The May 2020 task is cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please stay safe and follow the latest UK Government advice here.

The April 2020 task is cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please stay safe and follow the latest UK Government advice here.

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.

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.

Sunday 5 January 2020 Waterworks Nature Reserve reptile and scrub management

Site visit completed ! Update 31/12/19

The nature conservation task on Sunday 5 January 2020 is at the Waterworks Nature Reserve, off Lea Bridge Road, and will involve scrub management. We will be removing buddleia and bramble. 

The task will reclaim the meadow areas from the encroaching scrub to create mosaic basking areas for the resident reptile population. The task will also exposed the dormant soil seed bank. Recent plant sightings at the nature reserve have included the unusual broomrape (Orobanche L.) which is a parasitic plant that has no chlorophyll and relies on its host for nutrients and water. 

The task will create safer areas for the nature reserve’s reptiles to be able to bask and increase the sizes of the many hibernaculum in the Waterworks Nature Reserve. 

Recently bird sightings have included firecrests, bullfinches, treecreepers and common snipe in the nature reserve.

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 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 areas around the nature reserve. The task will be in non-public areas of the nature reserve, so if you arrive late please call so you can be collected. 

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, just not this one.  

We should be finished by 3:30pm.

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.

 

Future LBCV Tasks  – Remaining Programme 2019-2020

February 2nd Sunday Rammey – Marsh Scrub management – via mini-bus or optional cycle ride 9.5 miles each way

March 1st Sunday Walthamstow Marshes – Bramble bashing

.

Sunday 1 December Walthamstow Marshes coppicing Horseshoe thicket

More details after the site visit.

LBCV December Nature Conservation Task 

The next conservation task will be on Sunday 1 December 2019 when we will be coppicing in Horseshoe Thicket. Previously this task had been listed as pollarding, but now we are going all the way to the ground! 

The coppicing task on this Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), pronounced “triple S I”, is being done as part of the Higher Level Stewardship agreement with Natural England. This is a copping cycle that was started in 1998/99 by LBCV.

Our work over the years has left this unit, of a SSSI ,in “Favourable” Condition creating a “varied structure and good regeneration from coppice areas. ” as reported by Nature England. 

Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees reshoot from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced woodland young trees stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level. In subsequent growth years, many new shoots will emerge and after a number of years the coppiced tree, or stool, is ready to be harvested, and the cycle begins again. We can count the rings to see when the trees were last coppiced.

The felled trunks will be used to form dead wood habitat piles and the brash will be chipped by the rangers to help maintain the paths through the thicket.

There will also be a chance to litter pick, if anybody wants to do that. The cattle will also be present when we are working on North Walthamstow Marsh.

Woodland management techniques to be used on the task are coppicing, snedding, brashing and 4 cut tree felling. Tools to be used bowsaws loppers and billhooks.

No experience is needed. Bring your own packed lunch. Volunteers should wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the task and weather. The task involves working in long thick spikey vegetation and manhandling tree trunks. We can provide wellingtons in the morning. So please arrive in plenty of time to select your pair.

Volunteers are welcome to meet us on site, be at the picnic benches at 10:30, but please text 07757 766950 or email info@, before 9am on Sunday, so we can provide enough tools and gloves.

Join LBCV

Everybody is welcome to volunteer with LBCV. No experience is required. LBCV will provide tools, training, gloves, tea, coffee and biscuits. Please bring some lunch. Under 18 year olds must be accompanied by a parent or guardian, 

Please wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the work and weather. The task involves working in long thick spikey vegetation and manhandling tree trunks. We can provide wellingtons in the morning. So please arrive in plenty of time to select your pair.

Please arrive from 9:30am – 10am at the Waterworks Centre Lammas Road, off Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7QT, for a 10am departure to the tools storage area. The meeting place is the former golf centre across from the former Greyhound Public House on Lea Bridge Road. Look for a person in a black LBCV t-shirt. We will leave the tools container at 10:15am for a walk to the task site.

If you use What 3 Words our meeting Location is ///snacks.settle.nerve 

Please lock bicycles to the stands in front of the Waterworks Centre. There is ample free car parking there too. Dogs are not allowed on the Waterworks Nature Reserve so please do not cross the bridge with dogs or ride bicycles in the nature reserve. Dogs are welcome on some tasks, including this one. 

We should be finished by 4:30pm.

Future LBCV Tasks  – Complete Programme 2019-2020

All conservation tasks are the first Sunday of each month, 9:30am – 4pm.

January Waterworks Nature Reserve reptile and scrub management  
February Rammey Marshes Scrub management  
March Walthamstow Marshes Bramble bashing

Farewell

Doing a conservation task with LBCV is great way to meet new people, learn new skills, use old skills, be more active, get closer to nature, make a difference and have some fun with like-minded people.

---

To cancel click here, to edit your subscription click here.

LBCV c/o Hornbeam Environmental Centre, 458 Hoe St, Walthamstow, London E17 9AH

More details after the site visit.

Sunday 3 November 2019 Walthamstow Marshes Scrub management and willow removal along ditches

More details after the site visit.

Site Visit done.

On Sunday 3 November 2019, Lea Bridge Conservation Volunteers will be doing a nature conservation task on Walthamstow South Marsh. The work on this Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is being done as part of the Higher Level Stewardship agreement with Natural England.

The task is scrub management, which will involve removing invasive willow from along the ditch, which will aid the Water Vole population. Removing the scrub will maintain the marsh as a wetland meadow habitat. 

We will pick any litter we encounter but the focus of the task is removing the willow. 

No experience is needed. LBCV will provide the training and tools along with the tea, coffee and biscuits. Bring your own packed lunch. Volunteers should wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the task and weather.

Volunteers are welcome to meet us on site, be at Leyton and Walthamstow parish boundary line on Sandy Lane at 10:30, but please text 07757 766950 or email info@, before 9am on Sunday, so we can provide enough tools and gloves.

Join LBCV

Everybody is welcome to volunteer with LBCV. No experience is required. LBCV will provide tools, training, gloves, tea, coffee and biscuits. Please bring some lunch. Under 18 year olds must be accompanied by a parent or guardian, 

Please wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the work and weather. The task involves working in long thick spikey vegetation. We can provide wellingtons in the morning. So please arrive in plenty of time to select your pair.

Please arrive from 9:30am – 10am at the Waterworks Centre Lammas Road, off Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7QT, for a 10am departure to the tools storage area. The meeting place is the former golf centre across from the former Greyhound Public House on Lea Bridge Road. Look for a person in a black LBCV t-shirt. We will leave the tools container at 10:15am for walk to the task site.

If you use What 3 Words the meeting place is snacks.settle.nerve at 9:30am – 10am or on-site gentle.become.hugs at 10:30 but please text or email before Sunday 9am 

Please lock bicycles to the stands in front of the Waterworks Centre. There is ample free car parking there too. Dogs are not allowed on the Waterworks Nature Reserve so please do not cross the bridge with dogs or ride bicycles in the nature reserve. Dogs are welcome on some tasks, including this one. 

We should be finished by 4:00pm.

Future LBCV Tasks  – Complete Programme 2019-2020

All conservation tasks are the first Sunday of each month, 9:30am – 4pm.

 
December Walthamstow Marshes pollarding Horseshoe thicket  
January Waterworks Nature Reserve reptile and scrub management  
February Rammey Marshes Scrub management  
March Walthamstow Marshes Bramble bashing

Farewell

Doing a conservation task with LBCV is great way to meet new people, learn new skills, use old skills, be more active, get closer to nature, make a difference and have some fun with like-minded people.

---

To cancel click here, to edit your subscription click here.

LBCV c/o Hornbeam Environmental Centre, 458 Hoe St, Walthamstow, London E17 9AH

Sunday 6 October 2019 Walthamstow Marshes

Scrub management/ Willow removal along ditches  

More details after the site visit.