Practical Conservation Taster Session

On Sunday the 9th August we held a Practical Conservation Taster Session as part of the Brecks Outdoor Festival. The hot sunny weather did not put off the new volunteers wanting to get outdoors and get dirty while helping nature.

Brecks Outdoor Festival and HLF Logos

The new volunteers along with a few LOHP regulars soon got stuck in removing saplings coming up in the fen, an important job. If left the saplings would dry out the fen and eventually turn it into woodland, losing all the specialist fenland plants.

Volunteers clearing saplings from the fen, with Thelnetham Windmill in the background © Ellie Beach

Volunteer working hard © Ellie Beach

Thank you to everyone who came along to help out on Sunday, you all did an amazing job. Perhaps spurred on by the lovely cakes at tea break. If anyone else fancies having a go at practical conservation then get in touch, tasks are varied, you get to learn new skills and meet interesting people and eat cakes! what more can you ask for. To find out more Contact Us.

Fancy doing something else outdoors? The Brecks Outdoor Festival 2026 continues until 23rd August - so visit their website and find out more https://brecks.org/festival-schedule/

Events Galore

We have had a busy few months with events. Over the August bank holiday weekend we held our second 'Art in Nature' Art Exhibition, this year at Hinderclay Village Hall. Again it was a great success, the variety and standard of art work was amazing. There was a great atmosphere, with positive feedback from visitors, 51 art works and numerous cards were sold, along with lots of cakes, helping to raise our profile and bring in donations for our charity.

LOHP Art in Nature Art Exhibition - 24th and 25th August 2025 - © David Oliver

We attended Garboldisham Summer Fair at the end of September, which enabled us to engage with lots of local people. And we held our first Fundraising Talk at the beginning of October at Hopton Bowls Club which was also a great success. Our speaker was Chris Bell, BBC Look East Weatherman, who spoke about the 'Science of weather forecasting', the talk was really engaging and could not have been better timed with the arrival of storm Amy.

Chris Bell Weatherman

Then at the beginning of November we held our Moss Identification Walk for Beginners, the event was fully booked. First we were guided through some identification features and looked at some samples, then headed out to New Fen to see what we could find. Everyone found it fascinating and had lots of questions.

Moss Identification Walk © Ellie Beach

Coming up we have our AGM on Friday 5th December at Garboldisham Village Hall with our annual talk and our Winter Walk on Sunday 28th December more details will be available on our Events Page.

Volunteers Week

As part of Volunteers Week (3nd to 8th June) we hold our annual Volunteer Away Day where we invite our volunteers to have a day off from undertaking volunteering for us and visit other organisations and see what they are doing.

View across Chippenham Fen © LOHP

This year we visited Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve (NNR), in Cambridgeshire. The site is managed by Natural England (NE). Senior Reserves Manager for NE, Chris Hainsworth met us and gave us a guided walk around the reserve.

LOHP Volunteers enjoying a visit to Chippenham Fen © LOHP

We were told all about the history and management of the reserve. Which included their recent project to try and improve the peat soils across the reserve by increasing their wetness. This was done by installing a series of dams.

One of the many dams installed at Chippenham Fen to help wet up the peat © LOHP

We also were lucky enough to encounter some of the rarer species found on the site such as Cambridgeshire Milk Parsley, Silver Barred Moths and Beruladium procurens a hybrid umbellifer. There were also lots of more common things including Orchids, Sedges, Bog Bean, Bog Pimpernel, along with a Grasshopper Warbler and Marsh Harrier.

Bog Pimpernel at Chippenham Fen © LOHP

Everyone found the morning really enjoyable and informative, a nice change from doing practical work, hopefully everyone will be spurred on to get back to work next week.

LOHP Volunteers winding their way through Chippenham Fen © LOHP