15th June 2009 - Cattle grazing in Sherwood Oaks Field

The Friends of Foxley are proposing that a large part of Sherwood Oaks Field, part of Foxley Wood, is fenced so that cattle and later sheep can be introduced to graze the grassland. If successful this initial area will be extended to enclose the whole Field. Click on the link below to see the full proposal and complete the questionnaire if you would like to comment on the scheme.

Proposal    Questionnaire

15th June 2009 - Coppicing in Foxley Wood

Croydon Council’s annual Health and Safety inspection of Foxley Wood and Sherwood Oaks Field by their Forestry Officer and Forestry Consultant, has highlighted the increasing hazard to people and property from the trees between the lower path and the Northwood Avenue properties. The trees in this area (except for the large beeches) have never been managed or thinned and the intense competition combined with the search for light has produced long thin spindly trees. Coppicing of this area is due to commence during the Autumn/Winter of 2009. Click on the link below to view the full proposal.

Proposal

 

20th October 2008

The Friends of Foxley have some exciting news that Purley  residents  may wish to know about. Firstly we were awarded The Best Conservation Project Trophy and a Certificate of Excellence for our entry in this years Croydon in Bloom Competition. Many thanks are due to the local resident who nominated us. The Certificate and Trophy will be on display at the Kenley & District Residents Association AGM from 8pm on 28th October at the Kenley Memorial Hall.  Secondly in September we heard that our application for a Lottery grant from Awards for All had been successful. Due to a news embargo required by Awards for All we have been unable to make this public before now. We have been awarded £10,000 to deliver a project in the Wood which includes provision for re-surfacing a 250 metre stretch of the lower path behind Northwood Avenue, new leaflets, tools, volunteer training, repairs to the Nature Trail posts and orgainising walks. The highlight of the project will be a demonstation of how charcoal is produced and how heavy horses operate within woodland. A mobile charcoal kiln and its operators will be based in the wood for three days and the public will be able to buy charcoal on the last day. Also on the last day a heavy horse and its handlers will give demonstrations of how they work. A date is still to be fixed for this event and we will keep you informed as planning progresses.   

The Awards for All grant is good news as it will allow us to make improvements within the woodland and to enable more people to enjoy the site. We now have picnic tables and benches for people to sit on and good views can be obtained of the surrounding area from the top of Sherwood Oaks Field.

  Kenley Funday 2008 

On Sunday 6th July 2008 the Friends provided one of the stalls at the Kenley Funday, actually in the same gazebo as KENDRA. For the first part of the day the wind and rain made life difficult but the latter part of the afternoon at least saw some sun, though it was still windy. A number of people visited and expressed interest in our work and some even in volunteering. Freda provided the means for nearly 40 children over the course of the day to make some lovely decorative cards using natural materials to be found nearby, and were also suitably rewarded for their efforts. Though it is a small scale, local and consequently very relaxed and friendly event, it is always interesting to see the range of skills, crafts, produce and other community groups on display. A very pleasant day. Some photos can be seen at :http://picasaweb.google.com/anthony.j.mills/KenleyFunday060708                                                                   or:-     http://tinyurl.com/5z4ma7                                                                                                                     Anthony Mills

Report on Woodland Management Workshop 10th May 2008 

Meike Weiser, Croydon's Community Partnerships Officer invited 3 delegates from each of the Boroughs' Woodland "Friends of" groups to attend a training day / workshop at Kingswood, Sanderstead, to be presented by Simon Levy, Forestry Consultant to Croydon.

About 30 of us turned up at the Methodist Hall for the morning's presentation, and we then proceeded into Kingswood for a BBQ lunch provided by Richard Edwards, Forestry Officer and Meike, followed by a tour of areas in various stages of coppice management with explanation and discussion with Simon. The weather was lovely for an enlightening walk in an ancient wood.

Several local groups were unaware that management plans [in the English Woodland Grant Scheme format] already existed for their woods, while others had actively participated in writing them, or produced them for themselves. Many did not realise that the only funding for work by Croydon [as distinct from volunteers] in their woodlands derives from the EWGS or from income raised from sales of products arising from that work.

This for me was a key element, and where public perception differs most from the "professionals" viewpoint. It appears to me that most Friends, and interested members of the public, see their management as primarily for amenity, followed by conservation and ecological concerns, with economic production figuring extremely marginally if at all. This may be because the returns on woodland are very marginal. However, managing Croydon's woodlands to produce viable economic products not only enforces financial rigour and ensures quality standards in the work done, but also authenticates and reinforces management strategies which have historically produced the very diversity of habitats and ecologies which are the objectives of our conservation activities. The familiar and varied features of these environments were the result of the previous use of the woodlands to produce usable products with maximum efficiency. It is the lack of intensive management for production rather than an excess of it which results in impoverished ecologies, eg single aged class secondary woodlands resulting from neglect.

The 'continuous cover' methods advocated by Simon ensure that diversity is maximised by generating areas of change, fluctuation amd transition, on the edges and margins and within areas cut and harvested on cyclical and successional bases. And learning how to actually do that, in your 'own' wood, was fascinating and inspiring....

Thanks to everyone, officers and volunteers, for enabling me [and the Friends of Foxley] to participate.

Photos taken on the day [unfortunately from a restricted viewpoint as I was in a wheelchair] are available at:-

http://picasaweb.google.com/anthony.j.mills/WoodlandManagementCourseKingswood100508