March: it was all about bees and butterflies

We’re not sure how, but in late March the Railway Fields beehive was knocked over. Luckily, although there was some damage to the stand that supports the hive, the bees themselves were unscathed. However it did mean a slight change of plan for our March practical session. The team of Friends did a sterling job finishing off the dead hedge around the hive, which will hopefully give it a bit more protection. Here’s me pretending to contribute to the job, but in fact I can’t take any credit for it. I spent the morning doing something else entirely – talking to some new volunteers about conducting butterfly surveys.

We discussed the types of butterflies common at Railway Fields, and how to complete the forms, which record temperature, wind speed and sunshine as well as the number and type of butterflies seen during each survey. Then we walked the survey route, called a transect. Unfortunately it was too chilly and grey for the butterflies, who remained in their hiding places!

The butterfly survey season is now well underway – it runs from the beginning of April to the end of March – and we’re really grateful to the new volunteers who will help us to submit a full return of data again this year. So far the only variety I’ve spotted is the trusty speckled wood – a common sight at Railway Fields. At first glance they seem a bit drab, but they are worth a closer look;  if they stay still long enough you’ll see rather lovely cream markings on velvety brown wings. Hopefully as the year continues we’ll see holly blues, red admirals, orange tips and many more.

Many thanks to all the Friends who came along in March – and hope to see you next time on 28th April!

Do you know your orange tip from your speckled wood?

Or would you like to find out?

We’re recruiting volunteers to join our butterfly survey team. If you’re able to spend about an hour at Railway Fields on occasional weekdays and would like to take part in identifying and recording butterflies this summer, join us on 31 March at 11.00am to find out more and take part in our training session.

Email friendsofrailwayfields@gmail.com for more information.

A speckled wood - commonly seen at Railway Fields in the summer months

Hedgerow heroes

Work on the hedgerow gets underway

Spring was definitely in the air today for our conservation session. Warmed by the sunshine and accompanied by a chorus of birdsong, we set about today’s task: working on the hedgerow alongside Railway Fields’ main cobbled path.

Robin and Matthew at the thorny end...

After a year’s growth, the hedge needed some tidying up. We did this by weaving the new growth back into the hedge to thicken and strengthen it. Where the branches were too thick to bend, we’d cut them about a third of the way through with a saw – this is enough to bend them and weave them in without killing off the branch. Elsewhere it was a matter of lopping off the very tall or thick branches that had sprouted during the year.

The hedgerow after its haircut

Afterwards we visited the bees, which are much more active in the sunshine and were busily going in and out of the hive. Keith showed us how we could add some green growth to the dead hedge around the hive by planting cuttings of hawthorn, which will take root and grow.

Keith shows us how to bring life to a dead hedge

A big thank you to all the hedgerow heroes, who did a fantastic job despite the thorns! Next time (31 March) we’ll be doing some important path maintenance work to make sure Railway Fields remains accessible and safe for all its visitors. We’d love you to join us!

Helen and Keith enjoying the sunshine!

Railway Fields’ bees get a new dead hedge

There was a new arrival at Railway Fields at the end of last year – a hive of bees. You can see it tucked away at the back of the site where the railway lines and New River meet. The bees are sleepy and inactive during the cold weather, but when it warms up we hope they will thrive in their new home and add to the richness of Railway Fields’ ecology. And maybe even produce some honey…

Friends gather for the January conservation session

Our aim for the January conservation session was to build a new dead hedge around the hive area, to separate it off from the path. A dead hedge is an ideal barrier because, over time, it becomes a mini-habitat for all sorts of wildlife. Plus it recycles the bits that are leftover from pruning and cutting back trees and shrubs.

First we found some long, sturdy branches and sawed them to roughly equal lengths. These were hammered into the ground to create a framework. We then gathered thinner branches, weaving them between the uprights to create the hedge.

Weaving thinner branches between the upright stakes

It was a chilly day but the hard work kept us warm, and by the end of the morning the new dead hedge had taken shape.  A huge thank you to everyone who came to lend a hand! Hope to see you at February’s meeting when we’ll be getting some practical experience of wild hedgerow management.

The finished dead hedge - all in a morning's work...

Birdwatch at Railway Fields

A big thank you to Mary who spent some time at Railway Fields on 28 January to spot birds as part of the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. This is a nationwide initiative that encourages people to record the birds they see during an hour to contribute to a snapshot of bird numbers.

Mary saw the following perching in the woodland area.

• 1 collar dove
• 1 wood pigeon
• 2 blue tits
• 2 great tits
• 1 long tailed tit

Long tailed tit (photo: RSPB)

“Not a great tally, alas,” says Mary. “But as I was leaving at the end of the alloted hour for doing the birdwatch, what should I see but a tree off the lane filled with all sorts of happy birds, who then treated me to a fly-past, one by one. So the birds had the last laugh.”

 

Harringay Food Festival

Hello all

Apologies for the sporadic posting of late – it’s been a hectic end of summer!

Friends of Railway Fields were very pleased to be invited to participate in the Harringay Food Festival , which took place last weekend.

FoRF was located in the ‘feeding the environment’ marquee along with BTCV and our aim was to talk to as many people as possible inorder to recruit new members and generate more interest.

Mission was well and truly accomplished, with 40+ people signing up to our members mailing list – pushing the total too a huge 106 members! As we aren’t quite at our 1 year mark, this number definitely exceeds expectations and we are so pleased to have achieved this.

Thank you to Caroline, Helen, Tom and Ben who all came along to help out on the day – it was greatly appreciated!

 

Butterfly day – what a fab day!

Saturday the 30th was Butterfly Day, it took a lot of hardwork and organisation and some prayer to the weather gods, but it really was worth it!

The gates to RF opened up at 12 and it didn’t take long for the crowds to start trickling in and before you knew it the area was looking quite full with children running around and general mayhem ensued.

Activities on offer were a butterfly/caterpillar snap game, butterfly mask making, butterfly mobile making, a butterfly symmetry game, facepainting and treasure. As well as a table jam-packed full of cakes and goodies, made by our own fair hands!

The Butterfly mask making was a real winner with children of all ages, and the butterfly mobiles – although harder to make – were definitely worth the effort and were very eye-catching.

Our volunteer and regular Butterfly surveyor Caroline was leading butterfly survey sessions for beginners. It was a beautiful sunny warm day which resulted in record number of butterflies being spotted, with the highest number a huge 40 butterflies!

We raised a huge £72 and are our membership list is now at 52.. we are very chuffed to say the least!

Now for a little rest before we start planning the next event.. watch this space!

(p.s. apologies for the lateness of this post)