Friends of Big Wood Nature Reserve
Newsletter - March - 2025
Dates for your diary:
Friends of Big Wood AGM: Thursday 6th March, 7.30pm at Fellowship House
Volunteer Activity Morning: Saturday 8th March, 10am, Memorial Gate
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 sessions: see below
We hope to see many of you at our Annual General Meeting at Fellowship House this coming Thursday, 6th of March, 7.30am. There will be drinks, a brief fun quiz, Big Wood updates and a talk by Frank Hawkins, Green Estate Manager of the HGS Trust, on his challenging work of looking after and preserving the Suburbs exceptional treescape and green spaces.
There is also still much to do looking after Big Wood. Friends Volunteers, we really need a good turnout at this season's last scheduled Activity Morning on Saturday 8th March. Please join us at the Memorial Gate entrance, top of Temple Fortune Hill, in time for a 10am start. Bring gardening gloves and cutting tools, if you have them.
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
SPRING SOUNDS Creative Workshop presented by Friends of Big Wood KIDS
Date: Sun, Mar 9 • 10:00 GMT
Location: at top of Temple Fortune Hill, London, NW11 7XR
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
