Some picnic pics

Our picnic on Sunday was amazing! The weather was perfect, the bees were out in force - and loads of people came down to enjoy our meadow and get to know one another. Over the afternoon, the food table slowly got piled high with picnic treats but we took some hard earned breaks from stuffing ourselves to do a little bit of planting around the meadow. Sadly, the lack of rain has meant ground is a bit too hard to dig beetle habitats right now, but the logs are ready and waiting so we'll save them for another time. Thanks to everyone for coming - let's do another one soon!

Hands up who wants another community garden!

The nice folks over at Ground Work are making a community garden on the Greenway. Like all good community projects, they're keen to get local people involved from the very beginning. So they're running a couple of evening sessions at the View Tube where we can tell them exactly what we want from our new green space before they start drawing up the plans. See you there!

For more details, you can spam JohnPaul at johnpaul.taberdo@groundwork.org.uk or just take a look at the snazzy poster below.

Come to the Meadow Picnic this weekend!

Fancy a picnic in a field of wildflowers? Then come along to the Mabley Meadow Community Picnic on Sunday 18 July (that's this weekend)!

Bring some food, a picnic rug and everyone you know to the meadow from 1pm for an afternoon of fun and good old-fashioned neighourly-ness.

Where should I go?
You'll find the Mabley Green Community Meadow on Lee Conservancy Rd, just past the A12 flyover. Take a look at the map.

What's happening on the day?
Beetle habitat building - bring some good shoes, and a spade (if you have one).
Wild flower safaris for kids - when you know what to look for, it's amazing what you'll find!
Bird-box building workshop - we'll set you up with everything you need.
Wildflower planting - we have some forks and trowels, but if you have one too, bring it along.
Meadow photo competition - with a prize for the best pic.

You'll also be able to join the Mabley Green Users Group and find out about some of the other amazing volunteer projects happening in our area.

Or just laze about in the long grass all day.

See you there!

Look deeper

When you're walking past the meadow, it's easy to get distracted by the incredible blooms by the road and along the path. But if you've got a minute, take a trip to the clearing in the middle of the meadow. There are thousands more flowers to enjoy there. And hundreds of bees to watch. And plenty of long grass to lie back in while you do both. Go on, you'll love it!

Wow (again).

Honestly, if you've not been to the meadow recently, go NOW. It's beautiful!

Making a bee line

OK, that's the last bee pun we'll be seeing on this blog...I promise. But I dare anyone to visit the meadow and not get a bit mimsy about the huge numbers of bumble bees busily crawling over our incredible wildflowers. They really are an amazing sight - especially as our bee populations have been struggling recently. Go bees go!

Wow!

If you haven't seen the meadow recently, get down there IMMEDIATELY! It's looking totally spectacular!