December 2006
The robin is a familiar sight throughout the year but in the early winter is more noticeable for many reasons. The lack of leaves on the trees and more daring when feeding on gardens searching for the more elusive insects, also singing to protect its domain. A bird much associated with Christmas, in very early times a common name for a small bird was ‘Robert’ and it is thought that the name robin derived from this. Another derivation was that the first postmen wore red tunics and were nicknamed redbreasts.
The wood louse is liable to be mistaken for an insect. It is, however, one of the very few crustaceans that have adapted to life on land. Thus, it needs dark damp conditions and can be seen regularly on dull winter days. In winter, they are to be found under stones or in the ditches.
The depiction in stained glass on a window upstairs in the Tudor Barn includes one Margaret Roper, former resident of Well Hall and daughter of Henry V111's Lord Chancellor Thomas More (pictured here). The stained glass is a representation of a 1526 Hans Holbein picture of the More family which is now being exhibited in the Tate Gallery, on loan from its normal home in Switzerland and seen in Britain for the first time in many decades.
The Friends, in close consultation with Greenwich Council's Parks and Open Spaces Department, are looking to thickening up the tree and shrub cover in the putting green area.
As part of the grant application being put to the BBC's Breathing Places grant scheme, some new planting along the southern boundary of the putting green area is planned. The aim is to block out some of the visual intrusion from the motorway. This will be particularly important for supporting the other parts of the grant application - the woodland walk through the bank of trees and a new area of wildflower planting.
What are oprnamental plants to us are Christmas dinner to the birds in the Pleasaunce, particularly pigeons and blackbirds
Jason Green, the Pleasaunce's resident snapper, caught some great detailed shots of our heron in December
The winner of the first Pleasaunce photographic competition was John Gaffen for this picture of leaves, which caught his eye in one of the upper ponds.
A bright display of mushrooms lit up a dark Sunday afternoon in the Pleasaunce. Sporting deep golden yellows and russet caps, the musrooms are growing on top of a space vacated by a conifer on the lawn above the long pond.
Trainee wildlife photographer Jason Green is in the Pleasaunce for the next two weeks to get the best possible shots of our wildlife. This week he's captured a great spotted woodpecker and, inside, the moment when push comes to splash for one of the mallards in the moat. Also, see his picture of one of our most regular visitors, the parakeet.
And more including a narcissistic pigeon, our friend the heron and now a jay to add to the collection.
Many thanks to those who contributed prizes for the Friends' raffle at the Christmas event; particularly to Direct Health 2000 who contributed three whole massages worth £35 each and Computing Solutions of Well Hall Parade, who gave some mempory sticks.
The annual festivities at the Tudor Barn were held on Friday. Around 100 parents and children joined the Greenwich Youth Band on Moat Island. In the Tudor Barn, entertainment was provided by the Eltham Choral Society, dancing from the Blackheath Morris Men and singing from the Greenwich Traditional Musicians' Co-operative. The Tudor Barn supplied excellent mince pies and mulled wine.
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| Last Updated: 4th-Jan-2007 00:51 |
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