What a busy time!

Sunday, July 31st 2011

After the excitement of the Open Day - we were all looking to take a well earned “breather” - but oops! what has sneaked up and taken us a little by surprise? The Richmond Coffee Morning this Thursday (4th August). We apologise in advance for asking again, however, if anyone can kindly donate cakes or tombola prizes for the event it would be very much appreciated. If you can assist on the morning that also would be great. The coffee morning is from 8.30am to12noon in Richmond Town Hall and offers of help, just even an hour will be gratefully accepted. Anyone who can provide cakes/help /Tombola prizes could you please contact Foxglove in advance and let us know so that we can plan accordingly. We appreciate how busy everyone is and therefore the Field Centre will remain open until 6.30pm on Wednesday to accept donations of cakes/tombola prizes or you can ring us and we will see if it is feasible to collect. Many, many thanks.

As has already been mentioned on the Blog, Colonel Guy Deacon, our Chairman, has been awarded an OBE for the work he did in the Congo. This week he has been invested with his award by the Queen at Holyrood Palace. We send him our congratulations.

To more mundane matters the bird ringers have been busy preparing net rides at Marne - no easy task as the brambles and thistles thrive in that location. They were ringing nearby today and 82 new birds were processed including Kingfisher, Reed and Sedge Warblers, Whitethroat and Spotted Flycatcher. This photo shows a juvenile Reed Warbler.

Juvenile Reed Warbler

They also found many Pyramidal Orchids one of which is shown below…..

Pyramidal Orchid

At Foxglove, Eco Club met on a beautiful, sunny, warm day. We were looking at plants and animals in the different areas of the reserve. Some of the flowers we were looking for included Betony, Foxglove and Agrimony, whilst amongst the insects were Soldier Beetles, bees, ladybirds and spiders. We walked through the heathland and along the Dog Daisy path to the Scrapes, recording all we found before heading back to the Field Centre for refreshments and some work on the activity sheets.

The children were very observant and knew a great deal about many of the insects we saw. As we walked around, conversations and questions included camouflage, warning colours, feeding habits and life cycles. The children were really keen to see a grasshopper so we went up to the middle moor with sweep nets to find one. And we did!

Here you can see one of the children searching for spiders, bugs and grasshoppers - and the parents joined in!

child sweep netting on the moor

Hunting for grasshoppers

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Access to the Reserve: OPEN with limited access

Monday 18th March 2024 |

The reserve is now open, although again with limited access.

Visitors will be able to access the reserve with the use of key fobs provided at the pass office upon entrance to the camp, or will be provided entrance and exit through the access gate by an officer from the camp Guard Room. In this case visitors will need a mobile phone to call the Guard Room when they wish to exit the reserve.

Please be aware that due to these circumstances, entering and leaving the reserve might take a little longer than usual.