On June 4th we launch our Earth Trail in Emersons Green Park. Find out more about it and how it was made in this short video. We look forward to welcoming you to our launch event. Please share news of this through your contacts.
Do you like collecting interesting rocks? Do you wonder how they were formed?
I found this rock on a bank holiday walk from Portishead to Clevedon. It was on a beach surrounded by cliffs like this.
I would love to find out what it is. How did it get that curvy stripe in it? Why is it full of holes? How old is it? How was it formed?
These are just the sort of questions that can be answered in our all new Rock Competition, taking place during Earthfest. Take your rocks to Emersons Green Library between May 23rd and May 30th, fill in an entry form, telling us all you can about where they were found, then come along on May 30th at 2pm and meet Mark Howson at the library – who will tell us all about our rocks.
The full programme for Earthfest is now available. Please share the link with everyone. And don’t forget to book your places.
As you probably know Earthfest runs for a whole month this year and here is our first tranche of news about what you can expect.
May 28th will be a special day. In the morning at 10.30am you are invited to Lyde Green Community Centre to join the birds of nature and of fable in a journey of imagination called ‘A little bird told me’ with storyteller Michael Loader and musician Fiona Barrow. Expect a fascinating blend of story, music, dance, everything! Suitable for adults and children over 5. Poster here. Book your place now.
And then in the afternoon of May 28th, from 2- 4pm, come to Emersons Green Park and join the community opening of our new dinosaur garden, hear stories of our deep past, dance to the fiddle and accordion, make your own willow dinosaur or a little dinosaur footprint. No need to book. A poster to share here.
Finally, later on in the Earthfest season, on June 10th at 7.30pm we are delighted to welcome Charles Dowding, known across the UK, and even the world, as champion of No Dig vegetable growing. This is a rare opportunity for veg growers to learn from the deep insights gleaned from decades of experience and dedication. The venue is Resound Church, Blackhorse road. Poster available here. Book your place now.
Next to the willow domes stands our new creation, still very muddy and without any leaves yet, but our attempt at a living willow dinosaur. It is all part of a dinosaur garden that we will be shaping up over the next few months, designed to evoke our imagination about the time that the dinosaurs lived. We have based our attempt at a dinosaur on the Saltasaurus, a smaller member of the Titanosaur family, which lived on Earth around 100 million years ago.
More details of the garden and some upcoming events coming soon…
You may also notice that our website is being upgraded a little and the address is being changed to friendsofemersonsgreenpark.com…
Back in February I was worried that the new domes would not have enough water. I was planning on getting a watering team together. Then the heavens opened and the rain went on and on and on. Which brings me to the good news of course, all the willow has sprouted and the domes are looking very much alive.
The downside is that our work to make Green lane passable has been overcome by the wet. Well hey, with luck it will soon improve. The Friends have been busy as usual. We have a new bog garden in the orchard and we have done some work on the old painted stones garden, which had fallen into disuse. Check it out with its new willow fan and willow woven fence.
Also great news for those who love listening to the birds but are frustrated by the need to recognise their songs. There is a free app called the Merlin Bird app which you can put on Sound ID as you walk around and it tells you which bird is calling and gives you a nice picture and some info. I have been using it this week and it is amazing.
Finally, I am pleased to announce a new competition running up to our festival this year on July 1st. It is called I live here and it is an invitation to draw something from nature in the local area and tell us about it on a page of A4, all freehand. The competition is open to all ages. More details here
Have you heard the call of this gorgeous green woodpecker that has been around the park the last few weeks? Once you recognise its call, you will not forget it. I have uploaded it to the EGTC Facebook site. Here it is
There has also been an owl calling this year for the first time in the vicinty of Green Lane. We think it is a tawny owl and it can be heard late at night and early morning. So if you are having trouble sleeping, maybe cast an ear to the window. The presence of the owl might tie in with the glimpse I had this week of a little field mouse just by Green Lane. Clearly the owl is able to source its food here.
A little egret has also been scouting around the ponds in our park the last week.
All rather exciting I think. Maybe the birds have heard about the new community nature reserve and are coming to take a look!
Our community is certainly interested in the project. Around 65 people came to build bird boxes last weekend at the village hall in an event put on by EGTC Community Nature Reserve. If you have not registered your garden yet please do. An online form is available here.
Cold next week, but Spring is on the way!
I hope you like our two new willow domes by the toddlers play park. The plan is to link them with paths and create a new wildflower patch in the middle a bit like this.
This blackbird in amongst the dogwood would also like us to know that he is delighted with the launch of a community nature reserve in our area.
On January 19th Emersons Green Town Council launched a community nature reserve across the whole town council area including Emersons, Lyde, Blackhorse and parts of Mangotsfield. More than fifty people were at the launch and there was very obvious enthusiasm. The idea is that we should all work together to care for wildlife in the area. Everyone who manages a garden with wildlife in mind is invited to register it as part of the nature reserve. There is also a facebook site EGTC Community Nature Reserve where we can share our plans and any news of wildlife around us. You can register your garden here. Please register your garden even if you are just setting out on being wildlife friendly. The more gardens that we have engaged with this the more effective it will be.
Finally, guess where this picture was taken? It looks like a hot summers day in a field perhaps, but it is actually Lyde Green Lake in the winter sun.
Every day it is getting lighter, soon Spring will be here…
We have been working hard in Green Lane over the last few weeks. We were delighted with how the dry stone wall went. We learnt how to do it from You Tube! More recently we have been opening up some more areas of the lane so that the soil can see light with the intention of allowing more wildflowers to grow there and allowing us humans to access the path through the winter. The big project has been building a bridge over the mud near Cave Grove.
Julia’s dog clearly liked it! Julia said ‘It was amazing to be able to walk up Green Lane in November. Its usually a no go area. End up with welly boots stuck in the mud!’
I thought some readers of this blog might be interested in an event next Tuesday Dec 6th in Resound. I am hosting a conversation about home energy. It is a subject everyone is talking about just now. What can we do? A chance to talk to others and to get some inspiration. Come and join us. It is open to everyone.
I am sure you will have heard of the photo competition that the Town Council are running. They have asked people to submit their photos of local nature and the winning photos will be on a local calendar available soon. I hear that more than a hundred entries have been received! The winners will be announced at an exhibition to be held in the Village Hall next week, on October 20th, details below.
It is very good to sense how local people have got on board with this. As I see it, it is all part of the main task for human beings in these days, which is to develop a love for nature.
Friends of Emersons Green Park 
