September round-up: Bats, bowls & wildflowers

Monthly volunteering sessions organised by Enable resumed in September. These are an opportunity to roll up your sleeves and do some outdoor work under expert supervision. All abilities catered for. This month the focus was on fencing off and pruning parts of the blackthorn thicket on the Frying Pan area where brown hairstreak butterflies have been seen laying eggs. The eggs will now be protected from autumn mowing and will hopefully hatch in the spring. Volunteer sessions take place on the third Tuesday of every month - 9.30am to noon. 

Roy Vickery held the third of his very popular wildflower walks, this time focusing on the lake area. A previous walk he did formed the basis of our wildflower leaflet, available from Skylark.

We held a second screening of our highly acclaimed ‘Common Memories’ film. The film is also on our website, to view at your leisure. 

September saw the last bat and bowls events of the season. 

Our two previous bat walks have been cancelled due to rail strikes and bad weather so this one had a bumper turnout of over 30. Iain Boulton did a short talk beforehand which adults and children alike found fascinating. The bats were also out in force.

We closed the bowls season with a well attended social session ending with ‘beer and bubbles’. Maintenance to get the green ready for next Easter’s opening now begins