30th September  Winter Work parties

During this continuing changing and evolving ‘Covid-19 era’ it may be necessary to limit work party numbers depending on the rules in force at the time. A booking system will therefore be used and Serena Meredith will be coordinating all the places, even though the original emails regarding the dates may come from either Tricia Atkinson or Sue Smith. This will apply to all locations - Rough Bank, Bill Smyllie and The Masts Reserves as well as Ravensgate and Longwood Common (Nottingham Hill).

There will be no scheduled work parties on the Bathurst Estate this winter but hopefully they will continue next winter.

For each work party there will always be a work party leader and a first aider.

We will create a rota so that all work parties can be filled to the maximum permitted by the regulations at the time.

You can see all the planned work parties at Gloucestershire Branch Events and (if you are a branch member) in Antennae. If you want to be involved please contact Serena by email  at @email. Give the dates and times (morning or afternoon) that you are available.

Once you have booked and had confirmation of your place on a date it would be much appreciated if you honour the booking. If for any reason you are unable to do that please inform Serena and she will be able to offer your place to someone else. As human resources will be limited it is even more important that the places are always filled.

Please bring your own gloves and hand tools (bow saws and loppers) if possible. However, branch tools will be available but they are not to be swapped during a session. They will be cleaned after/before each work party and hand sanitiser will be available in the first aid box. Social distancing must be maintained at all times. Work party leaders will be aware of the full risk assessment arrangements.

Should it be necessary to cancel any work party due to reimposed restrictions, Serena will notify all those who have booked by email.

4th April  Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey. Although most butterfly monitoring is banned for the time being you can still look at the results from 2019.

27th March  Antennae. The spring edition of Antennae will not be posted but it can be downloaded here. An email about this will be sent to all branch members for whom we have an email address. A few copies will be printed for posting to the small number of members that we cannot contact by email.

27th March  Back from the Brink. As most branch members know Jen Gilbert and Julian Bendle are employed by Butterfly Conservation to work on the Back from the Brink Project and are based in Stroud. The project is now in its final year and has produced an interim report.