We had an excellent Bat Walk on Friday night. Gail Armstrong from North Lancashire Bat Group talked with the children about bats - how they eat, sleep, and find their way around. She brought 4 pipistrelle bats for us to look at. They were rescued after being injured and she is looking after them until they can be released.
At dusk we walked into the Community Garden and watched as bats flew around, and listened to them on the bat detectors that Gail brought for us to use. We had a collection at the end - and raised £20 for the Bat Group. It was a wonderful evening.
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The next work session in the park is on Saturday 20 August from 2-4pm.
We will meet in the Community Garden and will be clearing brambles, nettles, and other unwelcome plants. If we have time we will also clear the paths near Parkfield House. And of course we will do a litter pick! All welcome! Come and see the bats in the park on Friday 26th August. We'll meet at 8.00 pm near the Play Park. The walk will be led by Gail Armstrong from the North Lancashire Bat Group. Gail will tell us all about bats, and she will be bringing along some bat detectors to help us to hear the bats as they fly overhead. Spooky!
About 20 people came and enjoyed a fascinating walk around the Park guided by Steve Bullen. The group were introduced to 32 of the native and non-native trees around the park. It was a great try-out for the Tree Trail that we are currently developing. The trees that were included on Steve's tour included: Turkey Oak Blue Atlas Cedar Wych Elm Cappadocian Maple Caucasian Wing Nut Hornbeam Holm Oak Scots Pine Alder Buckthorn Deodar cedar Sweet Gum Cider Gum Gingko Locust Tree Silver Birch Handkerchief Tree Noble Fir Grey Poplar Roble Beech Honey Locust Tulip Tree English Oak Antarctic Beech Norway Maple English Yew Grand Fir Common Lime On the top path, a fox appeared, then ran back into the grass. It's the first fox we have seen in the park. We also noticed that the tulip tree near the play park is flowering this year (see photo). There will be a guided walk on Sunday looking at the trees in the park. This is part of the Lancaster Green Spaces ‘Trees in the Urban Landscape’ programme.
Meet at the playground at 2.30. On Tuesday we were visited by 19 members of the 16th Lancaster Rowallan Cubs, From Dorrington Road. These lively boys and girls had made 10 Bird Boxes which they presented to us to put up in Greaves Park. We were very glad to have them to add that the 11 that we have already, and look forward to putting them up and watching to see who decides to nest in them
To thank the Cubs for their efforts we showed them around the park, walking (or running!) through the Community Garden, where we pointed out a Bee Hotel, and also looked at a Bat Box on a Sycamore Tree just outside. Then we went up to the Hole in the Wall and looked at a tree which is probably the oldest tree in the park. We measured the tree to find out how old it is, and we were impressed to find it is approximately 160 years old! The Cubs rounded off a lovely evening with some great games on the Parkfield Lawn. Many thanks to Minusha and Mark for organising the visit, and to Robin for the excellent games, and especially to all the Cubs for making the Bird Boxes, which we will be putting up in the Autumn We are very lucky to have numerous paths around the park and they are very well used by people passing through or simply walking around enjoying the lovely green environment. These paths proved particularly popular in Lockdown and many people have continued to enjoy the paths since then
Some paths can get very muddy in places when the weather is wet. As people try to avoid the muddy patches, and with increasing use, these paths have been getting very worn and much wider The result is severe damage to some of the grass and meadows on either side. The Friends have obtained funding from the Council's Making Spaces Fund to improve those paths that get very muddy and which are sometimes almost inaccessible in winter. The paths will be crushed stone and in keeping with the natural surroundings. Towards the end of June work will start on making two hard-surfaced paths in the Community Garden and one along the side of the former Croquet Lawn. We hope that you will appreciate the improvements! And if you’re walking round the park, look out for the lovely pink Sycamore keys (photo) on the tree near the willow wigwam and tunnel, and the Wingnut trees (photo) at the far end of Parkfield lawn. The wall on the South side of the park next to Belle Vue Terrace was in danger of collapsing., so it had to be demolished, Now it has now been rebuilt and the pillar at the end has been repaired, so it looks much better.
Many thanks to the Council for organising the repair. We did a lot of work in the park on Saturday, weeding and clearing the more aggressive plants from the wildflower beds in the Community Garden, mainly cleavers, goosegrass, nettles, brambles, and some thistles, so that the other wildflowers we planted have more space. And we planted some giant sunflowers, which will hopefully provide lots of pollen and nectar for various insects, and seeds for seed eating birds. We also did a litter pick - filling another big bag...... In preparation for the Tree Trail, which we hope to launch later in the year, we put labels on about 30 trees. They are a mixture of native and non-native trees and the labels also indicate where the tree comes from. The photos show the label for the tulip tree from eastern North America and its lovely leaf. There is a group of 3 tulip trees near the play park. The wildflower patches are attracting butterflies and other insects. We saw a Common Blue Butterfly on the Wild Flower Meadow on the left of the driveway up to the pub. It had been feeding on some Bird's Foot Trefoil nearby, which is the main food plant for the Common Blue. It is a very small pretty butterfly.
Our next work party will be on Saturday 21st May from 2.00-4.00pm.
We will meet in the Community Garden. There's a lot of weeding to do. New volunteers are very welcome! If you are not sure where the Community Garden is have a look at our map. It is to the left hand side of the driveway that leads up to the Greaves Park pub and restaurant. Make your way through the gap in the hedge and into the Community Garden. If you have any gardening gloves or weeding tools feel free to bring them along. If not don't worry, we will be sure to find you some. |