West Wickham Common Newsletter October 2019

West Wickham Christmas Festival 2019
21st September 2019
Dead or Diseased Tree Stumps
6th October 2019
West Wickham Christmas Festival 2019
21st September 2019
Dead or Diseased Tree Stumps
6th October 2019
he latest news from the West Wickham Commons team
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October 2019

Welcome to the West Wickham Commons Newsletter covering West Wickham Common and Spring Park.

Raking hay while the rain pours

The intrepid West Wickham and Spring Park (WWaSP) volunteers recently spent a morning West Wickham Common gathering in this year’s crop of hay. This task usually takes place under sunny September skies but this year we weren’t so lucky. The grass was already laden with the previous nights downpours making it a heavy load, then came several large showers that left everyone thoroughly soaked. Despite this, the volunteers worked on and cleared the hay from the flower-rich acid grassland.

The delights of autumn on Spring Park

There are lots of reasons to visit Spring Park, but perhaps the most compelling is the chance to see autumn wildlife hurriedly preparing for the oncoming winter months. The trees will soon lose their lush green leaves as the chlorophyll breaks down and varying colours of brown, yellow and red become visible; you might have already seen horse chestnut as they are usually the first to undergo this change. October rain usually yields many forms of fungi. On trees, dead wood and on the woodland floor, the large fruiting bodies of fungi are visible. Nuts and berries are also the flavour of the early Autumn months. Keep your eyes on the ground and you are sure to find hazelnuts but you’ll be lucky to find many intact as squirrels, woodpeckers, dormice and other small mammals will have feasted on them first. The hedgerows will also be bursting with sloes, hawthorn berries and rosehips all of which are tasty treats for birds and mammals. At the pond, common darters and emperor dragonflies will still be zipping across the water and frogs and toads should be feeding up on insects, slugs and spiders before finding a quiet log pile to spend the winter.

Does your charity or group need funding?

The City of London Corporation’s Central Grants Programme (Enjoying Green Spaces and the Natural Environment) is offering grants of between £2,000 and £15,000 to help voluntary organisations and registered charities on projects that address the following themes:

  • Connecting communities with their green spaces
  • Improving the conservation value of the green spaces
  • Improving our knowledge of the biodiversity of the green spaces
  • Improving mental ill-health through the use of green spaces

Deadline for applications is Monday 21 October 2019. See the events section for a ‘meet the funder session’ to find out more about this grant scheme, or for further information and to apply please visit: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/centralgrantsprogramme

Volunteering

WWaSP Volunteers
Thursday 31 October &
Friday 1 November 2019 from 10am

Meet at West Wickham Common car park or at the far eastern end of the site throughout the day.

For further information:
Tel: 01372 279083

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