Free Wildflower Walk on Yate Common - Tuesday 28 May

This guided wildflower walk will cover various grassland areas on Yate Common. Our guide for the evening will be local naturalist Pauline Wilson. The walk will start at 6.30pm and run to 8.30pm.

The meeting point will be the southern Road to Nowhere entrance to the Common where
there is some limited parking (please see https://goo.gl/maps/w96ncixAbXuXEqmi7

Free First Aid Course for environmental volunteers - Wednesday 29 May

Dodington Parish Council has arranged a First Aid course on Wednesday 29th May (next week) at Dodington Parish Hall, Finch Road, Chipping Sodbury, BS37 6JZ.

It is intended for allotment holders and people who volunteer of local open spaces.


The course will start at 7.00pm and finish at 9.00pm and it will cover:

Safety
Bleeding (types and how to stop)
Bandaging (compression, ambulance dressings, slings)
Choking
Fainting and seizures
Burns and sunburn
Recovery position
Calling 999
Heart attack & Defibrilation
Record keeping

Beating the Bounds of Yate Common, Sunday 26 May

Beating the Bounds is an ancient custom that is practised on The Common in Yate. The Reverend, Town Mayor, Friends of the Common and local residents will walk the boundaries of The Common.
Traditionally, children are turned upside down at the corners to teach them the boundaries of their Common, which they should protect (nowadays sweets may be used as an incentive)
 
Beating the Bounds of Yate Common starts at 3pm from the St Briavels Drive entrance of Yate Common. The walk is suitable for pushchairs and takes about 60 - 90 minutes. 

If you would like to find out more about the custom, please follow this link

Meadow species planting on Wapley Common - 4 May and 17 May

We had 13 volunteers at our work morning on Saturday 4 May, when we put in several species of plug plants to enhance the diversity in the Orchard for the Future section of Wapley Common. As well as planting we did a "deep clean" of some of the harder to reach areas of the Reserve and cut back some overgrowth.

Unfortunately one of our chosen species hadn't arrived, so we had another session on Friday 17 May. Six of us started at Dodington Parish hall, and planted all three species on the "Mini Meadow" next to the Hall - our present to the Parish Council.

Then four of us went on to Wapley Common and planted the remaining plug plants. The result is that we now have yellow rattle, oxeye daisy and knapweed (see photo above) in the third of the Orchard nearest to Shire Way - you won't see them until they've grown a bit. These plants will help encourage pollinators and discourage more invasive species. In future years we plan to do the same sort of planting on the other two thirds of the Orchard.

We finished off the session with a walk round the Reserve doing a site inspection. The icing on the cake was that we saw a Red Kite flying over the Common, with its distinctive forked tail.

Wapley Bushes Local Nature Reserve Workday - Saturday 4 May

This workday will be a combination of working with Dodington Parish Council on a deep spring clean of the reserve and planting out native plants in a grassland area. Please wear stout footwear.

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

Goose Green Workday - Saturday 13 April

We shall be undertaking reserve maintenance on this local grassland and wetland nature reserve such as path clearance plus litter picking. Please wear walking or wellington boots and bring some gloves.

Please meet at the bridge on the reserve, west of Oak Close, north Yate, BS37 5TN, 10.00am.

Trees and woodland planting - report from work morning 16 March 2019

Despite the threat of poor weather, the rain and wind held off. Eight of us put in 33 new woodland trees of various native species and 56 lesser celandine plug plants.

One of the plug plants

This session completes our winter 2108/2019 tree planting programme at Wapley - since early 2017 we've planted 230 saplings that will grow up into substantial woodland trees. We're planning to put in another 100 trees next winter.

Wapley Bushes Local Nature Reserve Workday - Saturday 16 March

We shall be undertaking more tree planting that will help to enhance the biodiversity of this precious nature reserve and doing a spring clean too. Please wear stout footwear.

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

River Frome Spring Clean work morning - Saturday 16 March

This is the annual spring clean around the River Frome Walkway area by Yate Shopping Centre. Everyone is welcome to help out to clear up our local environment and please wear sturdy footwear and bring stout gloves. Bin bags and litter pickers will be provided and this event is organised by Chipping Sodbury's Baptist Church environmental action group.

Meet at 10am at the Kennedy Way Pond, Link Road, Yate Shopping Centre (parking is available at the two car parks on either side of Link Road, BS37 4AY).

Ridge Wood woodland work morning, Sunday 10 March

10am -12noon, meet at the Melrose Close entrance of Ridge Wood local nature reserve, situated between Yate and Chipping Sodbury.

Work days are a fantastic way to make a practical contribution to the future of this important local nature reserve and are great fun. A range of activities will be undertaken, suitable for all abilities.

New volunteers are always welcome - no need to book, just turn up. Gloves and tools provided.

Further details and a map can be found on the Ridge Wood website: www.ridge-wood.org.uk
Email: info.forw@gmail.com

Very productive work morning at Wapley on Sunday 17 Feb

We had an excellent tree planting session at Wapley on Sunday. Fifteen volunteers planted 33 trees and did a litter-pick as well. We were pleased to welcome four new volunteers including a family group.

In the core of the Ancient Woodland we put in 24 trees, a mixture of English oak, black poplar, linden, black alder and rowan (mountain ash). All of these will grow into substantial trees to replace anticipated losses of the high canopy due to Ash Dieback Disease, which is now only a few miles away. By using a wide mix of native species we are future-proofing the woodland against as yet unknown diseases, while providing a good habitat replacement for birds, insects and lichen.

We also put in 9 smaller trees in a gap on the woodland edge nearest to the Common where a big tree fell a few months ago - wild cherry, goat willow, field maple and common hazel.

Our next work morning will be on Saturday 16 March. As well as another 30 plus significant trees we shall be putting in some plug plants of typical ancient woodland species such as yellow archangel on the woodland floor, and doing some litter picking as well.

Wapley Local Nature Reserve Workday - Sunday 17 February

We shall be doing a mixture of tree planting on the reserve using native British trees plus cutting back  excess vegetation. Please wear stout footwear and bring gloves.
Meet at the Shire Way entrance to the woodland, south Yate, BS37 8US, 10.00am.

A very merry Christmas from Wapley Bushes!

Many hands made light work at Wapley work morning on 2 December!

Eleven of us made short work of the woodland planting on 2 December. Despite the rain we planted 35 woodland trees of various species to help replace future losses from ash dieback disease. With such a good attendance we got the trees planted quickly.

Wapley Local Nature Reserve Workday - Sunday 2 December

This workday will be a morning of woodland planting to enhance biodiversity plus general maintenance and tidying up 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.

Ridge Wood work morning - Sunday 25 November

Meet at 10.00 am at the Melrose Close entrance to woods (see map here)
Jobs to suit all abilities, gloves and tools provided
Finish at 12:00 noon approx.

Find out more from the Ridge Wood website

Wapley Fungus Foray finds species galore

 The Wapley Fungus Foray on 14 October was a great success. Led by Lee Haywood of the Cotswold Fungus Group, 13 volunteers found a wide variety of fungi. The children were particularly good at finding them.

The event was organised by Wapley Bushes Conservation Group and sponsored by South Gloucestershire Council via Cllr Tony Davis's Member Awarded Funding grant. Many thanks Tony!

Here is a small selection of the other fungi we found - there's an official list, but please don't ask me what they all are!

Success at South West In Bloom Awards

Volunteers Pete Carpenter, Paul Hulbert and Tim
Fairhead in Yeovil with the award certificates

Wapley Bushes received two Outstanding awards - the highest level possible for Neighbourhood entries - at the South West In Bloom awards in Yeovil earlier this month.

The judge particularly praised Wapley Bushes Local Nature Reserve for "outstanding environmental responsibility" in the long-term re-planting project in the woodland, and for the community participation in events and workdays.

Regarding Wapley Common and the Orchard for the Future, the assessor singled out the fruit trees, the grass-cutting rotation providing small mammal habitat (owl prey) and the new bug hotels for special praise.

Lilliput Park, where many of the same people volunteer, gained the Outstanding Award too.

We also congratulate our colleagues of the Wapley Allotments Association for their two Outstanding awards - so it was a clean sweep all round!

Kingsgate Park Nature Reserve Ponds Workday - Saturday 27 October

We shall undertaking maintenance of this important amphibian site including the cutting back of vegetation. 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).

Ridge Wood work morning - Sunday 21 October

Meet at 10.00 am at the Melrose Close entrance to woods (see map here)
Jobs to suit all abilities, gloves and tools provided
Finish at 12:00 noon approx.

Find out more from the Ridge Wood website