FOAP publishes a bulletin following each meeting of the committee to give our members, and others, a better view of what’s happening on and to the park. This bulletin follows the meeting on 19 January.
Derby Parks
Trees for Derby came to Allestree Park on Saturday 13th December and with the help of the Friends of Allestree Park and DWT’s Allestree Volunteers did some maintenance work at the Coronation Micro Wood and planted 320 native saplings. Most of these new saplings went along the hedgerows that run alongside the main drive from the A6 to the car park, to fill in gaps and increase the diversity of species found there.
Later in December, on the 16th and 17th December the Derby Parks Volunteers, with the help of members of FoAP, DWT’s Allestree Volunteers and Derby City Park Rangers joined together in Big Wood for the annual Christmas ‘Rhoddie Bash’. A HUGE amount of the invasive Rhododendron was removed and dead hedges and habitat piles created to improve the overall health of the woodland.
Derby Parks held the Green Heart Awards last week; Allestree volunteers scooped a runner-up prize for the Junior Rangers and Estelle and Gail who volunteer around the lake looking after the bird life, won the Biggest Heart Award. A well-deserved win, and we hope that this starts to show how much their work is appreciated by all.
The annual reservoir inspection is due later in January; there has been some vegetation clearance around the lake to ensure the inspection can go ahead unhindered.
Working alongside DWT we have created a regular volunteering opportunity for people to get involved in at Allestree Park. Sessions will be held on the second Thursday and fourth Saturday of each month. If anyone wants to get involved, they can find out more and register for updates on the DWT website - Practical Volunteering at Allestree Park
Sandra Horner
Community Parks Officer, Derby City Council
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust are delivering two free training workshops in February and March as part of the Allestree Park Rewilding Project! The training workshops have limited places so, please email
Winter Tree Identification Workshop, Tuesday 3rd February with two timeslots available, 10am-12:30pm or 1pm-3:30pm (please confirm your preferred timeslot when booking onto the event) - This training will be teaching you how to identify different trees during winter when there are no leaves present, so we will be looking at other distinguishing features instead. If you've always wanted to know how to identify different trees when you're on a walk, then come and join us! Meeting point - Main Car Park (https://maps.app.goo.gl/VNUsrNW9dXrm2n8v9).
Butterfly Identification & Transect Training, Sunday 1st March, 11:30am-2:30pm - This training will be led by Ken Orpe from Butterfly Conservation showing you how to identify different butterfly species and how to carry out the transect surveying he organises across Derbyshire. We have 3 transects at Allestree Park and are hoping to also set up a Purple Hairstreak Transect too - no obligation to be involved, but if you'd like to be, please get in touch and come along to this training workshop. There will also be an optional walk around Allestree Park afterwards to learn more about the rewilding project. The training is at Allestree Club (https://maps.app.goo.gl/CopnjEuJ69PCk4NR6).
See posters below . . .
If anyone has any questions, please get in touch at
Emily Hughes
Urban Rewilding Programme Officer (Allestree Park)
Fishing tackle
Although it’s a rare occurrence, discarded fishing tackle can present a threat to the lake’s birdlife. The Earl of Harrington AC is re-iterating to its members the importance of not leaving line/hooks and will be increasing its lakeside monitoring.
Questionnaire
A big ‘thank you’ to those who have responded to the questionnaire sent to you earlier this week, and if you haven’t yet responded we’d be grateful if you could. We hope to publish the results in the next bulletin.
FOAP Coming Events
Pond dipping May 16 1.30pm - 4.00pm
Mini-beast hunt TBD
Painting in the park TBD
Summer event TBD
Bat walk TBD in September
