Volunteering

Shepherdleas Wood Tuesday, 18th November, 2025 Eleven volunteers turned out for Tuesday’s session.  That’s another whopping 33 hours of work and it meant that great progress was made on restoring the wildflower area across from the bridge separating Eltham Park South from Shepherdleas Wood.  Again, our aim was to get more light to the woodland floor by removing holly, as well as reducing compaction and fragmentation in the area, which has been caused by the narrowing of the m

Jackwood House Garden   Sunday, 16 th November 2025   Our second session this month was a typical, dull, damp November day but our seven, determined gardening volunteers were not deterred and got to work with gusto. Jackwood House Garden - The Fountain - swamped with vegetation.   As usual, we divided into two separate groups:  four people got back to work on the terrace area, continuing the super work they had started last session - trimming back the wisteria on the right-h

Friday, 14th November - Cancelled Jack Wood - Wildflower Area - Lower Path Having carried out our first autumn session in this beautiful woodland area on the edge of Oxleas Meadow, we were looking forward to a second session to finish clearing the holly stand, before moving on. But…the weather had different ideas!  If there is one thing you can say about our weather, it is changeable from day to day, and as the week went by, it looked more and more likely that we were going t

Oxleas Wood Saturday, 8th November, 2025 This weekend’s session marked an amazing milestone in the history of the Shooters Hill Woodlands Working Party.   It is exactly 30 years this week since the very first woodland conservation session took place in the woodlands!   Even more impressive is that Laurie Baker, one of its members from day one, continues to run sessions, as well as sitting on the committee of The Friends of Oxleas Woodlands.  His valuable contribution helps us

Six of our volunteers spent a grey and drizzly afternoon hard at work in the garden. While some of the group puttered around in the flowerbeds planting some extra bulbs and tidying up a little bit, three brave souls carried on with our most mammoth task to date - the wisteria.

We got a start on coppicing in the 2025-26 coupe. Most of us had met up only recently for training - we were joined by some of our other regular volunteers, who include both coppicing novices and people who have coppiced extensively at Woodlands Farm and at Scabry.

Jack Wood - Wildflower Rescue Friday, 31st October 2025 On Friday, our hardy Woodland Conservation Volunteers gathered in the morning drizzle ready for our session, not wanting to miss an opportunity to get into the woodlands and make a difference.  This time we were moving on from the large wildflower area near Jackwood Garden to a smaller area at the opening to Lower Path in Jack Wood from Oxleas Meadow ,which we began restoring over a year ago.     Getting to work clearing

Saturday, 25th October, 2025 Severndroog Castle & Eltham Common Wood Saturday’s litter pick took place in, arguably, one of the most beautiful areas of woodland this team works in - and what a lovely morning it was for it too!  The sun shone brightly, a very light breeze rustled the dry autumn leaves remaining on the trees, and not a drop of rain fell until after we had finished our session.  How lucky were we? What a contrast from the previous weekend’s gale force gusts! As

About half of the coppicing team spent the morning of Saturday 25th in Oxleas Wood improving our knowledge and skills in coppicing.

21 October 2025   Shepherdleas Wood – Bluebell Slopes The weather was perfect for our session today, especially following the heavy showers on Monday.  Good Autumn temperatures along with some sunshine led to a very pleasant working environment for our small group of four volunteers.   Again, we returned to the new glade which was established last year in the north-west corner of the wood.  This glade takes advantage of the increased light resulting from an opening in the can

Jackwood House Garden was entered into London in Bloom's community garden award. Did we do well?

On Sunday 19th October, seven volunteers returned to Jackwood House Garden. Three focused on weeding the beds, enjoying the scent of the salvia, the colour of the bistort, and the delicate blooms of the anemone. Others continued pruning wisteria and Old Man’s Beard along the terrace, gradually uncovering the fountain that’s almost hidden beneath the creepers.

It's been a few years since we’ve done much coppicing in Oxleas wood, and far far longer since there’s been a consistent rotation of coppicing across the wood. We believe that coppicing will improve the biodiversity of the area, but we’d like to check and be sure. We’ve done a little survey work on the coupe, and what we can find there in late September.

Bramble clearing and pond maintenance by SHWWP

On Friday, seven volunteers spent five hours tidying Castle Wood Rose Garden before moving on to Jackwood House Terrace, adding another ten hours of work.

We had to cancel our first coppicing session because of storm Amy. Learn why we did this.

By break time, the group had already successfully opened the area to light - the difference in the wildflower area is fantastic.

On Saturday 20th September, six volunteers enjoyed fine weather while tackling seasonal garden care. In Castle Wood rose garden, we deadheaded, weeded, and swept the steps. Over at Jackwood Terrace, we gave the wisteria its summer trim, cutting back about a third of the new growth to keep it healthy and encourage stronger flowering next spring.

On 19th Sept, 12 volunteers cleared brambles, bracken & invasive species, boosting space for native wildflowers to thrive. We also extended our dead hedges—great for wildlife habitat!

In between the showers on Friday afternoon, five of our intrepid volunteers met at Jackwood House Garden to tidy up a little.