Nature on the farm
Being so close to the city, and sited within an urban environment, it’s natural that the site is treated by many as a park, simply for human recreation. It serves this purpose very well, so that it is hard sometimes to remember that its designation as a Local Nature Reserve means that its principal purpose should be the protection and enhancement of the non-human world. This is a challenge for Friends of Eastwood Farm, as visitors create pressures that cannot be easily ignored, so that much of our work can be devoted to maintenance of paths and other work around access for visitors. However, we’re happy to look after humans too!
A survey of fungi on the LNR was carried out in 2009, followed by a series of ecological surveys in autumn 2014, with the intention of informing future management of the site. The aim was to identify habitats and other features of particular ecological value and in particular to highlight those with specific management needs. The results were compiled in a report of November 2014) with management recommendations. This was used to create a management plan, for the 5 years from 2015/16 to 2019/20.
Wildlife monitoring
We now have an Eastwood farm iNaturalist project https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/eastwood-farm-nature-reserve, for which some in the group have had training. We’ll be doing more of this in 2025, especially around the Big Green week, where we are hoping to run our own bio blitz.
We have carried out an annual bee survey at Eastwood farm, since 2021, through the Bee Walks Survey Scheme. There’s an annual report that is publicly accessible. Two volunteers walk the same transect once a month between March and October, recording the bumblebees and honeybees they see, as well as the plant they’re seen on.
For the last 4 years we have held several bat walks a year. We record the results of bats found on these walks as sunset surveys for the Bat Conservation Trust
For the last 3 years we have taken part in the Mammal Society’s annual National Harvest Mouse Survey at the end of November.
We currently have 1 tawny owl box and 1 barn owl box put up and managed – see https://www.facebook.com/groups/2623199861317748/?locale=en_GB.
With the Avon Bat Group, we’ve just installed 14 bat boxes that we will be managing and inspecting.
In 2023 we surveyed both ponds in Eastwood Farm for the Natural History Genepools project. The results page for last year is available here (the main Eastwood farm pond is ID GPII215, the bomb crater pond is GPII202).
