Blackhouse Wood

Tuesday 18th May 2021

Today I volunteered with The Conservation Volunteers at Blackhouse Wood in Reading. At last they are taking new volunteers! We were doing some biodiversity recording - mainly plants but also birds and butterflies. The plan is to open up some of the canopy in the wood later this year, so we need to record what species are here now and then see what difference the changes make. The volunteer leader was very good and spent the first 10 minutes explaining what the overall plan for the wood was and why they were doing it.

What I learnt - I actually know more than I thought and with an app and a few books its not too difficult to identify plants - they stay still and you can take a photo!! So much easier than birds and mammals!

The leader did also talked about all the birds she could hear - I now know that a green woodpecker sounds like a bird laughing at you! This wooden sculpture is one of a few that have been in the area for a while - I love it!