Contents (Click on any item to view)
New Nature Trail adds interest to the Park April 2008
The new Nature Trail’s ‘Gentle Giant’ April 2008
Opportunity for questions at the Friends AGM April 2008
Good reception for the walks booklet April 2008
Wildlife lectures attract large audiences April 2008
Wildlife Open Day scheduled for Saturday 17 May April 2008
Olympics update: questions from the Friends December 2007
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New Nature Trail adds interest to the Park
Greenwich MP Nick Raynsford opened the new Nature Trail and deer hide in Greenwich Park on 12 March. It is just over five years since he performed the same ceremony for the adjacent Secret Garden Wildlife Centre. He was enthusiastic about the Nature Trail as the next step in developing what he described as Greenwich Park manager Derrick Spurr’s ‘imaginative concept’.
Greenwich MP Nick Raynsford performed the opening ceremony for the new Nature Trail in Greenwich Park on 12 March. With him at the new deer hide are, left to right, Friends volunteers coordinator Jenni Newnham, fellow wildlife volunteer, Esme Partridge, and Friends chairman, Liz Coyle.
The woodland trail is accessed through the Centre and is expected to be open regularly outside the nesting season for the last Wednesday of the month ‘Drop Ins’ run by the Friends Wildlife Group on behalf of the Royal Parks. It is wheel-chair friendly, including access to the new hide overlooking the Deer Park.
A range of habitats has been created along the trail to encourage wildlife. Features include a stag beetle loggery, demonstration bat boxes and nesting boxes for small birds. Boxes designed for owls and kestrels have been put high in the trees in the Deer Park. There are beehives in the woodland area (not in use for safety reasons) and an enclosed observation hive in the new hide where visitors can watch the bees at work.
The new facilities have been made possible by the Royal Parks Foundation (the charity arm of the Royal Parks), in partnership with Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs Community TeamWorks and generous private individuals, with additional support from the Friends.
Local schools and wildlife groups can arrange visits to the Nature Trail and deer hide through the Greenwich Park office on 020 8858 2608.
April 2008The February 2007 storm damaged one of the cedar trees in the Flower Gardens. When the unsafe branch was taken down, assistant Park manager, Stuart Goldsworthy, arranged for it to be cut into three pieces for Greenwich Park’s ‘artist in residence’, Pat Rae, to carve.
One length of the branch which had a jagged end, a tear and interesting knots was taken to Pat’s studio at Honor Oak. From it she created a head. She worked on the other two pieces in the Park to create the ‘arms’ for what has become the ‘Gentle Giant’, just beginning to push himself out of the ground to welcome youngsters to the new Nature Trail.
Pat competes her year as ‘artist in residence’ with an exhibition at the ‘Untitled Artists’ Fair’, Old Town Hall, Chelsea that will include Park inspired work. The exhibition is open on Friday 30 May (6pm to 9pm) and Saturday 31 May and Sunday 1 June (10am to 6pm).
April 2008It has been an interesting year it has been for the Friends. We have helped highlight the history of the Park, mounted our first photo competition, put on a jazz concert and ran a lively ‘artist in residence’ programme that included going to see ‘our’ Henry Moore at Kew.
But overarching all this is the Friends’ concern at the impact on the Park of the 2012 Olympics equestrian events. Friends have an opportunity to question senior managers from the Royal Parks about this and other topics at the AGM on Thursday 15 May; 7.30pm for 8pm, Blackheath High School, 27 Vanbrugh Park SE3 7AG.
Proposed and seconded:
Chairman: Liz Coyle, 3 Orchard Drive SE3 0QP; Vice chairman: Dr Brendan Hicks, 60 Greenwich Park Street SE10 9LT
Committee members: nominations have been received for John Mitchell, Sue Yates and Elaine Warrell (re-election). Clive Corlett, Richard Jones and Ann Hutchinson have agreed to continue to serve. Friends volunteers coordinator, Jenni Newnham, is a coopted member of the committee. Michael Sullivan-Jones has relocated so has had to resign. The committee confirms the appointments of Christine Bevan as Secretary, Julie Punter as Treasurer and Fran Tyler as Membership Secretary.
Walking through history, the full colour self guided walks booklet with Peter Kent sketches and a good map published by the Friends in December, is being very well received. The Park office reports good sales and Friends have been buying them enthusiastically for their own use and as gifts - top score is an 
order for 11 copies, with frequent threes, fours and fives. Copies are available from a number of locations including the Park offices for £1 and from Friends of Greenwich Park, c/o 2 Lock Chase SE3 9HA for £1 plus 25p postage.
New stocks of the booklet include a free drinks voucher from Company of Cooks, who manage the cafés in Greenwich Park. They are also stocking the booklet and are giving the Friends some financial support for the project.
April 2008
Both of this year’s winter lectures given by Royal Parks specialists, ecologist Dr Nigel Reeve and arboriculturalist Mike Turner, attracted large audiences. This more than vindicated the decision to stage the talks at Blackheath High School instead of the Secret Garden Wildlife Centre and to charge for tickets to cover costs.
The richer wildlife that Nigel Reeve could report as a result of reduced cutting regimes for the Park’s grassland shows what can be achieved in a relatively short time. (He was appointed the Royal Parks’ first community ecologist only in 2002).
Mike Turner focused on the ecological as well as the historical importance of the 52 sweet chestnuts, eight oaks, one sycamore and a cedar that make up the ancient and veteran trees stock in Greenwich Park. Surveys of the nearly 4000 trees in the Park show that the majority are in the 50 to 100 year age range, so there should be many more veterans for future generations.
April 2008The Annual Open Day for the Secret Garden Wildlife Centre, is scheduled for Saturday 17 May from 11am to 4pm. The event has been in April in the past but a later date should mean more to see on the tree and bird walks.
If a suitably quiet spot can be found near the Centre, there will be a bird ringing demonstration as the first event. This will show how small birds are gently ringed, weighed and measured so a scientific record can be made of their numbers, condition and location.
There will also be the usual popular mix of wildlife oriented puppet shows, information on wildlife in the Park and activities for youngsters. All activities are free and are run by the Friends of Greenwich Park Wildlife Group on behalf of Royal Parks.
April 2008Meetings with the different bodies concerned with planning the London Olympics are being held by the Friends, and in conjunction with the Greenwich Society and others, to address local concerns about Greenwich Park as the venue for the cross-country event.
Questions for which Friends’ chairman Liz Coyle is seeking reassurance and clarification on behalf of Park users include: