Completed August's BeeWalk for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust at Fingringhoe Wick. The highest count was in segment one - the car park! The wild flowers there were still offering the bees something to forage on, whilst the blackberry buds had turned to juicy berries for the birds. Show your support for wildlife and wild bees by setting up a route in your area to add to the data bank.

Counted up the bumblebees in Castle Park - one of our 'Beewalk' routes in the area. Last chance to do so in July, just in time. Despite the rain showers, we saw quite a few wild bees, which was great. Unfortunately, wild bees are declining everywhere and need our help. Head across to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust's website to see how you can help.

Conducted another monthly Beewalk for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust at Fingringhoe Wick.

A lovely evening for getting some extra steps in to tend Pam's allotment. Louise, Ray and Alex headed north via a meet up at the Mercury, whereas Stu and Helen took a short cut. We divided up the tasks, grabbed some tools and got stuck in. Louise made the plot look super tidy by strimming, Ray bravely tackled the prickly brambles which had popped up everywhere, Alex made a dozen trips to the water tank, and gave everything a really good drink, Stu weeded the vegetable beds, and unearthed a surprised beetroot, and a very tall chard, and Helen weeded the potatoes and corn. The allotment looked much better and Pam was really grateful for our efforts. Well done everyone 👏 👍

Completed a BeeWalk for May. We think we saw a Brown Banded Carder bumblebee this time, which was pretty exciting! We'll upload all the results on the Bumblebee Conservation Trust's website to add to their national database.

Conducted two House Sparrow surveys at dawn, one month apart for the Essex Wildlife Trust.

House Sparrow populations have declined by 69% in England since the 1970s, so Essex Wildlife Trust recently launched a citizen science project to find out why. They recruited over 1000 volunteers to survey urban habitat, to gather data on the House Sparrow's abundance and preferred habitat.

It was fantastic to spend time with and observe the local bird population at dawn, with 22 different species counted during the second survey.

If you can, take advantage of EWT's late night openings this week to see the Nightingales at Fingringhoe Wick - wow, what an experience!

Met up in Castle Park to carry out another monthly bumblebee survey for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Lots of new flowers in bloom, and plenty of solitary bees buzzing about, but not that many bumblebees this time. All data will be uploaded to the BBCT website for their UK wide data set. If you'd like to get involved, set up your own transect near where you live, to contribute to this vital citizen science project, or join us next month.

Picked up litter, in the sunshine.