Chipping Sodbury, Lilliput & Kingrove Common Walk, Friday 23 May

This particular spring walk forms part of South Gloucestershire’s Walking for Health programme so it is relatively gentle and different walk options are available such as walking in the Ridge Wood nature reserve or heading out into the green, open countryside.
Meet at the Rugby Club car park, The Ridings, Chipping Sodbury, BS37 6PQ, 10.30am.

Goose Green Spring Clean, Saturday 12 April

Help preserve this local grassland and wetland nature reserve! We shall be undertaking reserve maintenance such as path clearance and a general reserve tidy up.  Please wear walking or wellington boots and bring some gloves.

Please meet at the bridge on the reserve, west of Oak Close, North Yate, 10.00am.

Spring Countryside Walk, Sunday 6 April

This will be a guided tour of the scenic River Bybrook area near Slaughterford, Wiltshire and our walk leaders will be the experienced guides Richard and Pauline Wilson. Please wear walking boots or other stout footwear and please note that ample free car parking is available at the Wickwar Road car park.
Meet for a car share at the Clock Tower, High Street, Chipping Sodbury, 2.00pm.

Spring has sprung, and we've cleaned it!

It was a lovely spring morning today, and we made the most of it. Half a dozen volunteers scoured the Nature Reserve and the Common picking up litter and giving the Reserve a "deep clean". Fortunately there wasn't too much rubbish except in the couple of usual litter "hot spots".

Meanwhile Tim went round the young trees in the Orchard for the Future applying deer repellant and administering minor "first aid" where necessary. The trees are looking good.

Thanks to everyone who took part today!

Quiz Night Live! Friday 21 March

This is your chance to have some fun and pick a team of Eggheads and bring them along to our general knowledge quiz in aid of Avon Wildlife Trust. You are most welcome make up a team name and bring your own snacks and beverages. We will also be serving tea and coffee for you in the break. Quiz teams are usually made up of four players at a cost of £2.50 per individual team member. Please contact Malcolm on 01454 310328 to book your team's place.

Venue: The Old Grammar School, High Street, Chipping Sodbury.

Dry Stone Walling Course at Dyrham Park, Monday 19 & Tuesday 20 May

This is an opportunity to learn the traditional countryside craft of dry stone walling under the tuition of experienced practitioners. The two day course costs £60 and for more information and to book a place please contact the National Trust at Dyrham Park on 01225 892374.
Please meet at the visitor centre at 9.30am on both days and Dyrham Park is 2 miles south of the M4 Junction 18 on the A46 (satnav postcode: SN14 8HY).

Wapley Local Nature Reserve Workday, Saturday 15 March

We shall be undertaking general management tasks, including a spring clean, that will help to enhance the biodiversity of this precious nature reserve. Please wear stout footwear.

Meet at the Shire Way entrance to the woodland, south Yate, BS37 8US, 10.00am.

Temporary footbridge for Wapley

It looks like Network Rail have listened to councillors and users of the path over the footbridge to Wapley Bushes. They have put in an application to divert the path via a temporary footbridge while they raise the bridge to get clearance for the overhead cables for electrifying the line.

Clearance work has recently started on site and we are now waiting for Network Rail to sort out the details of the paths to make sure that the slope isn’t too steep.

Report from Wapley Work Morning, Sunday 16 February

A very busy work morning, as nine of us tackled some major jobs. Tree planting, fruit tree pruning, litter picking, cutting up fallen trees, and hydrological engineering!

We cleared some fallen trees and then tackled the blocked outlet from the Top Pond. To find the blockage we first had to hack our way up through the middle of a hedge:

I think we've found the source of the Nile
- Dr Livingstone I presume?

The blockage which was making the Top Pond too deep turned out to be fallen tree branches under the water. Some of them were so rotten they looked like been spare parts for the Mary Rose. Eventually we were rewarded with success as the stream started to flow rapidly - we calculated the flow rate as about at around a tonne of water a minute. The pond was already several inches lower when we left - objective achieved.

The stream is now flowing healthily again

Meanwhile our other work parties were pruning back the small fruit trees in the Orchard for the Future and generally tidying up the Nature Reserve. A good morning's work!

Worst mud patches being repaired

Dodington Parish Council has generously agreed to finance repairing the worst parts of the weather damage on the Nature Reserve. Stone will be put on the mud patches on either side of the bridge between the two meadows, and the worn steps at the bottom of the Lower Path in the main woods are being rebuilt.

Meanwhile the Conservation Group is looking for finance to restore the more extensive lengths of paths within the woods.

Wapley Local Nature Reserve Workday, Sunday 16 February

This is your chance to burn off some of those Christmas and New Year calories by joining us for our first workday of the new year. We shall be undertaking general management tasks that will help to enhance the
biodiversity of this precious nature reserve. Please wear walking or wellington boots and bring some gloves.

Meet at the Shire Way entrance to the woodland, south Yate, BS37 8US, 10.00am.

Happy New Year from Wapley Bushes!

Here's a local resident (Chipping Sodbury actually) to go with our recent sound recording (repeated below) of one of his Shire Way cousins, a short distance from Wapley. The sound recording was made at 11.30 pm. Apparently robins can see well enough to catch insects by street lighting, so they stay up late and only shut up when the street lamps go off. A local friend reports that her neighbourhood robin starts singing at 3.00 am, so either they don't need much sleep, or they operate a shift system...

Merry Xmas from Wapley Bushes!

And here's a seasonal sound bonus - our local insomniac robin singing his heart out at 11.30 pm recently:

listen to ‘Insomniac robin’ on Audioboo

In case you're interested, here's an RSPB web page on night singing birds, especially robins.

Wapley Local Nature Reserve Workday, Saturday 16 November

This workday will be a morning of general maintenance work and tidying up in the reserve prior to the winter season. Please wear walking or wellington boots and bring some gloves.

Meet at the Shire Way entrance to the woodland, south Yate, BS37 8US, 10.00am.

Excellent Owl Prowl at Wapley Bushes! (Monday 28 October)

We had a great owl prowl at Wapley Bushes this evening with Ian McGuire. We saw three tawny owls near the Lower Path, one on its own and a pair. One sat on a branch 20 feet up calling to us, and we also saw them in flight. Thanks for a great event, Ian!

Rather soggy but happy nevertheless
- Ian McGuire, his tame owl and the owl prowlers.

The owl prowl was part of South Gloucestershire Council's Discover Festival. If you missed the Wapley prowl, there's another one tomorrow (Tuesday 29 October) at Ridge Woods. Meet 7 pm at the Quarry Road entrance. Please wear warm clothes and boots, and bring a torch.

Ian is also running owl prowls on Wednesday at Willsbridge Mill, and on Friday at Coniston Community Centre, Patchway, with a 7 pm start in each case.

Kingsgate Park Nature Reserve Ponds Workday, Sunday 20 October

We shall undertaking maintenance of this important amphibian site including the cutting back of vegetatio n. Please wear gloves and wellington boots.

Meet at the Scott Way entrance to Kingsgate Park, Scott Way, Yate, BS37 4NW, 10.00am (parking is available at the entrance of Shackleton Avenue).

Kennedy Way Pond Workday, Saturday 12 October

We shall be carrying out general management works on the reserve including vegetation clearance at this local wildlife haven.

Meet at the Kennedy Way Pond, Link Road, Yate Shopping Centre, 10.00am (parking is available at the Yate overflow car park also on the eastern side of Link Road, BS37 4AY).

Orchard Harvest Day, Sunday 6 October

Celebrate the richness and variety of English fruit at this 14th century historic barn with a 200 year old working cider press. Activities and fun for all ages. Organised by South Gloucestershire Council.

11am -4pm, Winterbourne Barn, Church Lane, Winterbourne, BS36 1SE.

Munching and meddling at Wapley - first crop and work morning 15 September

Ten of us met at Wapley today for the first autumn work morning of the year. We started as usual with a safety briefing:

Then most of our volunteers worked on clearing the stream in the wood and cutting vegetation back from the paths, while a couple of us did some maintenance on the young fruit trees.

• Good news - we've had our first crop from the Orchard for the Future.
• Bad news - we've eaten it. Two apples, one each. But they tasted lovely!

Here's another part of our mini-crop - a medlar, very much a rarity nowadays.

 And here are our volunteers at the end of a productive morning.

Our next work morning at Wapley will be on Saturday 16 November, but there will be a Wapley Owl Prowl on Monday 28 October, meeting at 7.00 pm at the Shire Way gate. See you there?.

Wild Owls Chat, Saturday 21 September

Learn more about the UK's owls in this chat with Ian McGuire of Wild Owl. Organised by South Gloucestershire Council.

2:30 -3:30pm, Winterbourne Library, Flaxpits Lane, Winterbourne, BS36 1LA.