We were very pleased to hold our first group duck food bagging session in five years!! These used to be a monthly occurrence, and very enjoyable, but we had to stop them when Covid struck. Instead we moved to home bagging, with individuals or small groups doing bagging at home. Now we will do both. We held this group session now because we needed to build up a stock to cope with fluctuating demand. Everyone was very clear we should make them a regular feature, so we will probably do them quarterly. Get in touch if you’d like to be involved - just a couple of hours of easy work, accompanied by chat and a coffee break. What’s not to like?!

We held our annual summer party in the courtyard of Le Gothique this year. A surprising number of people have never been inside the gigantic Victorian building - the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building- in the middle of the Common. With a delicious BBQ and accompanying jazz band as well, a very good time was had by all. The annual party started as a thank you to our volunteers but is now extended to all our members.

Nick Rutter’s latest bird walk was timed at the beginning of the autumn migration when, as Nick says, you never know what might turn up. This walk clocked 30 species, including a willow warbler and green woodpecker, not to mention a young toad.