including Beech Bottom Dyke and Sandridge Road Wastes
Your opinion counts, so please join us. £10 per year will help to protect, preserve and enhance the Heath for all.
Membership provides you with:
Find out more at Joining FoBH
Plenty of activity on Bernards Heath as the flora and fauna wake following a long winter. The Friends planted another oak tree as part of extremely long-term planning! A young hedgehog was spotted out and about, and keep an eye out for bluebells in April.
Here are some of the lovely images captured by our spotters, please share your sightings below!
Sunday 23rd March 9:30am
Meet at Heath House, Heath Farm Lane AL3 5AE
Littler pickers and bags will be provided
Spring progresses, and the snowdrops fade. However, look out for the blue blooms of the tentatively identified Siberian Squill. We welcome any corrections on that identification (is it actually a very early bluebell?).
The Friends of Bernards Heath held their 2025 AGM on Saturday the 1st of February at the Jolly Sailor. Many thanks to patron Paul for hosting us, and to all who attended. Please find the minutes below and contact us with any queries.
Topics addressed included:
Spring is arriving at Bernards Heath, please enjoy these photos from our local team.
There is currently (November 2024) a petition up on Change.org with the aim of improving road safety in Bernards Heath. The petition is organised in association with the Bernards Heath Schools – please offer your support.
You can find out more or sign the petition here
Or contact the organisers with your experiences at roadsafety@bernardsheath.herts.sch.uk
FOBH Tree Warden, Roger Miles, has spent years tending Bernards Heath and the Sandridge Road Wastes (SRW), including a multi-year effort to rescue a pear tree. Before 2017, he spotted an ornamental pear on the eastern side of the SRW which was growing at a jaunty angle.
His careful work over the last seven years has resulted in a vigorous and upright tree which is now a credit to the area.
Our thanks to Roger for his continuous, and often under noticed, work conserving our local flora.
The local air ambulance landed on the upper field of Bernards Heath on the 13th of July to attend a collision on Harpenden Road.
Locals directed them to the scene, and Harpenden Road was closed in both directions. Sadly, it appears to have been a pedestrian vs car requiring the attendance of numerous emergency vehicles
Police are asking anyone with dash cam footage in the area at the time. The HertsAdvertiser reported: “PC Ryan Moore from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Road Policing Unit, said: ‘Our enquiries are continuing, and I am urging anyone with information to please get in touch.’
“’Were you driving in the area at the time and saw what happened? Additionally, if you have a dash cam fitted and were in the area, please check it as you may have recorded some crucial footage to assist our investigation. If you also saw the orange Aygo prior to the collision, please get in touch.'”
If you do have any information, you can stay 100 per cent anonymous by contacting the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via their untraceable online form at crimestoppers-uk.org.
Marks & Tilt Gallery will be exhibiting the works of Michael Cull, a FoBH member, this month. The launch party will take place on July 18th @ 6-9pm. There will be an opportunity meet the artist, along with free drinks & nibbles.
Nick, the Gallery Manager, noted that Michael “is an artist that we should all be celebrating … We really hope you can make it.”
Marks & Tilt Gallery, 18 London Road, AL1 1NG. July 12 – August 7 2024.