THINKING OF VOLUNTEERING?

This week is Volunteers Week!

You may well have seen us: we meet in the main car park every Wednesday morning at half past nine, a motley crew in sensible footwear and hi-viz vests.

We sign in, exchange a little gossip about the park’s inhabitants, human, canine and otherwise; we sort out who is carrying what and going where and we set off to the morning’s tasks. We are usually back in the car park around noon, tired and eager for lunch.

Our job is twofold: we keep the nature reserve accessible to all, clearing the paths and mending the gates, while we develop the fields, hedges, waterways and woodlands as wildlife habitat. People keep coming and our species lists keep growing, so we must be getting at least some of it right.

Come and join us on any Wednesday; you’ll be very welcome. You will have to bring your own sensible footwear and your preferred midmorning beverage but we provide the rest. We’re looking forward to meeting you.

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A host of golden daffodils….

Over the years the Friends have planted at least a couple of thousand native daffodil bulbs (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) around the edges of the reserve’s woodland. Back breaking work, rewarded at this time of year with the first golden flowers.

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Bracket fungi

These are a species of bracket fungus common in the reserve: turkey tail (Trametes versicolor). The main part of the fungus, the mycelium, is growing invisibly inside the tree. These beautiful outgrowths are the fruiting bodies, part of the fungus’s reproductive system.

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Squirrel invaders

The reserve’s grey squirrels are invasive aliens, brought here during the 19th Century, when the possession of rare and exotic species of plants and animals was the height of fashion. Grey squirrels, native to eastern North America, were first released into the wild in Britain, at Henbury Park, in Cheshire, in 1876.

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Winter terminology

We use the words overwinter, hibernation, and diapause when we are writing about the reserve’s inhabitants’ preparations for the cold weather. It’s easy to assume that they are interchangeable terms but that is not so: let’s take a closer look.

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