www.hilly.org.uk

We will be holding our first dawn chorus walk since 2019 on Thursday 31 March. Meet outside the cafe at 6 am. If you have binoculars, please bring them. We’ll do a circuit of Hilly Fields and and identify common bird songs and calls such as those of the blackbird, robin and wren, as well as the song and mistle thrush and the migrant warblers blackcap and chiffchaff if they happen to be vocal. If we’re lucky, we might hear a great spotted woodpecker drumming or a nuthatch calling. We’ll point out as many birds as we can whether they’re singing or not!

In past years, we’ve been able to extend the walk to include the Brockley and Ladywell cemeteries. With council permission, a member of the Friends Group would admit us at 7am via a gate on Brockley Grove. That seems unlikely to happen this year as the gate was blocked with an earth bank during lockdown and that is still in place. The walk will finish therefore by 7am. If by any chance, we can gain access to the cemeteries, finishing time will be 7.45 approx. People can drop out at any time though if work calls.

We will have a few copies of our Birds of Hilly Fields booklet for sale if anyone has not yet bought a copy. These are £3.50 and all profits go to the Friends of Hilly Fields.

https://hillyfields.blogspot.com/2022/01/hilly-fields-big-birdwatch-2022.html

Start at 12midday and finish is at 5pm.

We are helping bring some new events for this year’s fair, but the event is organised by the Brockley Society volunteers. Should you want a stall, here it their information:

http://brockleysociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/General-Stall-Information-Sheet-2021.pdf

THIS IS A VOLUNTEER RUN EVENT, if you want to help out with this community event, you can contact

volunteer@brockleysociety.org.uk

Nature and our mental healthhttps://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week?fbclid=IwAR16cGn5KzWXqapwBj0zXXbZMYeUCbfhakLiqfPqovcHoitgnig_8M9V5Ng

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“Nature is so central to our psychological and emotional health, that it’s almost impossible to realise good mental health for all without a greater connection to the natural world”.  Perhaps on your healthy walk you’d like to try out our plant hunt. It was prepared in a year when the mowers were less keen, so apologies if you have a long search.

Following extensive work clearing the encroaching brambles we are being rewarded with the view of the bluebells. The existing seed bank is also getting a chance to flower along with the more recently added primroses. We are hoping to see invertebrates thrive along with foraging birds. Listen out for the black cap, they nest locally in the thicket of adjacent brambles.

THE LANE

The mature hawthorns along this lane are probably the oldest trees in the park. Mentioned in the Edwardian tales of “Young Philip Madison” by local author Henry Williamson

‘Away [from the crest] in the distance, under much-climbed thorn trees, played the hatless children.’

We have dug out a width of the brambles and planted new hawthorn trees and sown hedgerow seeds, comprising of: garlic mustard, hedge cranesbill, hedge woundwort, pink musk mallow, sweet cicely, sweet violet, tufted vetch and white campion.

We have built new stag beetle loggeries. Stag beetles are Britain’s largest native terrestrial beetle and nationally are endangered, so we are lucky to have a healthy population in SE London, but they don’t travel far so it’s important to make sure they have lots of suitable habitats.

The self sown ash is competing for sunlight and hence is growing very tall and spindly. Some has been laid and we have inter-planted with native hawthorns, hazels and wild crab apple. The ash tree is under threat from ash die back, so if our ash should succumb, we will have a diverse range of established plants to take its place. We are also giving space for a few selected ash to fulfil their growth potential.

The introduction of different species will support more insects and supply pollen and a variety of berries over a long period. 

The bird champions set off for this years RSPB annual survey in a torrential down pour, but it seems that is a plus when it comes to spotting gulls. Full update can be found on the bird champion blogspot. http://hillyfields.blogspot.com/

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is going ahead between 29-31 of January (see info here). To take part, you have to register on their website, we have set up a bespoke sheet for the park. This year people are being encouraged to do it from home because of Covid-19. We have contacted them however and they will still accept results from parks. So if you want to combine an exercise walk with a bit of birdwatching whilst following the lockdown rules, then Hilly Fields awaits you!

Normally, the Friends run a bird watching event in the park to run alongside the BGB, but we cannot do that this year. However, as luck would have it you could use our handy  ‘Birds of Hilly Fields’. This is a new 32 page booklet produced by the Friends of Hilly Fields. Based on regular surveys since 2007, it includes a list and ‘pen portraits’ of all 51 species recorded during that time, as well as selected photographs, habitat description and advice on learning more about birds and helping them to flourish. As we cannot be there in person to sell it, it can be purchased online for £3.50 or with a bundle including booklet, bag and postcards for £10.