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Upcoming events
Upcoming events
Monthly volunteering sessions - third Saturday of every month. Next one is 19 September.
Monthly volunteering sessions - third Saturday of every month. Next one is 19 September.
Time: 11am to 1pm
Location: Mudcombe and Great Park
Meet at the tool shed in Great Park.
Monthly volunteering sessions will take place throughout 2026 to help manage this special place. Tasks will vary throughout the year from bramble management in the winter to citizen science in the summer.
On Saturday 19 September the focus will be on helping to care the reserve, from work around the brook, scything the grassland, clearing brambles and getting ready to plant a community orchard. The volunteering session will run from 11am to 1pm. Please bring gloves and where appropriate footwear.
Future volunteering dates (all 11am to 1pm) are: Saturday 17 October (Big Bramble Bash - 10.30am to 3pm), Saturday 21 November and 12 December (week earlier due to Christmas break)
Want to stay in the loop? Contact us via email to join our new volunteer WhatsApp group! There will be additional pop up focused volunteering sessions.
Sing and Scythe - Saturday 26 September
Sing and Scythe - Saturday 26 September
Time: 11am to 1pm
Location: Great Park
Meet at the tool shed in Great Park.
Scything would have been a traditional way of managing haymeadows in Great Park, before the mechanisation of farming. Join this singing and scything session on the reserve - with the singing tutorial led by Noeline Beesley. Training and a safety briefing on the art of scything will be provided. There are ten places available and can be booked via Eventbrite. Donations on the day will be welcome.
Events calendar
Past events
Past events
Bioblitz
Bioblitz
We recorded 105 species - including 46 for the first time - as part of the City Nature Challenge in April 2025. Our aim was to see how many species we could record in two hours, joining in with over 650 other cities across the world as part of the City Nature Challenge.
Scrub and bramble clearance
Scrub and bramble clearance
Working with an amazing group, The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), we cut back invasive brambles to open the reserve up to a wider variety of wildflowers and other plant species.
Reptile counting
Reptile counting
Since April 2025 we have been monitoring reptile mats across both Great Park and Mudcombe. So far we have found two slow worms, some toads, froglets and toadlets, and a shrew. You'll notice some of the mats and corrugated sheets across the reserve - helping to create habitats, ideally for reptile and also amphibians.
Big Garden Birdwatch
Big Garden Birdwatch
In January 2025 as part of the RSPB's Birdwatch census, we counted 18 different bird species in the reserve — including this delightful 'flying teaspoon', also known as a long-tailed tit, and a kestrel. You can use the free merlin app to help identify birds found around the reserve from green woodpeckers to goldfinches.
Pond digging
15 volunteers spent four hours digging out two new ponds on the reserve, helping to create new habitats for amphibians and invertebrates. These new ponds in Mudcombe are spring fed and we'll be monitoring them throughout 2026.
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