This is the weather where people will walk a long way for the nice safe slope in our park! Here’s some of our pics of this year’s snow days in our park!
And some more scenic pics:
Category: scenic-n-wildlife
Some nice pics of our park – can you send us some too?
Here’s some nice pics around of our park, and we were wondering if you had some too? We (or our parent friends groups/forums) would then be able to use them for future posts on social media, if that’s ok. We think our park is ace and want to show off how great it is!
collage of photos of Havelock Rec
S.O.S – Save our Swifts
Bromley Swift Survey from the Bromley RSPB
How many swifts are nesting near you?
Swifts have been nesting in our buildings for centuries and have been a common sight performing their aerial acrobatics over our borough’s towns in the summer. They spend the rest of their year in Africa.
Unfortunately, their numbers are in severe decline. Between 1995 and 2015 the UK lost more than half its swifts. Numbers appear to have fallen even more in Bromley over the same period.
The RSPB believes that loss of nest sites is at least partly responsible. Due to our tendency to seal up buildings during renovation or knock them down, swifts are returning to discover their nest site has gone or access is blocked.
Action is urgently needed to prevent swifts becoming extinct in Bromley.
We are running a Bromley Swift Survey between May and July this year to discover where they are still nesting. We need to find this out quickly so that action to provide nesting spaces can be targeted in the right areas.
No knowledge of swifts or previous experience of doing surveys is needed. It will be really simple and easy, and help will be available if needed, for example on how to identify a swift.
We will ask participants to go for a short walk along the streets near to where they live or another location of their choice. A balmy summer’s evening would be best as the swifts will be most active then. The walk should be repeated at least once a month between May and July – so a total of three short walks. The participant would make a note of any swifts they see flying at rooftop level as this means that the birds will be nesting nearby.
It would be great if you could take part. The more people who join in the better as we will build a more detailed picture of Bromley’s swift population.
To take part in the survey or find out more information you can either:
- email our Group’s Recorder Peter Smart on bromleyrspbrecords@gmail.com
- call the Group on 07392 790 719.
RSPB Bromley Local Group
We have TREES and we’re going to plant !
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We’ve arranged two planting sessions to put in all the little trees we’ve been sent! The sessions are on Monday (14th) and Saturday (16th December), and they’re also on Facebook here and here)
It will be exciting to see our plans to add diversity to our park actually take shape, and for our collective effort to make a little change for generations to come.
Our packs include h
olly, hawthorn, dog rose and hazel from the Woodland Trust, and Wayfaring tree, guelder rose, and dogwood (among others) from OVO energy. For the entrance on Homesdale Road, we’ve also got some ornamental dogwood.
The hedge is following expert recommendation, this hedge will enhance the biodiversity value of our park, not just with the little trees themselves, but by providing food and (when bigger) homes for our bats, bumble bees and birdlife. They will also give shelter for other plants 
and flowers that insects, like butterflies and grasshoppers, will love.
This is one of our projects to help us, as a community keep our park, as it provides a visible sign how much it is valued and used by the community. If you have any ideas you have for our park, please feel free to fill in the survey (http://friendsofhavelockrec.org/our-action-plan/)or just email us:
bird box making on Saturday!
We had a great time painting bird boxes and making insect feeding stations and insect hotels!
Even the weather smiled on us! Many thanks to Emma for organising the event, and Caroline and Sandy for helping her, especially as Sandy didn’t feel very well. Sandy and Emma also worked out how to make insect hotels and feeding stations (I’d never heard of either!)
Mark has very kindly collected suitable, untreated, wood for us from The Mayflower project (they are rebuilding the famous ship) in Harwich:
“I’ve got the back of the car full of offcuts from The Mayflower in Harwich. Loads of nice untreated oak for bat, bird and bug boxes.” (FB post, 11th July)
Bulb Planting and Litter Picking
Thanks to all those hardy souls who turned up to help us pick the litter and plant the last of our bulbs!
Tea, coffee and cake were served too, and we all worked hard to improve our park:
Here’s a group photo of some of us at towards the end of the morning:
Litter picking at the Bourne End side,and bulb planting at the Havelock side:
Times change ..
(A gem found by Felix)
What the rec looks like today
We’re working on a mock-up that will show what this view will look like with the proposed La Fontaine school.
To see this as a 360 panorama visit this link. If you view it on a modern smartphone or tablet it will turn as you turn the device using the compass and accelerometer. Be virtually there!