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Spring fair Newsletter

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2011-05-27T17:47:17+01:00

Spring Country Side Fair 2011 – Cannon Hill News

40 Years of Spring Festivals in Cannon Hill Park 1971- 2011

Many local families still remember the Tulips and the Dutch Windmill created for the 1970s Festival, and the creation of Birmingham Nature Centre shortly after the Midlands Arts Centre opened in Cannon Hill Park. * You’ll find the Spring Fair this year by the Nature Centre and new Natural Adventure Play area, and with lots of activities going on in the City Park and Country Side areas along the River Rea down to Stirchley. Plus ‘Reel Archive’ film showings of us then – back in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

*Storytelling Tent * Arts and Nature Discovery zone

Record your own live weather forecast, take part in exciting weather experiments, observe a professional weather station, and make a small storm tornado.

The OPAL Weather Roadshow is your chance to explore the exciting science of climate and weather. There are lots of activities and demonstrations to suit all ages and you’ll also be able to talk with professional meteorologists and OPAL scientists.

The park's newest resident

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2011-05-14T16:02:20+01:00

The parks newest resident has just been spotted in the park. It is a small brown deer that was seen by a local resident (Helen) who was walking her dog. She watched it for 5 or so minutes while it was grazing in the area of former prefab housing, adjacent to the health centre on Dad’s Lane. Given the description it is likely to be Muntjac Deer. These are surprisingly common around the city, and all though not native, they do not cause a lot of damage. In high numbers they are a pest to woodlands though.

The probably species involved, Reeves Muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi), was introduced into the UK in Woburn Safari Park in 1926. It is now found everywhere and is thought to be the commonest species in England, recently extending its range up to the Scottish borders and into Wales. They are surprising confiding species and not too concerned by humans. Keep your eyes peeled.

A Muntjac deer (copyright Pratheepps) used under the Wiki-images license.

A flood Walk down the Rea

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2011-05-04T18:47:15+01:00

Last Sunday saw the Friends River Rea flood walk. Thanks to all those who attended and made it such as successful event!

Here are the notes and links distributed as part of the pack materials handed out by Tony:

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Notes/Links for a ‘Flood River Walk along the Rea’
Cannon Hill – Selly Park – Moor Green – Stirchley

‘Mapping the Country Side of the Rea Linear Park’ is a local heritage project of Cannon Hill Park Neighbourhood Friends, OPAL and partners.

Contact for Project: Tony Fox, cannonhillfriend@aol.com 0121-449 6024

'A Lost Landscape' - Mathew Boulton's love of Birmingham Heath - between the growing town and his factory by Soho Pool in Handsworth. (written 2009 by Shena Mason, Val Loggie and Phillida Ballard)
http://www.birminghamheritage.org.uk/review.htm

'Sexing the Plants' - article by Jenny Uglow, in The Guardian 2002, with a reappraisal of Erasmus Darwin who brought Natural History science studies to Birmingham Lunar Society.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/sep/21/featuresreviews.guardianreview30

'Curlew Country' - Staffordshire Blog web site following Local Heritage Lottery Project about the Staffs Moorland habitat and this bird.
http://www.curlewcountry.org.uk/about/

Find Wild Flowers celebrated in different counties of England – and why the Foxglove is linked to Birmingham. But how many native flowers are we losing?
http://www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/county_flowers/

Our beloved Cannon Hill Peoples Park web site - paths of local Discovery and Observation
www.cannonhillpeoplespark.net (including seasonal Wildlife Diary and blog 2008-2011 >

The beloved River Rea, with Rea Valley Interactive Map and Heritage Trail starting at Cannon Hill Park. See Resouces> Environmental plant archaeology from Longbridge to the Bull Ring.
www.riverreatrail.org.uk

OPAL Open Air natural Labs - with neighbourhood and national partners
www.opalexplorenature.org Big Lottery 2008-12 and www.opalwestmidlands.org Scientist projects including local Birds, Bees and Weather. See OPAL in Peoples Park 31 May–5 June.

iSpot - OPAL Biodiversity Survey: have you spotted? what other type of support is good for you, and seasonal observations? Feedback here and to our Peoples Wildlife website Blog -
www.iSpot.org.uk

Description of the new Park in Birkenhead (1840) designed by Joseph Paxton, with apprentice John Gibson, by Frederick Olmsted an American Farmer. Olmsted went on to design Central Park New York, while John Gibson designed Battersea Park(1860) & Cannon Hill Park (1873).
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;idno=ajq8991.0001.001;view=image;seq=77;size=75;page=root

Kings Norton and Northfield Urban District History - prior to Bham Boundary Extension 1911 three quarters of Cannon Hill Park land was in Worcestershire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_Norton_and_Northfield_Urban_District

History of Cannon Hill Fields, and Map of 1921 showing Moor Green Mill and Mill Race coming off the river Rea
http://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-c/cannon-hill/

Moor Green Forge and Mill from Tudor times, also known as Farmons Mill
http://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-f/farmons/

Floods in Selly Park South and Pebble Mill Fields - taken by Residents Flood Action Group
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcweatherman/sets/72157607172937378/

Youtube Video of Floods in Stirchley, 6 Sept 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riosZ3V8_48

Edible Foraging Youtube video with Alys Fowler along Moor Green and Selly Park river banks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdc9NaPeaI4

Style of Prefab Houses erected beside the Rea in Moor Green and Hazelwell 1944
www.flickr.com/photos/speedtree/4970804958/

Learning more about Birmingham Prefab houses and building science -
http://www.listen-to-english.com/index.php?id=433#

Vimeo of Mapping the Country Side Project, Jan 2011, with residents interviews
http://www.vimeo.com/19364131

Dogpool and Ten Acres History
http://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-t/ten-acres/

Hogweed, invasive plant
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicweeds/weed_information/weed.php?id=126

Wild Angelika, grown on local allotments
http://www.plantpress.com/wildlife/o858-wildangelica.php

Bumblebee Conservation, a Heritage Lottery funded Community Project. (see also OPAL Buzz)
http://www.hlf.org.uk/ourproject/Pages/Bumblebee_Conservation.aspx

Media Archive for Central England, MACE holds local history movies –
* Shows of local films archive at Spring Country Side Fair 4-5 June, Cannon Hill Peoples Park
http://www.macearchive.org/

Univ of Birmingham VISTA Research – GIS Projects including Climate Change

Friends of Hazelwell Park, Birds Survey Jan 2011 and Fruit Tree Planting

Research ongoing – with your support and involvement.
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Spring Newsletter

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2011-03-25T16:09:02+00:00

Digging into local history at Moor Green

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2011-01-30T19:48:32+00:00

See the local history get dug up in our local patch:

Digging in Dads Lane

Three new park videos

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2010-11-14T22:11:38+00:00

Check out these videos of the hedgerow laying event, time to get moving and the Bells Farm autumn festival.

Autumn Hedgerow Weekend:

Time to Get Moving:

Bells Farm Heritage Alive -,Autumn Festival:

Cannon Hill Fun Day - Sunday 10th Oct!

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2010-10-09T10:55:43+01:00

The Big Nature Debate

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2010-09-20T22:16:27+01:00

Follow the big nature debate that the Natural History Museum, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Zoological Society of London and International Year of Biodiversity-UK are running. You can blog (only 250-500 words) on one or more of the topics listed below – or indeed feel free to propose a biodiversity topic of your own. We need a flow of new blogs, and contributions to the debate, up to the live streaming of the Big Debate itself on 7 October.

The Big Nature Debate site is a focus for discussion on the issues around biodiversity in the weeks leading up to Nagoya. The area will act as a portal directing visitors to relevant content and will have forums in which visitors can participate and exchange views with experts in the field. The Big Nature Blog is central to the site, where we are asking people with expert knowledge to contribute blog posts that will help to share their views and opinions with an interested audience with varying levels of knowledge. The posts will offer fact and opinion from a personal view point, widening the horizons of those who read them, while remaining clear and easy to follow.

Blog and forum topics

1. What is biodiversity and why is it important?
2. What do you see as the main threats to biodiversity?
3. What, do you see as the single biggest threat facing biodiversity today?
4. What’s the importance of now? Is biodiversity in crisis? How can we tell?
5. How is biodiversity linked to the way we live? And what can we do to reduce the impact of our lifestyles?
6. What actions do you think are needed now to stem global biodiversity loss?
7. What’s the bigger priority, the economic situation or protecting biodiversity?
8. Should governments subsidise business and food production to protect biodiversity?
9. Is overfishing a problem, and if so, what should be done about it?
10. What should be done to promote the awareness of the importance of biodiversity?
11. How far do you think local and national government should include biodiversity in their plans?
12. What role do forests, woodlands and other ecosystems play in supporting biodiversity?
13. What is the impact of climate change on biodiversity?
14. What is genetic diversity and do we need it?
15. How do you think GM crops might affect our futures?
16. How important is it to protect traditional knowledge and practices in farming?
17. What do you think the world might look like in 2050?
18. What can we as individuals do to influence governments to take action?
19. What can we do as individuals to support biodiversity?
20. What would you like to see happen at Nagoya?
21. What do you think can be achieved after Nagoya?

We will be blogging on this shortly but in the meantime get Twittering and remember to use the hashtag #naturedb8.

Artsfest and British Science festival adventures

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2010-09-18T19:31:24+01:00

Tony has been busy creating the OPAL Nature of Birmingham Science by Light project. This is an arts-science partnership sponsored by the Natural History Museum’s Centre for Biodiversity and the Birmingham Botanical Buds social enterprise for British Science Festival. The project’s Kaleidoscopia software is available online as well as the Gallery of local biodiversity images created by communities participating. See the podcasts of the events on our new podcasts pages.

New Wildlife blog and free nature resources for download

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2010-06-27T11:40:01+01:00

We have added a new blog to wildlife pages and draw your attention to the Woodland Trust’s wildlife initiatives for exploring nature and photography:

Use their nature exploration packs for natural play around Cannon Hill and River Rea Linear Parks: Over a thousand free activity sheets to use in woods and at home. Guaranteed fun for young people and families throughout the year. Or why not take out the camera and join in with their volunteer photography scheme? With dappled sunlight and fresh morning dew, Cannon Hill and River Rea Linear Parks have great places to take pictures. Add your thoughts and photos and help us inspire everyone about woodland, wild life, wildflower plants, gardens, rivers and pools.

Lastly, there are a suite of new identification guides for download for the National OPAL website. These are very useful guides to a range of wildlife. Oh and don’t forget iSpot!

Live Twitter feeds and wildlife blog

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2010-06-19T11:16:35+01:00

We have added two new live Twitter feeds: one to the park homepage and another to the wildlife pages. Keep an eye on both for updates on events, activities, plans, wildlife sightings and the like.

We have also moved the wildlife blog from its old site to this one. The old blog page will be retained as an archive.

New sound gallery now available

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2010-06-11T21:58:10+01:00

We have just created a new gallery of sound. There are not very many files available at the moment, but we have uploaded a range of the common bird songs heard in the park. We will be adding more as we get good quality recordings.

Fabulous new audio walks for the park

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2010-05-11T17:31:58+01:00

Three artists (Kate Chapman, Charlotte Goodwin, and Nina West) have created a wonderful and rich run of audio walks for users of park and recently reopened Midlands Arts Centre (MAC). The project aptly called ‘Amplifying the Map’ is based around three interactive walks. Each one has a different theme and involves input from different people (e.g. the Rangers, local school children from Tindal School and so on). The idea is that you download the map and the sound files, placing the latter on your mobile phone or MPEG player, and then head off on the walk stopping at each point indicated on the map and listening to the appropriate audio track. This is a brilliant initiative and great way to spend 60 or so minutes on a walk enjoying the park.

All the files you need can be downloaded free of charge from the project’s terrific website - just click here.

It is fantastic.

New Wildlife Blog on the pages

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2010-03-07T20:26:13+00:00

Check out the new Wildlife Blog on the site. See here.

New Events leaflet

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2010-02-16T20:11:33+00:00

A belated Happy New Year!

We have just completed our new Park Life leaflet outlining the events and activities for the coming year. Please click here to download the PDF or follow the link from the Events page, where you will find a calendar of events.

Winter Blog 2009

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2009-11-19T18:04:09+00:00

@import((winterblog1))
And finally.......

Thanks to all who helped over this year with seasonal tasks caring for the park woodland, pools and riverbanks, gardens and fields.
Thanks to Woodland Trust and Environment Agency for help with community activities & resources, and to OPAL West Midlands for support in seeing how much we’ve got (see links below for more information)!

Links: www.cannonhillpeoplespark.net
www.birminghamheritage.org.uk/cannonhill.html

OPAL Open Air Nature Labs (WM), and Park Friends extended Learning family activities:
www.opalwestmidlands.org and national partners: www.opalexplorenature.org

Summer Solar Festival 2009 - a day in pictures

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2009-06-24T19:42:44+01:00

For our Solar Festival 2009 Birmingham Astronomer John Dee recreated William Herschel's experiment for the Lunar Society in 1800 with thermometers to show Infrared Radiation, and also the range of instruments used by the new scientists in homes such as Boulton's Soho House.

And the Shango Science Club of teenagers showed the plates they created specially for our solar picnic, revealing the summer triangle of stars and constellations most prominent in the sky from June to September.

Whilst others were happy to taste the range of Planets Suite Pancakes created by Cyrdric.

The Cannon Hill Camera Obscura, made by Tim Holgate's Pinhole Solutions, was very popular again....

...but what is that Green Planet floating over the Lake?

Most eyes were on the Sun all day using four Solar Telescopes, and other pieces of the Bham Astronomy Roadshow which will be at Sutton Park in August and back in Cannon Hill for our Winter Lanterns Festival on 12 December.

Further astronomical events in ITA 2009 are on www.birmingham-astronomy.co.uk and there is more photo fun from a shoe box to Camera Obscura at www.pinholesolutions.co.uk/pinhole_factory.html

SUMMER SOLSTICE SOLAR PICNIC - Sat 20 June

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2009-06-18T19:47:25+01:00

Join Birmingham Astronomy Society, Ishango Sun-Trek Cadets and Park Friends to celebrate the Summer Solstice and Birmingham International Year of Astronomy.

King Edwards Girls Making Pebble Wool Fulling Mill History Live

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2009-06-08T16:14:17+01:00

The local school History reenactment group (Photograph: Jill Ella) helped tell part of the Five Mills history of Cannon Hill story by focusing on the Rea - Wool Fulling and finishing at Pebble Mill in the 1600s. The local wool for the industry went from sheep on Cannon Hill Meadows, to be woven and improved at the Mill, with the cloth eventually stretched over frames 'on tenterhooks'.

The Five Mills Trail including Pebble Mill and Edgbaston Mill is available on the Discovery pages, or from the Park Information Centre at the Garden Tea Room.

Other pictures of the Breathing Spaces ' Water for Life' Festival can be found on the BBC Bham website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/image_galleries/birmingham_springwatch_09_gallery.shtml?29

Get on your bike!

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2009-05-27T21:04:52+01:00

Here is a date for your diary

Family Cycle Day 10am to 4pm Sat 13 June

The free Family Cycle Days will include a cycling stunt show and provide people of all ages with the opportunity to have a go on a selection of weird and wonderful bikes. Everyone will also have the chance to take part in an escorted 2km, 5km, or 10km ride within the Cannon Hill 250acre Park.
Maps are available from the Ranger Info Desk at the Park Tea Room.

New Patch Notice Board and Signs

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2009-05-04T18:16:58+01:00

We now have sign posts to a new community woodland patch notice board for Holders Wood. Make sure you have a look at it for details on local history and wildlife in the wood. Just follow the signs.

Spring over the Rea

cannonhillfriend@aol.com — 2009-05-03T19:00:51+01:00

Today we held our spring festival celebrating the start of another ‘Friends Event Year’ and another year of patch people and wildlife activity. We were happy to be joined by the Rangers (Arthur and Alan), local friend Penny Moore who organised the great duck race (from Balaams Wood another River Rea local patch), the RSPB in the shape of Hollie and Jess who will moving on to pastures new as their Severn-Trent funding has expired (they will be greatly missed), Adam, Laura and Jon (from OPAL West Midlands), Tom and Nicky from Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust (BBCWT) and famous ‘Bat Detector Van’.

Nicky (BBCWT), Tom (BBCWT), Jon (OPALWM) and Adam (OPALWM) with the OPAL WM Bee Hotels and literature, OPAL worm survey kits and Evolution MegaLab snail tank.

The Bat Detector.

There were bee hotels and bat boxes to be made (courtesy of BBCWT) and lots of information concerning British solitary bees and OPAL West Midlands’ ‘West Mildands Buzz’ bee project.

Badges to be drawn.

The day started with a walk around one of the patch nature walks led by the Friends and OPAL (see here for walk details) and concluded with the Great duck Race, started by Tony and refereed by Penny. In between we had lots of activity in the Queen Mother’s Woodland (or Rea Thicket) when Arthur and Alan ran a bug hunt, attended by a host of enthusiastic young naturalists and their parents.

Arthur organising the ‘bug hunt’.

45 minutes of rooting around looking on and around trees, under stones and logs, in brushwood piles, leaf litter turned up a vast array of different bugs including mites and spiders, woodlice, millipedes and centipedes, beetles, slugs, snails, flies, hymenopterans, adult caddisflies and the like.

Most were taken back to the stands for photographing and you can find these sitting on the ‘Bug Ball gallery’. Can you spot your bug? Wait for the pictures to cycle through!

The day culminated in the ‘Great Duck Race’. The ducks were released from the bridge at Second Avenue and the finish line was the ford down Rea Walk.

Penny allocated the ducks to their owners. Eventually 68 numbered ducks entered the race.

Ready, set go...........

And they are off........

The race is on downstream........

And the winner was......number 26! Thanks Penny (and Arthur and Alan for marshalling and collecting the late finishers).

It was a terrific way to spend a warm spring day. Thanks to all involved.

Tony (left) and Jon (right).