BIG DIG in Mayow Park 16 April 2016

In total we had twelve adult volunteers and two toddlers taking part in our 2-hour session to tidy the Pavilion Triangle beds. The previous session had been over the Christmas holidays so now we wanted to focus on planting strawberries, first early potatoes as well as weeding, mulching the paths and thinning out some of the herbs  the herb bed.
Here is a photo taken by Lumen showing one of our youngest volunteers working alongside two adults.

Our new A board can be seen in the background by the Park notice board.
And the photo below taken by Carol shows the A board displaying our event poster poster prepared by Jon.

The following photos are taken by Carol and show some of the volunteers at work. Three people joined us who had never volunteered with us before. The park was very busy this morning and a number of people spoke to volunteers about our work.

 
                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                   

What is missing at the moment is a photo showing the huge amount achieved. A brilliant session and many thanks to all those who joined us. It was fun.

Wildlife at our workday 16th April 2016

Friends of Mayow Park organised a gardening session at the Pavilion Triangle beds, not knowing who or what might join us. Two of us had just arrived and were standing by the holly tree when down flew a gold crest. The bird then hovered at the tree ( a bit like a humming bird) and few back into the conifers by our compost bins. Jon had seen the bird and its markings very clearly but was not quick enough to get a photo.
<https://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/g/goldcrest/>


Over the next two hours people made other discoveries: a centipede and a frog in particular. The following photos are from Carol Robinson (CR) and Lumen Silveira (LS)

(CR) what have we found?

                                                                       

(CR) looks like a frog

(LS) Frog taken to a place of safety

After the gold crest and the frog, would we something else? We found a centipede scuttling out the way  of people busy with weeding and planting. 

(AS) Grow Wild wild flower seed pack

(CR) sowing wild flower seeds in our mini meadow

                                                                   

(AS) wild flower mini meadow

More photos and a summary of our Big Dig will be in  the next blog. 

Turning a fallen tree into seating

If you stroll through Mayow Park, along the northern path near the older children's play area, you will find two logs that were originally park trees. One has been in place as seating for some months, but now there is a new one. A tree which fell due to Storm Katie has now become an additional seating space or a play space for little children.

The tree, not long after it fell. Older children's play area in background

And the photo below clearly shows what a sorry state it was in:

The limbs were shattered by the impact as the tree fell to the ground

But careful surgery has turned the broken tree into this log:

A new seating log - a positive outcome after storm damage

Glendale teams manage the park on behalf of Lewisham. They acted swiftly when they were made aware of the fallen tree. There is another log nearby, just visible in the top left hand of this photo.

SPORTS AND FITNESS SURVEY

I had a communication from Glendale about the sports and fitness questionnaire which has been going since early February. The survey is finishing this coming Sunday 16th April 2016. Anyone who intended to fill in a questionnaire and has not done so, there are a few days to go so don't delay. 
What happens next? 

• The results will be analysed by Glendale (and FOMP are hoping to see the results)
• Then the results will go to Lewisham Greenscene to inform funders of the outdoor gym about how it is being used
• The results will be able to inform Greencene about sports provision needs in the park.
• Copies of the questionnaire are in the Cafe in Mayow Park. If you can't find them do ask. Put completed questionnaires in the box labelled 'sports and fitness survey'. 

Big Dig event 16th April 2016

There's always something to do in the Triangle beds in Mayow Park and more so now that spring has arrived. The hedgerow on one side of the Triangle has blackthorn in blossom, as does the plum tree sheltered by the hedge. The daffodils planted in December have come up and are flowerinf.

Our next event at the Triangle will be a gardening session on Saturday 16th April as part of the Big Dig, a nationwide project aiming to get more people involved in community food growing

The Big Dig is a project of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming. http://www.sustainweb.org/

Friends of Mayow Park are looking for volunteers to help us on the day, between 10am and midday. 

Come for a short while of help for the whole two-hour session. We have very few tools so if you can bring a trowel or a hoe plus your own gardening gloves, that would be a great help. 

session in March 2015

We plan to plant potatoes, sow wild flower seeds, weed, mulch and prune as well as planting new strawberry plants donated by Iris at Grow Mayow.

Grow Mayow will also be participating in the Big Dig.

If there are enough volunteers and enough time we can also do some weeding and mulching in the orchard.

the orchard with fruit trees planted in 2012 and 2016

If you can help, please let us know either by posting on our Facebook group or by email to friendsofmayowpark@ymail.com 

50 attendees on bat walk April 2016

The planned bat walk on Saturday 2^nd April 2016 generated a great deal of interest in emails to Friends of Mayow Park and to our Facebook group. Saturday was a mild day, sunny and relatively warm.

Although the weather forecasters predicted rain starting after 7.30 pm it felt as if they were likely to be wrong. . . Unfortunately the forecast was correct.

Fifty people, some with umbrellas, met in the park at 7.45 pm, including twelve children. Dr Iain Boulton, who was leading the walk, gave a brief introduction about bats and about using the bat detectors. He reminded us to use the detectors in a way similar to a torch, pointing at the trees rather than vertically up into the air. Iain gave out the detectors, one per group of people, and we moved off.

We walked through the park, along the path on the southern side, near the Bishopsthorpe Road houses. With plenty of bushes and trees along that path, if the bats were out that would be the place we might pick up their sound on the detectors.

At the holm oak tree, near Recreation Road, we stopped and waited, then returned slowly towards the cafe. Some people walked into the meadow where tall shrubs and trees create a boundary with Mayow Road. Sadly no bats there either, although one young person was certain he spotted one bat.

It had been a great turnout of people and many enjoyed being able to stroll through the park after dark. One boy and his mother went looking at trees in the bushes and found a large toad, which was a thrilling discovery and one which he would remember for a long time.

All the bat detectors were returned and Iain offered to lead another walk, this time in September.  So look out for publicity nearer the time.

Look out for stag beetles in Mayow Park from May to July

With summer approaching, I am keeping an eye out to protect stag beetles and their larvae in Mayow Park. In May, June and July stag beetles will start to emerge from decaying wood under the ground where they have been tunnelling through as larvae.

Mayow Park has been a hotspot for these magnificent creatures but numbers have declined in recent years through a number of factors including damage to their habitat, being dug up by predators, caught by cats and crushed by cars on our roads. They are clumsy flyers and end up falling to the ground. 

Male stag beetle (lucanus cervus) from London Wildlife Trust

London wildlife Trust has an advice note about stag beetles (lucanus cervus)

http://www.wildlondon.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/Stag%20beetle%20advice%20note.pdf for anyone wanting to learn more.

These creatures are detrivores, eating their way through decaying wood and helping to create new soil. The larvae bore through decaying wood  underground for up to seven years before changing into the stag beetles that we all recognise. You can tell them from similar looking larvae: lesser stag beetle larvae feed on decaying wood above ground and cockchafer larvae live on living roots.

The PTES charity has produced an ID guide to different, but similar-looking larvae http://ptes.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Larvae-ID.pdf

stag beetle larvae in their characteristic curled pose https://ptes.org/campaigns/stag-beetles/

The female stag beetle looks similar to the lesser stag beetle (dorcus  parallelipipedus)   http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/lesser-stag-beetle as they both have pincer-like jaws that can nip your finger. Significantly it is all black where lucanus cervas is a dark-brown/ black.  Dorcus is far more widespread and can be found across England and Wales.

Stag beetles  are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. They are classified as a priority species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

Here a summary of  information from London Wildlife Trust

 http://www.wildlondon.org.uk/stag-beetle-survey?gclid=CLHi05GD4csCFcrjGwodMqwNAg

 How to spot a stag beetle 

·         You are most likely to find a stag beetle near or on dead wood

·         It's between 5cm and 8cm long

·         It's got large antler shaped jaws

a)     The male's jaws are very large

b)    The female's jaws are smaller but more powerful

·         Adults emerge from the soil beneath logs or tree stumps from mid-May til late July

·         Males are often seen flying on sultry summer evenings an hour or two before dusk

So let's all be aware of these special invertebrates and help them to thrive once more in Mayow Park.