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January 2021 Task

Sunday 3 January 2021. Nature conservation task at the Waterworks Nature Reserve. All welcome, no experience needed.

Please dress warm for the weather in layers

LBCV will be following Government guidelines for volunteering which permit volunteering in a Tier 4 location

In tier 4 areas, people must volunteer from home unless it is not reasonably possible for them to do so.

People can volunteer outside their home, including within a workplace, if:

  • they are unable to volunteer from home
  • they don’t need to self-isolate
  • they follow social distancing guidance, or COVID-secure guidance if volunteering in a workplace
  • their workplace has not been ordered to close, if the role takes place within a workplace
  • In tier 4 areas, clinically extremely vulnerable people can volunteer from home. They are strongly advised not to volunteer outside their home.
  • It should always be a volunteer’s personal choice whether they wish to volunteer, including outside their home. A volunteer should not be compelled to volunteer outside their home by their organisation or group.

Volunteers who meet in groups or with others from outside their household or support bubble should be especially careful to follow social distancing guidance, or COVID-secure guidelines if volunteering in a workplace, and observe the following key behaviours:

  • HANDS – Wash your hands regularly and for 20 seconds.
  • FACE – Wear a face covering in indoor settings where social distancing may be difficult, and where you will come into contact with people you do not normally meet.
  • SPACE – Stay 2 metres apart from people you do not live with where possible, or 1 metre with extra precautions in place (such as wearing face coverings or increasing ventilation indoors).

Travelling to volunteer or while volunteering

Where they are unable to volunteer from home, people can travel to volunteer or while volunteering in England, including between local restriction tiers. Across all tiers, they should:

  • where possible, stay local, and only travel into or out of a tier 3 or 4 area if absolutely necessary
  • walk or cycle if they can – where that is not possible, use public transport or drive
  • plan ahead and avoid the busiest routes, as well as busy times

Construction and other outdoor work – Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19) – Guidance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

More task details in the task reminder email, after the site visit.

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December 2020 Task

Somewhere on Walthamstow Marshes Lea Bridge Conservation Volunteers will be doing a nature conservation task, all welcome see task reminder email for more details, subribe below

Any questions please email as our mobile number is out of action waiting for a new SIM card.

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November 2020 task

This is the fifth conservation task since the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown. LVRPA had stopped all volunteer activity for the volunteers’ and staff’s safety and wellbeing. Now some restrictions have lifted LBCV are able to run volunteer tasks in the Lea Valley Park, but with restrictions.

  • We cannot generally advertise the tasks apart from emailing those signed up to this task reminder email 
  • If you are ill, feel ill or have been in contact with somebody who is self-isolating please do not volunteer
  • Do not use public transport to travel to the task. 
  • Please wash your hands before the task in warm water or hand sanitiser.
  • Use gloves when handling all tools, touching gates or other items in the park
  • Do not share tools.
  • Work parties of no more than 6 people – LBCV can have multiple work parties on a task
  • Please maintain a social distance of at least 1m if 2m is not possible
  • Wash your hands before eating or drinking in warm water or hand sanitiser

On Sunday 1st November 2020 Lea Bridge Conservation Volunteers will be coppicing in Horseshoe Thicket on Walthamstow Marsh.

This woodland management task will involve coppicing trees, which will use the 4 cut felling method, snedding and brashing. The wood will be chipped by the rangers and used to make the paths through the thicket usable in the winter. The larger wood pieces will be used to build habitat piles, which increases the biodiversity of this urban woodland by becoming lying deadwood ecosystems. 


Traditionally coppiced wood would be used in green woodworking by bodgers to make spoons, bowls, chairs etc. See below, if you would like to learn green woodworking in East London.



All are welcome to join us and no experience is required. If You are curious about what happens on a LBCV task, one of our regular volunteers did the following live video on October’s task

 

Please wear appropriate clothing and stout footwear for the task and weather. We will be working in an area with bramble and nettles, so closed shoes/boots and long trousers and sleeves would be best. Kneeling will also be required so if you have knee pads please bring them.

 

Task – Exec Brief

On Sunday 1 November 2020, LBCV will be helping to manage Horseshoe Thicket on Walthamstow Marshes 

Join Us

Everybody is welcome to volunteer with LBCV. No experience is required. LBCV will provide tools, training, gloves, hand sanitiser, tea, coffee and biscuits. 

Please bring some lunch. Please wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the work and weather. It is due to rain Sunday morning the task will go ahead. 

Please arrive from 9:30am onwards at the Waterworks Centre Lammas Road, off Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7QT, for a 10am visit to our tool storage area. The meeting place is the bike racks in front of former golf centre across from the former Greyhound Public House on Lea Bridge Road. We will leave at 10:05am for a walk to the task site. 

Volunteer with LVRPA

If any LBCV volunteer would like to volunteer directly with Lee Valley Regional Park Authority 

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March 2020 task

Sunday 1 March Walthamstow Marshes Bramble bashing

More details after the site visit.

Post site visit report. On Sunday 1 March 2020, LBCV will be doing a bramble bash, controlling invasive species management on Walthamstow Marshes(SSSI). 

This month’s nature conservation task will be on Walthamstow Marshes helping to preserve the rare flora that exist on the Marshes. It will be wet so please wear wellington boots or collect a pair in the morning from the LBCV tools container at the Waterworks Nature Reserve. They must be returned to the container at the end of the task at 4pm or sooner if we finish early. 

Conservation Task Details

Walthamstow Marsh is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI, pronounced “triple S, I”) declared under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act. Covering 55.4 Hectares (136.9 acres), it is part of a Green Flag Awarded Nature Reserve that also includes Coppermill Fields and Leyton Marsh. This Nature Reserve is a remnant of London’s once widespread river valley grasslands and is especially important for its plant and insect life containing a national rarity in creeping marshwort along with long-stalked orache, black poplar, brookweed, penny-royal, water vole, bats; soldier-flies, snail-killing flies, orthoptera, reed bunting, linnet and song thrush. The marshes are former Lammas lands, in that commoners had rights to graze there from 12 August to 6 April.

The aim of the task is to help reclaim the meadow areas, before the bird breeding season. 

Walthamstow Marshes are under Higher Level Stewardship in that they are being grazed by traditional bred cattle, Belted Galloways.

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February 2020 task

On Sunday 2 February 2020, LBCV will be in Gunpowder Park reclaiming a meadow area from bramble and creating a hibernaculum. This is a change of site from the previous published task on Rammey Marsh. We will travel by minibus to the task site, just inside the M25. Volunteers are welcome to cycle from the Waterworks Nature Reserve to the task site along the River Lea, approximately 10miles. 

Conservation Task Details

On Sunday 2nd February 2020 Lea Bridge Conservation Volunteers will be doing scrub management in Gunpowder Park. The cut scrub and bramble will be used to build a hibernaculum. Scrub management will include a traditional bramble bash as well as cutting out small shrubs/bushes and trees with loppers and bowsaws. Please wear sturdy footwear, preferably wellingtons and appropriate clothing for the work and weather. We will be working on very wet muddy ground. 

Join Us

Everybody is welcome to volunteer with LBCV on a conservation task. No experience is required. Please wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the work and weather. We will be working on damp mussy grassy areas and with brambles.  We can provide wellingtons in the morning. So please arrive in plenty of time to select your pair.   LBCV will provide the tools, training, gloves, tea, coffee and biscuits. Please bring some lunch.   To join us please arrive from 9:30am onwards at the Waterworks Centre Lammas Road, off Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7QT, for a 10am departure from the centre. The meeting place is the former golf centre. LBCV volunteers will be around setting up the tools etc. from 9:30am. If you use What 3 Words our meeting location is ///snacks.settle.nerve    We will leave the centre at 10am for a walk to the LBCV tool storage area and then on to the task site via a minibus. It will be first come, first served, for seats on the minibus. Please lock bicycles to the stands in front of the Waterworks Centre. There is ample free car parking. Dogs are not allowed on the Nature Reserve so please do not cross the bridge with dogs or ride bicycles in the nature reserve. Dogs are still welcome on some tasks, including this one.   We should be finished by 4pm and back at the Waterworks Nature Reserve by 4.40pm. Volunteering and doing a nature conservation task with LBCV in North East London, is great way to meet new people, be more active, learn new skills, use old skills, get closer to nature, make a difference and have some fun with likeminded people in the Lea Valley Regional Park.