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Friends of Bernards Heath Tree Walk

The first Friends of Bernards Heath Tree Walk on Sunday 1st July was led by Roger Miles and as you can see from the photo attracted a group of over 20 people.

We explored several areas of woodland to the East and West of Harpenden Road finding examples of the trees in the list, (probably not exhaustive).  Sadly, there appear to be a few examples of Ash dieback on young trees in the area.

Below are two examples of trees you might like to look out for. On the left there are a few Hornbeams with their characteristic ribbed trunks near Heath Farm Lane (there are many more in Beech Bottom Dyke). On the right, Aspen, the tree with its fluttering leaves, on a path closer to the old Fire Station.

Many thanks to Roger Miles of the Friends of Bernards Heath Committee for giving us the benefit of his exhaustive knowledge of the flora on the Heath.

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Dumped Bikes

There has been something of a spate of abandoned bikes on the Heath of late and this one was dumped on the Lower Field sometime last night, 1st July. The gear change cable was broken.

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Rainfall – or the lack of it

If you have a garden, then you’re probably getting anxious about the lack of rain – well the Heath could do with rain too.  Just one look at the grass above tells all.  We record rainfall and temperature very close to the Heath and the table above shows that only 1 mm fell during the month of June. There was a similar rainfall of just 1.5 mm in April last year.

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Foxes on the Heath

I took this photo about 4.00 am Friday morning, 15th June. The two young Foxes sitting together passing the time. By the time l stopped they had spotted me but still a good picture. Thanks: Dave McCormack

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Friends of Bernards Heath and your Data

If you use the internet on a regular basis, you’ve probably had many emails about the new General Data Protection Regulations, GDPR. It gives a glimpse into the number of places data is held on us.

The data we keep about FoBH members is simply limited to names and contact details so that we can keep you aware of what’s going on and what we do with your subscription payments.

Privacy Statement

To comply with the new General Data Protection Regulations, GDPR, we will use the data you supply only to communicate with you for membership and newsletter distribution purposes and will store it securely.

The data we collect:

name, postal address, postcode and phone number

email address

Your data will not be shared with external parties without your specific consent.

You can ask for your data to be deleted at any time by emailing treasurer@bernardsheath.org,  or by writing to the Treasurer at 21 Warwick Road, AL1 4DJ.

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Weather takes its toll on trees

Fallen tree, Townsend Drive by postbox

Several trees on the Heath have succumbed to winter gales, some because of the ‘sail’ effects of ivy and the wind drag it causes, and others, including this dead hawthorn, to old age. This latter tree has fallen across the path along Townsend Drive.

Photo: PC

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Bernards Heath Weather 2017

Remember those days from late March to mid May when grass began to turn yellow and water restrictions were a distinct possibility? There was only 1.5 mm of rain in April, see above.  The summer was not particularly dry by comparison to previous years and the year was rounded off with the highest rainfall of the year of 98 mm, including 10 cm of snow on the 10th December.

The highest daily rainfall was 33 mm on May 13th, and of temperatures, the lowest was -5 deg C on January 22nd and the highest 31 deg C on June 19th.

Weather measurements have only been made for the last four years and over that time total yearly rainfall fell from 740 mm to 534 mm. Average temperatures have stayed within a narrow range of less than 1 deg