Friends of Big Wood Nature Reserve
Newsletter - April - 2025
Glorious Big Wood with Spring Anemones - photo courtesy of Una Murphy
Dates for your diary:
Guided Walks: Wild Flower Walk: Saturday 5th April, 10.30am - Dawn Chorus: Saturday 12th April, 5.30am - Bird Walk: Sunday 11th May, 9am
Big Wood KIDS session for families of 0-6 year olds: Here Comes the Sun in Little Wood open air theatre space, Sunday 27th April, 10am to 11:30am
Bathed in the warm sun, Big Wood has exploded with spring flowers and bird song. It's a glorious start to the season, with wood anemones, lesser celandines, three cornered leeks and bluebells on display, accompanied by cheery and vigorous bird song. As well as familiar species like robins, blue tits and adorable nuthatches that look like tiny cartoon bandits, we are also listening out for the rarer birds such as song and mistle thrushes, dunnocks, woodpeckers and tawny owls that are known to make their home in our ancient woodland.
Our ecologists are getting ready to update the Big Wood and Little Wood botany and habitat surveys, and it'll be fascinating to discover how the local population of common and soprano pipistrelle bats are doing ten years after they were last surveyed here. Following the exciting confirmation of hedgehog activity in the wood over the past two years, we are also working on commissioning a mammal survey to gain a more complete understanding of this local nature reserve habitat.
Wishing everyone good times in the delightful local nature reserve that is Big Wood, and here are a number of events to add to the enjoyment:
Specific volunteering updates can be found on the FoBW WhatsApp group. Feel free to join with this link: Friends of Big Wood Volunteers, or contact 07712 704 164, friendsofbigwood1@gmail.com. Please also take note of the volunteer handbook, link below.
Start of the Guided Walks Season
Guided Spring Wildflower Walk with Caroline Beattie, Saturday 5th April, 10.30am
Experienced Botanist Caroline is back for an entertaining guided walk, exploring Big Wood's wonderful spring flowering plants.
Dawn Chorus with David Darrell-Lambert, Saturday 12th April, 5.30am
There are things in life worth getting up early for, and the guided early bird song walk with David, renowned ornithologist and director of Bird Brain UK Ltd., is one of those.
Bird Walk with David Darrell-Lambert, Sunday 11th May, 9am
Explore the fascinating bird life in Big Wood with a guided walk by veteran birder David.
If you want to join any of these walks, please email Lotte Rasmussen on lotte@boyen.co.uk or text her on 07458-322-710. We ask for a £5 donation to help cover the costs - under 16s go free.
Big Wood KIDS Creative Workshops
Dates for your diary:
Guided Walks: Wild Flower Walk: Saturday 5th April, 10.30am - Dawn Chorus: Saturday 12th April, 5.30am - Bird Walk: Sunday 11th May, 9am
Big Wood KIDS session for families of 0-6 year olds: Here Comes the Sun in Little Wood open air theatre space, Sunday 27th April, 10am to 11:30am
Bathed in the warm sun, Big Wood has exploded with spring flowers and bird song. It's a glorious start to the season, with wood anemones, lesser celandines, three cornered leeks and bluebells on display, accompanied by cheery and vigorous bird song. As well as familiar species like robins, blue tits and adorable nuthatches that look like tiny cartoon bandits, we are also listening out for the rarer birds such as song and mistle thrushes, dunnocks, woodpeckers and tawny owls that are known to make their home in our ancient woodland.
Our ecologists are getting ready to update the Big Wood and Little Wood botany and habitat surveys, and it'll be fascinating to discover how the local population of common and soprano pipistrelle bats are doing ten years after they were last surveyed here. Following the exciting confirmation of hedgehog activity in the wood over the past two years, we are also working on commissioning a mammal survey to gain a more complete understanding of this local nature reserve habitat.
Wishing everyone good times in the delightful local nature reserve that is Big Wood, and here are a number of events to add to the enjoyment:
Specific volunteering updates can be found on the FoBW WhatsApp group. Feel free to join with this link: Friends of Big Wood Volunteers, or contact 07712 704 164, friendsofbigwood1@gmail.com. Please also take note of the volunteer handbook, link below.
Start of the Guided Walks Season
Guided Spring Wildflower Walk with Caroline Beattie, Saturday 5th April, 10.30am
Experienced Botanist Caroline is back for an entertaining guided walk, exploring Big Wood's wonderful spring flowering plants.
Dawn Chorus with David Darrell-Lambert, Saturday 12th April, 5.30am
There are things in life worth getting up early for, and the guided early bird song walk with David, renowned ornithologist and director of Bird Brain UK Ltd., is one of those.
Bird Walk with David Darrell-Lambert, Sunday 11th May, 9am
Explore the fascinating bird life in Big Wood with a guided walk by veteran birder David.
If you want to join any of these walks, please email Lotte Rasmussen on lotte@boyen.co.uk or text her on 07458-322-710. We ask for a £5 donation to help cover the costs - under 16s go free.
Big Wood KIDS Creative Workshops
Get Tickets Now
Here Comes The Sun Creative Workshop presented by Friends of Big Wood KIDS
Date: Sun, April 27th • 10:00 GMT
Location: Little Wood
The next Big Wood KIDS session will be for children aged 0-6 and the rest of the family. For a change of venue, our workshop leaders Sophie of Young Artist Society and Caroline of MiniBeat, will premier the first Big Wood KIDS art, music and theatre workshop at the Little Wood open air theatre. Book tickets via this Eventbrite link or the poster QR code. All upcoming 2025 Big Wood KIDS sessions have now been scheduled and tickets will become available about three weeks prior to each event.
Follow Big Wood KIDS via Friends of Big Wood on Eventbrite (QR code on schedule below).
If you are interested, please follow Big Wood KIDS via Friends of Big Wood on Eventbrite, to be informed as soon as tickets for future sessions become available.
Friends of Big Wood Membership Renewals
If you haven't got round to renewing yet, please stay a Friend and renew via this link: https://membermojo.co.uk/friendsofbigwood/renew Any questions, contact friendsofbigwood1@gmail.com
Volunteer Handbook
The Barnet Greenspaces Volunteering Handbook includes straightforward health and safety guidance to ensure that all volunteers remain safe while working in the borough's green spaces. If you take part in the activity mornings, please click on this Volunteer Handbook link and take note of the guidelines. Get in touch if you have any questions.
LITTER IN THE WOOD
Litter remains a problem and some of us regularly pick up litter as we go round the wood. If any one else wants to help and would like a litter picker, please contact us. We have a number of Friends who are regularly are picking up litter but please can all the Friends help to keep the wood clear of litter.
MORE ABOUT DEAD WOOD
We reported on the importance of dead wood. The official UK standard for healthy woodland habitat requires 20m3 of deadwood per hectare and most woodlands in the UK, including Big Wood, is below this level. It is important therefore that all dead trunks and fallen branches are left where they fall or are left standing.
A reminder that ageing trees and dead wood are vital for a healthy woodland habitat. A huge swathe of the woodland ecosystem relies on tree wear and tear- hollows, dead branches and fallen trees.
TREES INFO
There is a marvellous short clip about the management of oak trees and the importance of not compacting the roots in Kew Gardens following the great storm of 1987. Anyone who is interested click on the following:-
WEB SITE
Remember that all details are here on our web site so do signpost your local friends and neighbours to visit the site and encourage them join the Association and to be Friends Of Big Wood.
DATA PROTECTION
The Friends of Big Wood Organisation is aware of the new General Data Protection Legislation. Organisations such as ours, which keep a register of names purely for recreational reasons, are exempt from the new regulations. We would advise you all that the data stored is purely to enable us to provide information about Big Wood and no information will be passed to any third party. If, nevertheless, you would like your details deleted from the list, please email us
