Usually I enjoy sharing my words about our nature reserve although recently I have uttered many, many words which I feel you’re not old enough to know!
We have had an unprecedented amount of vandalism on the reserve in the last few months and each Thursday our focus has been diverted from meaningful conservation work to damage control. Although several years ago we helped the skatepark build several solid picnic benches, they have now all been destroyed so now some teenagers chose instead to congregate at our tool store pallet bench and destroy everything within reach and beyond. As neither the CCTV or the police have deterred their poor behaviour, I am hoping that completely removing our bench will. The only positive from all this is that now I am on first name terms with all the e-bike Area Managers, positive for me but maybe not so for them!
Green Gym did manage to find the time to assist in several new projects. We used to have skylarks on the reserve but they stopped nesting on the tump (the big hill by the lake) a few years ago, but with this small bird’s conservation status now being Red we thought we should do something. South Glos Council have secured a grant and work has started on the grandly named Skylark Tump Project 2025. Although we always kept an area with shorter grass, it wasn’t enough as they require at least a 10-meter boundary for them to detect and escape potential treats so we will be enclosing an unused area of the tump, the wire size will still allow the rabbits access and it will be gated to allow future maintenance. I had hoped that goats could be used to clear the area but to do that we needed to put up fencing but we couldn’t put up fencing until it was cleared so SGC sent in their new robo-mow instead. We are also going to put in some scrapes (watering holes) and we hope by spring the skylarks appreciate all our hard work and return to their original nesting site.
Another new project was the installation of four new hibernacula for our resident slowworms. In 2018, 384 slow worms were translocated from a Little Stoke development site which added to our existing population. Although we do have more than 20 refugia or survey tiles, only one slowworm has been found this year which is a huge concern, hopefully this is a blip because of this year’s unsettled weather and nothing else. Although slightly miffed that Green Gym didn’t get the contract, I will say that Chris and his team did take on board our advice and have done a pretty good job and I’m sure the hibernating slowworms will enjoy their new ‘des res’.
Should your child be in the Catkins Class at Bradley Stoke Primary School, they can tell you the easiest way to tell the difference between a slowworm and a snake (snakes don’t have eyelids). I had the pleasure of meeting this engaging class with their teacher Amy and hopefully was able to answer most of their questions about the reserve and who calls it home, although I had to think about ‘is the sky nature?’. The following day the class came to see us while we were clearing the bramble from around their school gate and, to say thank you for all the work we do, presented us all with named cards and Hero’s chocolate!
It’s been a youthful week as Paul Smith and myself put on a bat walk for 2nd Bradley Stoke Brownies. Having booked warm dry weather we were all lucky enough to see several Common Pipistrelles flitting above our heads in Savages Wood although, just two days later, on our public bat walk with Avon Bat Groups Katherine Cockle not a single bat appeared. I guess being a professional doesn’t guarantee anything. Although we have finished our bat walks for this year, you can always borrow one of our bat detector kits for free from Bradley Stoke Library. Bats don’t like rain so pick a dry evening. They also have two wildlife cameras for loan donated by Bradley Stoke Town Council.
Which leaves me just enough room to say thank you to Jeremy for coming with me to the first Wild Summit, a day that brought together nature lovers and decision-makers, community groups and businesses, for a frank and honest discussion about what needs to be done to put nature in the UK on a path to recovery by 2030. With more than 20 workshops, panel discussions and sessions, over 30 exhibitors, and more than 1,000 attendees, we’re thrilled to say the Summit truly lived up to that goal and we are now planning what the Bradley Stoke Green Gym can do for the green heart of our town.
Green Gym meets every Thursday from 10am-1pm and our starting point is always behind the leisure centre. If you wish to join us it’s free, I supply the tea and biscuits you just need to wear suitable clothing and be able to commiserate about Wagon Wheels being smaller than they used to be! Our email is greengym@three-brooks.info or leave a message on 074970 06676.
by Sara Messenger, Green Gym Project leader