site

Throughout this month we have had our volunteers working extremely hard around the conversations centre. They’ve done a great job clearing a section of Aspen trees growing between the centre and the pond dipping area. The trees haven’t been killed off and are quick to regrow, so in a years’ time the area will look different once more!

We’ve not cleared all the Aspen in this area as the trees are closely associated with several moth species, so only the larger patch, where the trees were in danger of putting pressure on the Oaks have been cleared.

Deceiver Mushroom

Amethyst Deceiver

The Volunteers have also been busy relocating some wildflowers to the entrance way and down to the centre. Where work was carried out earlier in the year to open up some of the nature reserve to encourage wildflowers to grow there has been a huge mat of foxgloves. These will eventually out-compete each other, so not all will fully mature, so it is these which have been located. It should look lovely in the spring and early summer!

Some fantastic costumes!

This months events such as our Fungi Walk and of course, Halloween. On the Fungi Walk, we had guided tours throughout the weekend by expert Peter Coomber. In total we managed to identify 37 species of fungi, with more being found throughout the weekend too! Have a look at our Facebook page for a selection of photos of the fungi. We are always amazed at the variety of fungi which are in the reserve, which range from Orange to Purple to Red in colour. Some are simply beautiful! If you’re interested in fungi, or indeed wildlife in this area, make sure you have a look at the Essex Field Group annual exhibition, occurring on Saturday 5th December 2015, 11:00 - 4pm at Wat Tyler Country Park.

Pumpkins entered into the competition at Halloween

Halloween is an event which always gets a good crowd in and this year was our biggest event, with nearly 1,000 visitors enjoying the fun in a space of 4 hours. We had competitions running for the best pumpkins and best costumes, with some simply fantastic entries! A huge thank you must of course go to the volunteer scarers and members of staff who gave up their evenings to help and make you jump around the trail. We know we got a good few of you to scream!

October certainly saw the start of winter arrive, with most of the leaves starting to fall. One good thing about this time of year is that less leaves makes the wildlife easier to spot! This month our favourite spot was a beautiful Blue Pheasant, a shot by one of our visitors can be viewed online. We also had lots of Fallow Deer sightings as they display as part of the rutting season. With the leaves nearly all off for the start of November, it will be interesting to see what comes out next month!

Blue Pheasant

Back to School September

September has finally come. With the kids back to school this month, we are entering a quieter time at the nature reserve. Quieter for visitor footfall, but still busy as ever for wildlife sightings!

A Green Woodpecker sighted

Towards the end of this month, the deer have been more visible as the rut season approaches. We’ve also had lots of sightings of groups (or a ‘wake’) of buzzards (Buteo buteo) flying above the reserve, with 4 spotted catching thermals together. These are one of the largest birds regularly spotted in the reserve, so keep an eye on the skies if it’s a sunny day and you may just seem them!

We’ve also had a few good sightings of our largest woodpecker species, the Green woodpecker (Picus viridis). These bright green birds can be quite tricky to see and are easier to find by following their loud, laughing calls.

September has also brought with it a new member of staff! Introducing Kathy, our new café assistant. Make sure you say hello to her when you’re next in. She’s a great addition to the team and we’re looking forward to working together to be able to plan lots more events, stay tuned!

A Female fallow deer spotted in the reserve.

During this month we ran a few family days focusing on art, with our Arts in Nature event as well as seasonal changes towards the end of the month, with our It’s Autumn event. Some absolutely brilliant pieces of art work were made at both events to celebrate this time of year. Our favourite was ‘camp acorn’. We’ve put some of the pieces up on display on our wall of cool in the classroom so have a look at these when you next visit the reserve!

Our conservation workers have been busy as always this month and you may have spotted them in the local paper as we celebrated the official raising of the green flag. Once again, fantastic work by our volunteers over the last year and they’re already busy with projects for the next year

A Selection of some of our fantastic volunteers with their hard earned green flag

August; last few weeks of the summer holidays!

Parndon Wood Honey on sale now!

August has absolutely flown by for us! Maybe it was because we were so busy! The first weekend in August saw our annual bee weekend alongside Harlow Beekeeping Association. This was a great weekend, with honey tasting, candle rolling, live demonstrations, honey cake for sale in the café and bee-themed arts and crafts for the kids to be occupied with. We had some excellent bee bags made, which went home filled with lovely was candles! With all things bee-related going on this weekend we also released our own honey for sale! It was by far the most popular honey of the weekend, so make sure you pop into the café to pick a jar up (Jut £5!).

Live bee hive demonstrations

Getting crafty with our bee crafts!

Following the good weather (at least it didn’t rain all the time!) we had our dragonfly weekend! We managed to find a few nymph cases from emerged dragonflies from our ponds. We snipped these off and had them available for our visitors to see. We also snapped a few, with our favourite snap being of a female Southern Hawker. The dragonfly weekend saw our visitors learning all about these incredible insects with our trail hunt and also gave them the chance to make their own lollipop dragonflies too! We have a funny feeling these will be making an appearance in our visitors’ school scrap books!

Southern Hawker Dragonfly

Bug Eyes

When the sun shone, our animal sightings went up too! Lots of deer have been spotted from our ‘Deer Hide’ throughout this month, along with several sights of grass snakes and lizards appearing on the spotters board in the visitor centre. Lots of visitors have also been spotting our toadlets as they walked around the trail, so keep an eye out for these and make sure you don’t stand on any! They’re quite small, only about the size of your little finger nail, so look a bit like hopping pebbles.

Towards the end of the month we held our final bat walk of the season. With nearly 80 of you turning up, we were certainly busy but all of you had a great walk! Lots of bats were spotted once again, so a special thanks to the experts from Essex Bat Group (Steve and Frances especially) who have helped us with these great walks. Keep an eye on the calendar next year for our next bat walks!

Hammer pictures

Forest school village making

As many of your probably notice, the clock is ticking down until the kids head back to school (is that a sigh of relief from tired parents we hear??). Some of you have been at ‘school’ already this summer by participating in out Forest school! We’ve had an excellent set of sessions this summer, which saw our students developing their identification skills, social skills and self-confidence. Some days the weather was kinder to us than others though! But regardless of weather, there were smiles all around! We’ve made some fantastic leaf pictures and managed to get a fire to make hot chocolate and toast marshmallows on in our final session! (Accompanied by biblical amounts of rain…who doesn’t like a challenge?!). A huge thank you to all the participants! The success of this school is such that we are planning our next session as an after school activity, so keep an eye on our Facebook, twitter and website for updates on this!

Toasting marshmallows in the rain!

We’ve had such a great year that we started looking for an extra member of staff, so step forward Kathy as our new Café Assistant! Kathy is a brilliant addition to the team here, so next time you’re in, pop in and say hello to her!