Just imagine it close your eyes think of an oasis of natural beauty where Barn Owls swoop ghostly on there prey,where Kestrels hover,Bees buzz and the birds fill the skies with there various beautiful birdsong,Dormice sleeping and the trees sway in the wind and ohhhh the sweetness of the air.
Well thats what we are just about to achieve with PROJECT DELL on the morning of the 4th October 2012 an enthuastic team of litter pickers consisting of orbit staff council workers 3 Larner road core group members and teams of staff from 3 local McDonalds headed by wildlife enthuasist and resident Tracey Kember and orbits Community liason officer Maddassar Arif.
During our first litter pick one of many we gathered around 50 bags of litter and household and industral junk varying from sofa beds to gas canisters. The entire team worked very hard and well together and was very keen in the project and to see it go ahead.
The project is partof the regeneration of LARNER ROAD know known as ERITH PARK which includes the dell which is bein transformed from rough ground to an open air nature reserve and picnic and play area for the local residents to enjoy.
as well as keeping the wide variety of wildlife that is already there we wish also to encourage more variety of different species native to KENT. Some wildlife we already kno that exists are Kestrels Hedgehogs and foxes as well as our resident Bumble Bees and red admiral butterfly and the great white moth.
The dell is a natural flood plain derived in the 60s to help old larner rd from flooding this used to be part of an apple orchard before work commenced on larner rd in 1962 this became a dumping ground for over 30 years and local children have used it to make there camps to play in and the fruit from the apple and plum trees and blackberry bushes make a gorgeous jam or pies.
Where it was once accessable by steps and a pathway it has now become need of remodelling due to weathr erosion and overgrowth.
Our goal is to get springwatch countryfile involved to bring in children from local schools involve our resident pre-school to have bug hunts, treasure hunts, build bird and bat boxes and to have cameras to watch the wildlife 24/7 also have wildlife drawings and photographic competitions to work with TRENT STRICKLAND PHOTOGRAPHY for all to enjoy both young and old.