Blog Page 5

Group Feature About FOSP

Friends of Saintbridge Pond are delighted to have been featured in the local online magazine. Here is the article from the December issue 2019.

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For more information on where we meet follow the links below.

Find us at https://fosp.org.uk/
or contact the secretary@fosp.org.uk
alternatively, visit our Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/fospnr or at
Twitter https://twitter.com/fospgloucester

Why not Follow Us?

I Dig Trees 2020

Hello and welcome.

We have been given 200 tree whips from  TCV (Trust for Conservation Volunteers)  This is a national initiative to plant a million trees by 2020 along with the Woodland Trust and Daily Mail.

So do you fancy making a difference to the natural environment ?

tea break at FOSP
FOSP Members talking to Nature Reserve Visitors

Why not come along to this event in January, plant a tree whip & meet the team over refreshments to find out more about The Friends of Saintbridge Pond Nature Reserve.

See you there

Vice Chair & Secretary

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Bluebell Planting 2019

Today, the team pulled together to plant 2000 British Bluebell bulbs. The weather was overcast as FOSP members started out but it began to brighten up. We had a good response fro the local community and we hope that the next event is as successful. The real reward will hopefully come in the spring of 2020 or 2021 when there will be a beautiful display of bluebells in the Spinney.

Ken, the FOSP chair has been the driving force behind this event and the team has supported him wholeheartedly.

Important Wildlife

One of the greatest surprises was seeing the common earthworm making their way to safer areas as we disturbed the topsoil.  is a fascinating creature.

The earthworm (Lumbricus Terrestris) plays a major role in the proper functioning of the ecosystem of the soil. It acts as a scavenger, and helps in the recycling of the dead and decayed plant matter by feeding on it. It increases soil fertility and is often referred to as a farmer’s friend. It burrows the soil and ingests soil particles coming in its way. Both these processes aerate the soil and help in the inter-mixing of the soil particles of the upper and underlying layers.

I doubt whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures. ―Charles Darwin on the importance of earthworms.

Green Flag Awards 2019/2020

Keep a look out for our new flags celebrating the fact that Friends of Saintbridge Pond Nature Reserve (FOSPNR) and Saintbridge Allotments & Gardens Association (SAGA) have received two new flags. We are very proud of the fact that we are continuing to protect these lovely green lungs of the city by maintaining with partners, Gloucester City Council and the Environment Agency, a place for all to see, walk and grow produce on our  allotment but also the whole site. FOSP members would like to thank the other allotment holders for their help, advice and assistance in maintaining out little patch. We look forward to working with you all on future projects.

 

Big Butterfly Count 2019

The Big Butterfly Count

For the third year running, FOSPNR and Green Abbey joined forces to organise our own local contribution to the nationwide Big Butterfly Count.

The FOSP and Green Abbey Big Butterfly Count was held at Saintbridge Pond Nature Reserve on a summery Sunday, 28 July 2019, from 2pm until 4pm.

The event was well-attended, with a steady stream of families, couples and individuals all taking part, counting butterflies for fifteen minutes at sometime during the afternoon. Notes were made of which butterflies – and moths – were seen; the notes have been collated and submitted to bigbutterflycount.org

Observers reported seeing the following butterflies:

Large White

Small White

Green-veined White

Gatekeeper

Meadow Brown

Speckled Wood

Comma

Painted Lady

Small Tortoiseshell

Red Admiral

Holly Blue, and last but not least

Six-spot Burnet Moth

After helping in the Count, some people participated in a seed-planting activity. The newly-planted seeds were taken home by the people who planted them and will, in due course, grow and attract butterflies and moths.

FOSP volunteers took the opportunity on the day to ask members of the public to sign a petition asking Gloucester City Council and The Environment Agency to reduce the level of silt in Saintbridge Pond. One of the effects of too much silt in the Pond is that the Pond is no longer deep enough for the swans to swim on it.

For more details on the national scene, go the following site https://www.bigbutterflycount.org/

Further details for GREEN ABBEY can be found at :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/379358125762873/

Also we have a listing on a national website that holds Forest Church listings – you have to zoom in on the map to Gloucester to find us:

http://www.mysticchrist.co.uk/forest_church/groups

 

Jane Allen
FOSP Volunteer

Gloucester Lottery Update

If you would like to support the Friends of Saintbridge Pond, why not go to www.gloucesterlottery.co.uk and search for fosp. Join us in helping to look after a beautiful wildlife area and truly expansive allotment. Come and be part of our local success story.

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Bird Sightings 2019

Paul, our resident Ornithologist, surveying the reed bed in early March 2019.
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Events for 2019

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Spring/Summer News Updates 2019

It has been a busy time at the pond and in our allotments. The FOSP AGM provided us with an opportunity to look at what we have done and future plans for FOSP at the site. We are just custodians and will continue to improve and re-wild the site for all visitors to the pond.

The team collecting wood from around the site.

The vandalism which happened during mid-December is behind us and we are moving forward.  We also had some incidents around the feeding area but have repaired them.

Replacing the plastic on the bank after it had been pulled up
In April the established bank is in full flower

The Primroses, Wild Garlic and Celandine have produced a wonderful display on the new bank by the dam.

You may have seen us over the past couple of Sundays, clearing the wood and opening up the woodland.

Removing ‘whips from the margins of the mudflats.

BE very quiet and you might here this fellow below……. The Water Rail

One of the visitors that you could look out for is the solitary Water Rail.
  • Scientific name: Rallus aquaticus
  • Bird family: Rails, crakes and coots
  • UK conservation status: Green
  • Protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

 

Smaller and distinctly slimmer than the moorhen, the water rail is a fairly common but highly secretive inhabitant of freshwater wetlands. It has chestnut-brown and black upper parts, grey face and underparts and black-and-white barred flanks, and a long red bill. Difficult to see in the breeding season, it is relatively easier to find in winter, when it is also more numerous and widespread. Although usually secretive they can become confiding but are still far more often heard than seen, so listen very carefully near the big island.

WILLOW CLEARANCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With early summer greens now making them known, the group have been clearing the Willows whips which have established themselves on the wetland margins. This keeps the vista free from obstruction and lessening the build-up of sediment and allowing flow through from up stream. We are working closely with local voluntary and national bodies to ensure that the sediment moving down will eventually be captured and held on site. We hope to reclaim the river banks for local wildlife, enabling more access & diversity for all species on the Twyver and Sudbrook.

 

Spring Cleaning Around the Pond

The group turned out in force on Sunday 21st April to tidy up the site for a forthcoming Green Flag visit. Most of the work had been done during the last week, busily trimming the grass banks, clearing the traps and ensuring both the pond and allotments were in top form. On Sunday, the volunteers went over to the island to recover plastic items from the silt during the low water period. More Willow had been removed from the silt, The posts and bins cleaned but it is going to be an ongoing job.

Interested in nature

why not join us as a volunteer?

Email for more info

volunteer@fosp.org.uk