Tickets and programmes are available at the Reception Garden, 155, Chevening Road.
Browse the programme here
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Fine weather for Queen’s Park Open Gardens and Studios
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CAPS – Combatting Air Pollution on Salusbury Road – project update
The CAPS project has moved forward rapidly since our first posting. Brent has confirmed that they can let us use their big mobile monitoring machine either in July/August or later if we need time to agree a suitable site close to Salusbury Road. This machine measures NOX and particulate pollution from diesel by time of day. We will also hang small diffusion tubes on lampposts. The tubes record NOX only over a period.
Friends of the Earth (FOE) will help with a project in the autumn that involves children and parents. We are also liaising with Transition Town Kensal to Kilburn and Brent FOE. We have been pleased to learn that the new Mayor of London plans to launch a major consultation on combatting air pollution soon and that Brent will be consulting on a revised Air Quality Action Plan. When we have results from our monitoring project we expect to make recommendations for action by individuals, Brent, the Mayor and probably national government too.
The CAPS group met on 1st June with officers from Brent Council and national FOE in support. You can find a link to the notes of that meeting and more information about CAPS on our Environment Action Group page.
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Annual bird walk report
Fortunately the birds in the park were undeterred by overcast and windy weather that greeted the smaller than usual number of walkers that joined us on 21st May. The birds were active everywhere and altogether the five walkers spotted 17 species. It was good to see a pair of Blue Tits flying to and from a nest entered via a tiny hole in the soffit board above the café. Less surprising were another pair in a purpose-built suspended nest box in the woodland walk, close by a hole in a tree from which Parakeets were coming and going. The pitch and putt course yielded three handsome Mistle Thrushes, two Goldfinches and a Great Spotted Woodpecker which seemed to have been using the cut-off section of a newly pruned willow branch for drilling practice. Finally a quick recce of Chevening Road east produced the hoped for Swift. Here is a full list of the birds spotted.
Name Number Blackbird 4 male and female Chaffinch 4 Crow 4 Goldfinch 2 Blackbird 4 male and female Chaffinch 4 Crow 4 Goldfinch 2 Gull, Herring (Black-Headed) 2 Magpie 2 Parakeet 4 Pigeon, Feral Many Pigeon, Wood 1 Robin 2 Starling Many Swift 1 Thrush, Mistle 5 Tit, Blue 4 Tit, Great 2 Woodpecker, Great Spotted 1 female Wren 2
