Wapley Work Morning - Sunday 24 January - come and join in!

Our next work morning will be on Sunday, 25 January. We will be doing some traditional woodland management - coppicing, in other words removing excess growth of self-seeded ash - in the Centenary plantation.

Then we'll will bring the brash - the cut material - down to places where we need to reinforce and rebuild dead hedging. Dead hedges are barriers made entirely from natural material, that we use to protect sensitive areas. Stakes are driven into the ground at intervals, and longer cut branches are woven between the stakes.

Please come and help, no experience necessary. We're meeting at the Shire Way gate at 10.00 am. You'll need to wear suitable footwear and warm clothing, but tools will be provided.

You can ring Paul for details on 01454 315851, or just turn up on the day.

Another note for your diary - the following work morning will be on March 14, when we shall be doing some hedgerow/boundary planting near Chris's Bridge.

A Christmas cracker

BBC Breathing Places Christmas song video :-)

Wapley in the snow

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Pictures from our Fungus Foray

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Fungus Foray - Tuesday 3 November 2.00 pm

Come and join our exploration of local fungi with expert Justin Smith - meet at the Shire Way gate. There are many kinds of fungi about at the moment - these photos were taken only yesterday.

Blown away

Unfortunately today's Wapley work morning had to be cancelled. It wasn't so much the rain, more the wind - we had planned to do work in the woodland, and that's not safe when there are high speed gusts.

Wapley Bushes autumn events

Lots of things are happening on the Nature Reserve over the next few days:

Saturday 31 Oct 9.30 am - have your say about the Management Plan for the next five years - walk around the Reserve with our consultant. Everyone welcome.

Sunday 1 November 10.00 am - work morning with members of the Conservation Group. Please come and help us!

Tuesday 3 November 2.00 pm - a Fungus Foray with expert Justin Smith. There are lots of fungi on the reserve at the moment, some the size of small plates. Come and find out all about them.

All events are free - meet at the Shire Way gate.

An excellent workday - report from Sunday 20 September

We had a very good workday last Sunday. We cleared the stream that flows down through the middle of the wood during heavy rain, cleared paths and cut back vegetation in the main wood and at the picnic area, and did a lot of litter picking.

We were very glad to have three local guides with us who are working for their BP Badge - many thanks for your help, girls!

Our next work morning will be on Sunday November 1st.

Wapley Bushes - come and help, Sunday 20 September

The Wapley Bushes Conservation Group is meeting on Sunday 20 September at the Shire Way gate at 10.00 am. We should finish by about 12.30 pm.

We will be doing some general conservation work such as tidying up a small stream that is the habitat of a very rare plant.

Please come along and help! Tools are provided, but you'll need to wear wellies or stout footwear and appropriate clothing. If you would like more details please ring Paul on 01454 315851, but you can just turn up on the day.

More butterflies at Wapley

Peacock butterfly - named after the eye-shaped spots like those on a peacock's tail.


Painted Lady butterfly - an immigrant that flies in from North Africa. Adults cannot overwinter in UK and return south for the winter.


Small White butterfly - its caterpillar is very fond of cabbage. Small and large whites are often called "cabbage whites".

All photos taken 25 July in the small patch of rough ground on the left as you enter the Lower Meadow. The meadows will be cut shortly - take a look now if you want to see them.

A good time for insects

It's peak season for insects at Wapley Bushes Local Nature Reserve.

All photos taken 23 July.


Meadow Brown butterfly on vegetation next to the top pond


Bee on thistle


Dragonfly in the woodland ride - very hard to photograph on the wing

Discover the nature where you live

Nature lovers are invited to join a walk to explore the wildflower meadows, riverside grasslands and woodlands of St John’s Park estate in Chipping Sodbury.

The walk, which will be led by Mary Wood from Avon Wildlife Trust, takes place on Tuesday 21 July from 7pm.

South Gloucestershire Council has employed the Avon Wildlife Trust to renew the management plan for these open spaces so please come along to discover the wildlife and discuss how the areas should be managed in the future.

Anyone interested in joining the walk should meet at the bridge over the River Frome on Wickwar Road at 7pm.

If you need any further details please contact Chris Giles at South Gloucestershire Council on 01454 863725.

A little experiment, on a stormy day at Wapley

We're experimenting with Chirbit audio blogging.

A stormy day at Wapley - click here:

Report from work morning 5 July - lots achieved!

Starting to repair the dead hedge
- driving the uprights in

Filling up between the stakes to build the dead hedge

Our main task was to rebuild a delapidated dead hedge that protects a sensitive part of the woodland. We gathered a variety of material. Much of it came from a fallen bough, which we cut up and carried down to the workplace.

We also collected young trees we had cut down a while ago when coppicing in the Western Wood, and we took out some self-sown young ash that have appeared in the Upper Meadow.

We sharpened stout lengths of wood and drove them in as uprights, then filled in between them with heavy boughs as a foundation and then lighter branches on top.

Dead hedging is a traditional woodland management practice, and it works well with coppicing - in future we intend to use the coppiced wood as soon as we cut it. Previously we've left it to decay as habitat for insects etc, but it was too ready a source of firewood and much of it disappeared.

We had one more task to do before we finished. The diagonal path up through the Western Wood has been getting overgrown, so we cut back the brambles and cleared a way through.

Not bad for two and a half hours work! Our next work morning will be on Sunday 20 September - an early autumn tidy-up, including clearing leaf mould etc out of the little stream so that the centre of the wood doesn't flood during winter rains. Please come and join us - ring Paul on 07771 562505 for details.

Work morning Sunday July 5th - dead hedging

Dead hedging is making a barrier entirely from natural material, as shown in this drawing from the BTCV. Stakes are driven into the ground at intervals, and longer cut branches are woven between the stakes.

We are planning to collect material that we have previously coppiced from the Centenary Wood (see earlier post) and bring it down to locations where we want to create barriers to protect sensitive areas.

Please come along and help us - you can also collect your FREE copy of the new Nature Journal, if you haven't already got one. You'll need to wear suitable footwear. Tools and gloves will be provided.

We look forward to seeing you at 10.00 am at the Shire Way gate.

Work mornings programme

Our next few work mornings will be as follows:

• July 5 - Dead hedging, collecting material from Centenary Wood
• Sep 20 - Stream clearance
• Nov 1 - Planting edge of Western Wood
• Jan 24 - Coppicing and using material as dead hedging
• Mar 14 - Hedgerow/boundary planting near Chris's Bridge

Meet at 10 am at the Shire Way gate in each case.

Report from May 31 Work Morning

This was a work morning with a difference, exploring the Reserve with the new Nature Journal.


Flora we spotted included hay rattle (a partly parasitic plant, drawing nutrient from grass), bird's foot trefoil (otherwise known as bacon and eggs), cowslip seed pods, campion, and twayblade (one of the orchid family)


We identified many different bird species including wren, song thrush and green woodpecker.

A special morning - come and join us!

Next Sunday morning, May 31st, we will be exploring the Nature Reserve with the new full colour Nature Journal.

Come along and claim your FREE Nature Journal. We're meeting at 10 am at the Shire Way gate.

Deer deer...

A couple of photos of a stag taken at the top edge of the Lower Meadow this weekend.

May blossom

"May blossom" - Photo by Isabel Ryan

The hawthorn is now in full bloom. Around the Bristol area the blossom is so well known that the hawthorn itself is often just referred to as "May".

But it's not a blossom that would be welcome inside the house - it's supposed to be very unlucky, as the smell was apparently similar to London during the Great Plague.

On a more positive note the hawthorn is also the species of the Holy Thorn, reputedly brought to Glastonbury by Joseph of Arimathea (Source)