New chairperson for Friends of Mayow Park

At January's Annual General Meeting (AGM) th Friends of Mayow Park (FOMP) elected a new Chair to lead the group. Robert Hero introduces himself and his aspirations for the future below.

As Chairperson of the Friends of Mayow Park, I’m inspired every day by the community that loves this space. One area where we’ve seen real progress is litter control. Working with Glendale Park Management and Lewisham Council, and adding some of our own bins, the park is cleaner and more welcoming than ever.

Photo R. Hero : One of the new bins

We have several exciting projects underway. Replacing trees lost to age or storms helps the park remain a green oasis, and we have established a developing wildlife pond, providing a home for insects, and amphibians while making the park even more engaging for families.

Photo R. Hero: cherry blossom

Looking ahead, we hope to restore the Victorian drinking fountain, a historic feature that will shine again in time for our 150th anniversary in 2028. That year will be a chance to celebrate the park’s history, its thriving wildlife, and all the improvements the community has helped bring to life.
We plan a month of events and activities to bring everyone together. From the restored fountain to our flourishing trees and wildlife pond, 2028 will be a celebration of Mayow Park and the people who care for it—a milestone to inspire the next chapter of our park’s story.
Robert

WEEDING the tree pits

Continuing from previous post

After checking on pests and diseases, we went off to give our attention to the trees.  We removed guards around the tree pits and pulled out competing ‘weed’ plants.

Photo A. Sheridan: Tree pit full of grass 'weeds'

What is a weed you may ask? Our definition is a plant that is growing where you don’t want it to. In this case, mainly long grass but also creeping buttercups and dandelions with their long roots, all competing with the trees for water and nutrients.

We wanted to keep the bulbs that had given a lovely show of flowers just a few weeks earlier. We also wanted to keep the comfrey we had planted for its value to the orchard.

Photo A Sheridan: Comfrey in flower

Why comfrey?  In flower, it attracts bees and other pollinators from late May. A number of other invertebrates live on and among its leaves. Comfrey is regarded as a ‘dynamic accumulator’ plant with its deep roots that bring nutrients from the subsoil and up into the leaves. In our orchard we use the ‘chop and drop’ method of chopping down the leaves to use as mulch around the trees and to return nutrients to the soil.

Photo A Sheridan: bee on comfrey flower

The volunteers worked hard and the trees were happy. The following photos show some of the volunteers who gave up their time.

Photo R Hero

Photo R Hero

Photo R. Hero

The following photos show two of the cleared tree pits.

Photo R. Hero

Photo R. Hero

summer volunteering in our orchard

 18th May 2026, will it rain or won't it? 

The weather forecast seemed unpromising, cloudy and rain likely in the morning. But the orchard trees were looking forward to a bit of TLC and we didn’t want to disappoint.

Eight volunteers arrived, ready to check tree health, to look for pests and diseases.

We looked for apple ermine moth caterpillars chomping away in curled leaves covered by their webbing. The webs protect them against any would-be predators looking for a meal of their own. We didn’t find any but will keep looking.

We looked for powdery mildew and found plenty. 

The volunteers will prune these and dispose of diseased leaves carefully, away from the trees, and clean the pruning tools to avoid spreading the disease.

photo A. Sheridan: powdery mildew

One volunteer spotted what looked like a small fluffy ball – a sign of woolly aphids. These are sap-sucking insects, hiding in cracks in bark or in old pruning cuts. When anyone picks at the fluffy featheriness you will find inside small purplish aphids.

Photo A. Sheridan: woolly aphid

Some trees showed signs of pests mainly at the top of the crown, with many leaves looking ragged due to holes and brown/ black spots round the edges. 

Two possibilities for this:

• Either caterpillars like Apple Ermine moth munching the leaves 
• Or Apple Scab which is a fungal disease. 

We’ll keep an eye on this. No photos as the leaves were too high in the crown.

While looking we also found lichen. Don't worry, lichen doesn't harm the trees. It is said that lichen is an indicator of good air quality. 

Photo A. Sheridan: lichen on apple tree

MAYOW PARK FOR WILDLIFE IN 2025

Mayow Park is a site of importance for nature conservation within the borough of Lewisham. The Friends of Mayow Park take that responsibility seriously in their activities.  

ORCHARD: During 2025 the  Friends held orchard pruning workshops, volunteers removed unwanted grasses round those trees and planted bulbs which should produce a floral display this year. Fruit blossom on the trees attracted bumble bees and other pollinating insects. Ladybirds were busy eating aphids. Lady’s Smock (a small delicate flower) made its annual appearance in late March. The orchard trees produced many fruits with some left on the ground for wildlife.  We worked with Glendale in autumn to cut back scrub (mainly brambles and ivy) behind the orchard to allow grass to grow – grassland is an important habitat for invertebrates.

POND: Built with help from Froglife, The Orchard Project and local volunteers, the pond was first constructed with a liner in March 2025 but later in the summer it was re-shaped as a natural clay pond surrounded by a wildlife friendly dead hedge. Over time we hope it will attract dragonflies, frogs and other creatures. Nearby we have created a bee bank for wildflowers to attract pollinators and we would be so happy to see many different types of butterfly.

ANIMALS: We held two evening bat walks in 2025 –enjoyable for all ages. We regularly see crows and magpies, sometimes jays, hear the occasional woodpecker. Common birds include robins, blue and great tits and many parakeets. We have been lucky in recent months to watch the activities of a pair of Egyptian geese that have visited us from time to time.

TREES: With many old and veteran trees, over time their limbs die and they can present potential hazards to the public.  During the past year (2025) tree surgeons cut down dead trees and removed heavy limbs from other trees with safety a priority. Trunks were left lying on the grass for park visitors to use as additional seating and as habitats for insects and fungi. Do visit and look at the different fungi that grow on dead wood. Can you name any?

Before surgery

After surgery Nov 2025

IN OTHER NEWS: Friends of Mayow Park (FOMP) have a new Chair. At the recent Annual General Meeting,  (January 2026) the Friends elected Robert Hero as Chair. We are delighted. Robert has a keen interest in the park and  knows many park users. He cares about the wildlife, the upkeep of the park and the way that humans treat the park. He is an animal lover and walks his dogs in the park almost daily.  He and the FOMP committee will plan for activities to make the park the best it can be, working closely with Glendale, the company that manages the park for Lewisham.  Robert intends to reach out to more park users and encourage them to join us so that FOMP will become a strong and influential park user group.

And to finish off, here is a fungus beauty on an oak log on 20th Jan 2026

warty jelly fungus (Exidia glandulosa)

Blossom time

 Mayow Park is at peak spring blossom time. Cherry blossom, hawthorn, fruit tree blossom. We mustn't forget the wild flowers including dandelions, cuckoo flower, daisies, forget-me-not and lesser celandine. All of these provide pollen for bees and other insects that fly from flower to flower. 

Here are some photos from today in the park.

The pink cherry blossom on the ornamental cherry trees - a joy to behold. They have lined the path edge below with their pink petals.

Nearby the hawthorn bushes are showing off their blooms

A short stroll to the orchard for the apple and quince blossoms

At ground level there are wild flowers to attract pollinators too:

cuckoo flower

daisy

dandelion

Forget-me-not

lesser celandine

Come and visit while the park is blooming.

All photos: A Sheridan

11th April Bat walk

 We were lucky as the bat walk took place on a warm, dry evening,  a perfect night for bats to hunt and feed on flying insects. We had hopes of seeing bats and we were not disappointed.

We had permission to take people around Mayow Park starting at dusk and the gates were kept open till the walk finished.

Iain Boulton, our bat expert, gave an introduction about bats in general, about bats in the UK and pipistrelle bats in Mayow Park specifically. 

One of the FOMP committee had drawn a diagram showing how bats have 5 fingers, the thumb at the top and four that connect to their wings. Bats are the only mammal that can truly fly.

Iain showed how to use a bat detector to 'hear' pipistrelles, our local bats. He explained that to 'hear' bats we tune the bat detector to the best listening frequency for the type of bat. For common pipistrelles we set the detector to around 50kHz

Most of the visitors didn't have a bat detector but Iain brought some to lend out. 

It wasn't long before we heard the bats (using the detectors) and saw them flying around catching  insects in the air. The moon looked down on us through the trees.

It was a wonderful evening. 

As people left to go home, many gave us donations and we were able to donate £37 to the Bat Conservation Trust.

All photos; A Sheridan

Litter pick - a great success

 The weather was perfect for a litter pick in Mayow Park, sunny and dry.

This event in Mayow Park was organised by Pippa from Friends of Mayow Park (FOMP) and Alice from Climate Action Lewisham (CAL) as part of the annual national  Great British Spring Clean by Keep Britain Tidy.

Park users came to help prompted by Pippa's publicity poster on the park gates

Young and old, individuals, family groups, came willingly to do their bit for the park . FOMP and CAL provided litter picks and gloves and some people brought their own. Teams spread out through the park and into the wooded areas. 

Photo: A Sheridan

Items found included plastic bottles, drinks cans, food wrappers and containers, which had been expected. Larger items included a clothes airer and a child's scooter. But also unfortunately a few nitrous oxide canisters were found in the woods and these were kept separate from the general litter bags. In total some 25 bags were filled.   

Photo: A Sheridan

How many people gave their time? 16 adults, 12 children and 3 dogs came to help out. Thank you to all those people. Below are photos of some volunteers.

Photo: Pippa Moss

Photo: Pippa Moss

Glendale sent one of their staff to remove all the bags. What a lovely, helpful man he was.

Photo: Pippa Moss

Photo: Pippa Moss

This proved to be a great multi-generational event, such as success, the first we have held for several years.  But it is sad to reflect that such events are needed up and down the country to keep our green spaces clean and safe for the community.