What's on
One of the guiding principles for The Fourth Reserve Foundation is to find ways to engage the community while ensuring habitats and wildlife remain safe and protected. We do this via well publicised and very popular nature reserve open days, by hosting community groups most in need of green space access, by connecting children with the site through education and through volunteering. Please get in touch if you'd like to find out more.
Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October from 10am to 1pmJoin Join, award winning, local writer and teacher Anna Dempsey for a gentle writing workshop. Over two mornings
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Open days
We try and open the site 4 times a year for our very popular open days. Open days tend to be during the spring and summer seasons and you can usually expect a cake and drink stall, some nature themed kids activities and acoustic music. In the past we have had themes around art, literature, music, India and National Tree Week.
Member's perks: Free cake and drink.
* Unfortunately we can't allow dogs on the site as we are a safe release site for rescued and rehabilitating wildlife (except for assistance dogs). Please also note that toilet facilities are not available.
September Open day
7th of September 12am - 4pm
Our next Open day is this Sunday 7th of September.
We will have :
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the lovely Nunhead folk circle
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Indian Dancing
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Singing from Green Tree Chorus
And as always: -
Kid's activities
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Cakes and drinks
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Jam for sale, made from the plum orchard at the reserve
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And lots and lots of trees :)
* Don't forget to bring your membership card if you are a member, or your volunteer coin if you are a volunteer, to have your free drink and cake :)
Workshops
We have a few different workshops that run at the reserve. Workshops are selected to ensure that they suitable for the space, do not create noise pollution or disturb our furry, feathery and spiky friends. Workshops are generally not run by the Fourth Reserve but are facilitated by us. So for more information about them you need to contact the organiser directly.
If you have an idea for a workshop that you think will fit our ethos and restrictions please get in touch.
Member's perks: Discounted fee to some physical workshops and free entry to zoom lectures.
Join, award winning, local writer and teacher Anna Dempsey for a gentle writing workshop. Over two mornings, we’ll work with a series of prompts inspired by our local nature reserve, the late summer season, and memories of childhood summers. We’ll respond through journal writing and short fiction, using selected readings from novels and poetry to guide us.
This workshop is a chance to return to the page, listed closely, and share in a supportive circle. No writing experience is needed, just a willingness to observe, reflect and enjoy your local community members and nature!
Please email fourth.reserve@yahoo.com to book.
Cost: £120 / £100 Concessions
'Listen closely' - Writing workshop
4th - 5th of October 10am - 1pm
Natural Fitness Class
Every other Friday 9.30 - 10.30
If you are free on a Friday morning and fancy something a bit different then why not join instructor Steve Sheppard for a natural fitness session.
https://www.shepsportsmassage.co.uk/natural-fitness
Re-learn how to move in the ways our bodies evolved to. Practice skills such as jumping, rolling, crawling, running, lifting, carrying and throwing. All in the natural setting of a nature reserve. Get fit, de-stress and have fun.
To book and for more info contact Steve on
shepsportsmassage@gmail.com
Cost: £175.
A third of the fee is being donated by Ben to the nature reserve to help with our ambitious meadow creation project. Thank you Ben!
Feedback from last year's course:
‘Love it! The course was amazing! Recommend it to anyone/everyone!’ Paddy
‘We had a great time. Apart from the wonderful workshop it was a real privilege to be in the reserve and find out a bit more about it’
Helen
Green woodworking
PAST EVENT - Look out for it again next year :)
Delivered over two days in the beautiful Buckthorne Nature Reserve, you will make your own stool under the expert and friendly tuition of Ben Willis -
a furniture maker, craftsman and teacher.
Using traditional green woodworking techniques (No power tools), you will go home with a gorgeous stool made with Buckthorne Wood.
Please email fourth.reserve@yahoo.com to book.
Events
Every so often we have an event. This can be a theatre performance, a foraging day, or a bat walk. When possible we also invite a limited number of people to help or witness the release of animals in the reserve, like hedgehogs or birds of pray. On these occasions we have to keep the number of people to a very low number so not to cause the animals any distress.
Member's perks: First refusal invites for animal release, Early notice or discounted entry fee for ticketed events.
When it is possible we are very excited to invite members of the community to witness and help with the release of wild animals into the reserve. Understandably this is greatly dependent on the animals being released and their condition.
Back in June we were able to invite a few families to help with the release of 4 hedgehogs. In 2023 we had families witness the release of Rebecca the Tawny Owl.
Animal release
Animal, need and season dependent
Following the original success of this play, we are thinking of putting this show up again, if you are interested please let us know. Also if you are interested in putting a different play up that you think will fit our ethos and restrictions please get in touch
fourth.reserve@yahoo.com
From 1865 signal boxes started to be built along UK railways and beside Eddystone Bridge in Crofton Park there was once a signal box. In the 1871 census Charles Adams was employed as the signalman here and he lived in a railway cottage on the site of the nature reserve with his wife Margaret and their 6 children.
In 1868, when Charles Adams was likely already in post, Charles Dickens wrote his short ghost story ‘The Signalman’. On October 29th we hosted a dramatic reading of the story on the Buckthorne Cutting ahead of Halloween to an intimate audience of 20.
Theatre - The Signalman
Past Event
Volunteering
Come get your hands dirty. Help us maintain, plant and protect the nature reserves.
There are two types of volunteer work at the reserve. We run regular volunteer sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays for members of the local community. We also offer corporate volunteering days.
Want a chance to help maintain, plant and protect our nature reserve? Do some exercise in the fresh air while hanging out in glorious nature with like minded people? What if we also tell you that you usually get to chill next to the fire and have tea and biscuits?
If this sounds like something you would like to sometimes do, drop us a line and join the Midweek Cuckoos whatsapp group.
We will let you know what is planned for the day and you can join us if you can. No commitment, you just come when you can (and want to). No need for tools or gloves, we have it all.
Local community sessions
Every Tuesday and Friday. Weather dependent
Escape from the world of work and spend a day or half day in an urban woodland helping a community nature reserve with a variety of rewarding tasks to support nature.
A team of up to 12 volunteers will complete a task to improve a community nature reserve, increase biodiversity and help the environment. Tasks may include wood chipping muddy paths, planting hedgerow saplings or building steps.
Corporate volunteering
For more information about cost, facilities and provisions as well as support and sponsorship opportunities please email Anna-Maria at - fourth.reserve@yahoo.com
Tuesdays or Fridays 10am-1pm or 10am - 4pm
Forest club
The Buckthorne nature reserve is the proud home of the Reed Robins forest club.
Reed Robins is a forest adventure club based in Brockley, and offers children a valuable opportunity to take part in a range of fun and adventurous wild woodland experiences within a hidden part of the historic Great North Wood.
Run by Nik, a horticulturist and teacher with twenty years experience working with young people including those with autism and a range of complex needs, Reed Robins aims to help children re-discover and connect with the natural world that is on their doorstep.
Reed Robins
Weekdays term time 3:30 - 5:30
Reception - year 3/4 age
For more information and booking please contact Reed Robins directly on - info@reedrobins.co.uk