A September sunny walk

It was a superb sunny day with the Spring Lane car park full to overflowing and many visitors enjoying the facilities.

The butterfly walk was showing many species of insects including:-

• Common Blue - few males still flying throughout the walk
• Speckled Wood - pristine examples flying the Spring Lane hedgerow
• Small Copper - just one feeding on Ragwort
• Small White - all females
• Small Heath - flying throughout the walk
• White Tailed Bumblebee and Common Carder Bee - feeding continuously, probably new queens stocking up on reserves for overwinter hibernation
• Grasshopper - in profusion in the grass
• Honey Bees - stocking up on pollen and nectar
• Craneflies - these are now at peak hatching and at least three species were flying, though I was not able to identify which ones (there are approx 300 species in UK)

Regarding the honey bees, our six hives are now occupied and we will soon  be placing two within the solar farm. The remainder will follow next spring.

At present the bees are resident nearby and have produced a small quantity of honey which we will be offering for sale on our open day on Saturday 14th November at Mapperley Social Club.

Our honey is just extracted from the comb, strained, settled for 48 hours and then poured into jars so you have a natural product with little if any nutrition and flavours removed. No filtration is involved, as occurs in many commercial products, which removes health giving pollen and flavours.
We will be moth trapping during October (weather permitting) so look to our website for the results.
We have been given grants  for 500+ native trees for boundary planting, shrubs for wildlife and wild flower seeds for insects. Volunteers are urgently required this winter for planting these.

Please contact us if you can provide some help however small.

Dog fouling is still prominent within the park.
Please report any offenders to Gedling Borough Council or to our website as it is both unpleasant, unhealthy and detrimental to the park's flora and fauna. It is totally irresponsibility  by some dog's owners, and due to the many complaints received action will have to be taken. This will unfortunately affect all responsible dog owners as well as the offenders.