Category: Local Group News

Join a fun online beginner’s course on Saturday 6th June between 10am and 12:30pm. The course, organised by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, will cover the identification of our most common bumblebee species and introduce the ecology and lifecycle of these iconic creatures. They will also introduce a few of the rarer bumblebees that call Kent … Continue reading Beginners Guide to Bumblebee identification – Online Course: Sat 6 Jun 2020

1st June 2020 I was going to start my notes today with a heart-warming story about my birds and the fact that my bee hotel is nearly full! However, I think a cautionary tale is in order. Through lack of paying attention and basic gardening good sense I have taken a lump from the tip … Continue reading Notes from an Urban Greenspace #16

Passing the wild foxtail grass growing by the side of the old off-road car park on the Esplanade recently, I remembered my grandmother’s game of “grandfather, grandfather, jump out of bed”. She’d pick a foxtail grass, pinch the flowering grass head a few millimetres from the bottom to separate it, then pop it back putting … Continue reading Notes from an Urban Greenspace #15

25th May 2020 As we bask in the lovely May bank holiday sunshine there really does seem to be some light ahead with lockdown gradually being “unlocked.” For those of us who have no garden our local parks are looking great and you may have noticed that a few areas have been left uncut. These … Continue reading Notes from an Urban Greenspace #14

Friday 22nd May 2020 is International Biodiversity Day and we'd like to invite you celebrate with us by sharing an image (or many images) of the wildlife in your local urban spaces. If you're able to get out for a walk, take a picture of something enthusiastically growing through a crack in the pavement, clinging … Continue reading International Biodiversity Day

17th May 2020 When it comes to nature I am fond of the unusual and different. If we look hard enough we can easily come across some amazing things in our urban greenspaces. For example, every year I get a few holly blue butterflies in my garden. Logically, I assumed this was because there is … Continue reading Notes from an Urban Greenspace #13

The government last night issued new guidance on going outside - from today, people are allowed to spend more time outdoors. They will be able to go to parks and beaches to sunbathe, have a picnic and go fishing Outdoor sports courts can reopen, including tennis and basketball courts as well as golf courses People … Continue reading Medway Council update 13 May 2020

10th May 2020 The possibility of a relaxation of the lockdown raises all our hopes that we may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We shall see! It does make us think about the possibility of taking our waste to the tip and a to visit our local garden centre. Whatever … Continue reading Notes from an Urban Greenspace #12

We have had a several reports of a large bird of prey flying over Medway. Normally we would only expect to see Kestrels, which are fairly small and can be spotted hovering over our road verges, or the occasional Buzzard, which are much bigger with broad wings and a wedge shaped tail. Recently, we have … Continue reading Red Kites in Medway