What a glorious few days we had last week! The Great Spotted Woodpecker was in the Tree of Heaven. The frogs beneath were laying down copious quantities of frogspawn in the Langley pond. And Spring was truly in the air. It is cold again for a few days now and the grind of lockdown continues, but Spring is with us and with it the hope that soon we will emerge, all jabbed up and friendly like.

I hear much on the airwaves about the Newlands bridge (between Lyde and Emersons) and its refurbishment. It seems we can look forward to the approaches to the bridge being substantially improved, plans are being developed and we will shortly be consulted.

There is also to be some work in the Park. The ponds are to be desilted later in the year, after the breeding season, so we should have some water again in the middle ponds. I walked around the streams with John Morris of South Glos recently and we saw four rats in half an hour! That is slightly worrying and underlines the importance of minimising food sources of all kinds in the park. We are also expecting some works around the footbridge area, which I know many of us have wanted to be improved.

Two pieces of other news;

Bristol City Council are offering an online conference entitled Love Nature, Love your park on March 20th. It will include sessions on meadows, ponds etc and is open to folk from South Glos. Some of us might like to attend. You can dip in and out according to what interests you.

I am sorry to report that there was an unpleasant incident involving a cyclist near the Langley entrance to the park last night (Thursday 4th March at about 5.30 – 5.45. If anyone saw this please let us know through this blog.

Finally our Friends management committee meets shortly (on March 15th) so if you have any particular interests or concerns you would like to raise ,please let us know via this blog or otherwise.