Yesterday volunteers from @tcvnational.bsky.social cut scallops into the mature scrub edge of The Greensward at Bentley Priory. The scrub will regrow providing new young shoots and leaves for animals that prefer that - for example Brown Hairstreaks, which prefer three year old blackthorn.

Not a great picture but shows the thrashing "glad hands" growth pattern characteristic of oaks - but in this case taken to extremes. A lovely old oak at Sylvia Avenue open space. To the right are some of the non-native cypress trees that we hope to remove, giving the oak a better chance of survival.

Yesterday Harrow Council installed an information panel at Sylvia Avenue Open Space www.harrowncf.org/Sylvia_Avenu... giving information about this pretty little site. The artwork was created by local volunteers. You will have to go visit the site to read what it says!

Volunteers from The Conservation Volunteers @tcvnational.bsky.social worked at the marsh on Summer house Lake in Bentley Priory today, a beautiful cold sunny winters day. We coppiced alder and dug canals to make sure that the marsh remains wet. Thanks everyone!

We went off looking for flowers (yes, they have to be in bloom!) at Bentley Priory today as part of the bsky.app/profile/bsbi... New Year's plant hunt. Here we are recording a flowering white dead nettle!

The longhorn cattle are now back on Spring Meadow at Bentley Priory (photo taken today); the intention is that they will browse the young shoots of bramble as they appear in spring and help the transition of the bramble patches to open grassland.

Brown hairstreak butterfly egg spotted at Newton Farm last week (12th December 2025). One of two we spotted without looking very hard - no doubt there are more.

Monsters in the swamp: Pynding Mersc at Stanmore Common last week (7th December 2025). We love waterlogged dead wood - lots of specialized fungi and invertebrates need this ecological niche.

Volunteers from the TCV coppicing hazel at Bentley Priory today. As set out in the manangement plan, we coppiced a third of the hazel; another third will be coppiced next winter, and the last third the winter after that. The wood is not wasted: most will be used for fencing on other reserves.

While working at The Scrape yesterday we found a puffball and set it puffing.

Before and after our emergency working party this morning at The Scrape, Wood Farm, clearing an enormous number of trees that vandals had cut and dumped into the water - one of the best quality ponds in Harrow.

Gorse in bloom yesterday under blue sky at Stanmore Country Park. We are glad that we did not timetable any outdoor work today - the weather is horrible!

A lovely winter day at Stanmore Country Park today. Volunteers cut bramble on John's Ride to keep the ride open and maintain the grassland flora. We are using our lovely quiet Stihl battery brush cutters.

Low sun gives heightened colour to the green bramble and yellow hazel leaves in woodland at Old Redding Nature Reserve this afternoon.

Volunteers raked up cut grass and bramble at Bentley Priory today to help preserve the species-rich grasslands. It was damp but not nearly as bad as predicted! This is our last raking session; now we move on to winter activities.

Volunteers from Sainsburys raking cut bramble at Bentley Priory today to help preserve the species-rich grasslands. Thanks guys!

Volunteers from William Hill at Bentley Priory today - thanks guys! They raked up cut bramble then moved it to piles off the grassland; we hope this will reduce the bramble growth next year and encourage the growth of grassland flowers. The sky was blue and the sun shone!

The lovely ball of mistletoe in Furze Heath, Bentley Priory, photographed on a soggy misty morning today. This plant has been growing on that branch for at least ten years. Kissing under it would likely result in lots of scratches!

Lovely colours at Stanmore Country Park this morning as we used battery brush cutters to cut back the bramble along the edges of the grassy glades.

Volunteers from the Building Research Establishment today at Bentley Priory moving one of the many piles of cut bramble that they had raked up. Removing the bramble will help restore the species-rich grassland. Thanks guys!

Guelder Rose berries and foliage at Bentley Priory this afternoon.

Nice autumn colours at Bentley Priory today as volunteers from the Conservation Volunteers @tcvnational.bsky.social raked cut bramble to protect the species-rich grasslands.

Volunteers from @tcvnational.bsky.social raked cut bramble at Bentley Priory today to preserve the species-rich grasslands. Thanks guys! The cattle spent the morning eating acorns; then the one closest here investigated our arisings pile and had fun tossing it about and having a good neck scratch.

A misty Middle Dragonfly Pond this morning at Bentley Priory. Shows the wonderful mix of habitats at this location: pond, bramble, young willow, grassy meadow, trees. One man, Peter Peretti, was responsible for creating the dragonfly ponds which so enhance the site.

Like a natural Christmas wreath: lichens on a branch of hawthorn at Bentley Priory yesterday

Gadwall looking trim beside three Mallards at Summerhouse Lake, Bentley Priory today. There were quite a lot of gadwall all having a good conversation

Volunteers from @tcvnational.bsky.social raking up cut bramble to preserve the species-rich grassland at Bentley Priory SSSI today. Absolutely gorgeous day, sunny, blue sky. Thanks everyone!

Look at all those holes! Something has been nibbling holes in these hornbeam leaves at Bentley Priory. Taken this morning while we were clearing invasive rhododendron from around the trees - mainly to help forest floor plants, but the hornbeams will appreciate it too.

Volunteers from Sainsburys clearing invasive holly at Stanmore Country Park yesterday. Holly is OK in parts but tends to invade the whole wood, shading out the forest floor and preventing growth of woodland flowers. Image shows two yellow Tree Poppers in action - these are great tools!

Nice little oasis of epiphytic fern and bramble in the fork of an ash tree at Bentley Priory this morning.

Images taken today: Bolton's Pande in Roxbourne Rough, that we cleared of excessive vegetation on August 10th and 15th, is filling nicely. This male Common Darter has spotted this good site and chosen it as his territory - he was taking advantage of a sunny period between the showers.

Main picture is the wild pear tree at Bentley Priory in bloom in April with people at the bottom for scale - it's a big tree! Inset shows three windfall pears from this morning. They are small but clearly pearshaped.

One of the many Yellow Meadow Ant ant hills at Stanmore Country Park. Mouse Ear Hawkweed grows around the entrance to a rabbit hole. The hawkweed likes to grow on the dry warm soil of the ant hills, it does not grow on the ground around the ant hills.

Photo taken Tuesday.. gorgeous large Rowan laden with berries on Grims Dyke in Pear Wood. Lovely heather blossom in the foreground, but on the left you can see the edge of the (deliberate) burn that got some heather but, thank goodness and thanks to the London Fire Brigade, did not cross the path.

Edge of a large burn at Pear Wood yesterday; ran quite a way into the trees in the leaf litter. Fire brigade have visited 3 days running to soak the ground, now we are dousing small outbreaks with buckets. Some heather burned but still in bloom on the right. Fire set was pure malice, not a mistake.

There are still flowers to see on the nature reserves - here Devils Bit Scabious and Ragwort at Bentley Priory this morning.

Before and after images of clearance at Bolton's Pande in Roxbourne Rough. It looks drastic but now there will be areas of open water when it refills. A female Emperor dragonfly was busy laying eggs in the gaps between the slats of the boardwalk so she has confidence that the pond will refill!

Yesterday volunteers began the work of clearing vegetation and mud from Bolton's Pande, a lovely rain fed pond at Roxbourne Rough that is now almost completely dry - but not so dry we did not get muddy! It was full of aquatic life this year but if we did not act it would be dry scrub in a few years.

Taken Monday July 28 - Coppiced aspen clumps create a wonderful complex edge to Summerhouse Lake at Bentley Priory. We found lots of tiny froglets in the woodland behin; this sort of waters edge is great for metamorphosing tadpoles to hop out then hide from all the birds that would like to eat them.

Volunteers from The Conservation Volunteers cleared holly from around Summerhouse Lake in Bentley Priory today. Letting more light in to the lake edge will allow the growth of more emergent vegetation (reed, iris etc) which in turn will provide homes for aquatic invertebrates and small fish.

Spring Meadow, Bentley Priory this morning with a view up to Bentley Priory house at the top of the hill. We are doing a lot of work to maintain this grassland and reverse the encroachment by bramble.

A gorgeous Silver-washed Fritillary put the rather drab Meadow Browns to shame at Bentley Priory on Saturday

Working at Bentley Priory this morning we found and dealt with the remains of a fire, probably from the previous night, still burning - that orange is a flame, not just embers. Incredibly stupid and dangerous - and risking a 100 pound fine if seen by Harrow Enforcement.

Two hopeful but disappointed male six belted clearwing moths investigating a pheromone lure at Church Fields yesterday. Only the second record of this pretty species for a wide swathe of NW London - but that's because they are rarely noticed, they are probably quite common. Image by Jo Payne.

This animated prickleball is the larva of the 24-spot ladybird, found by one of our enthusiastic child helpers at the BioBlitz in Church Fields yesterday. The lava feeds on mildew on leaves.

Pretty white flowers of Pignut at Bentley Priory on a glorious morning today.

Bentley Priory this morning: Horsetails are sprouting in the areas of bramble that were cut in mid April. Most of the stems in the image are vegetative (green) but over on the right are two reproductive stems - brownish, with sporangia at the top.

Volunteers from Nat West bank raked cut bramble at Bentley Priory today to allow the flower-rich grassland to recover. Thanks everyone!

Magnificant wild pear tree spotted today on a botany survey of Bentley Priory led by Mark Spencer of the London Natural History Society. Thanks very much to him, we learned a great deal about what grows on the site.

Top: before. Bottom: after. Four doughty volunteers cleared lots of rubbish from woodland in Stanmore Country Park yesterday - a great effort!