Local residents joined the Friends of Meade Park on Saturday August 17th for an informative and enjoyable look at wildlife in Meade Park.
Led by local ecologist Rupert Higgins, the group discovered dragon flies, butterflies, shield bugs, ladybirds, hoverflies, snails and bugs of all kinds going about their business in the park. Easily overlooked, these little creatures are essential to the delicate eco-balance in nature.
Rupert was able to identify the different butterflies: a painted lady, a speckled wood and a holly blue amongst others, along with dragonflies such as the common darter and the migrant hawker.
One of the participants on the walk said: “I thought I knew a lot about the trees and wildlife in the park but Rupert has such amazing knowledge. It was really interesting.”
Cllr Jenny James, chair of the Friends of Meade Park group, said: “It was a good to discover so many different creatures in the park and our thanks go to Rupert for sharing his extensive knowledge.”
The walk was funded by Stoke Gifford Parish Council.
The Friends of Meade Park have a series of walks planned across all the seasons, to help park users appreciate the great opportunities in the park to get up close and personal to the wide range of trees, plants and creatures living there. The next one will be on Saturday 19th October. The friends group also have plans to design some information boards to help park users identify trees, plants and wildlife in the park.
If you have any other ideas about how to enhance the facilities and activities in the park you can get in touch with them via the ‘Friends of Meade Park’ page on Facebook or by email at friendsofmeadepark@gmail.com
This article originally appeared in the September 2019 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine (on page 28). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
